Healthcare for forgotten people is punctuated by professionals who inspire their younger associates to consider similar careers. INMED is honored to recognize such quality professionals by announcing these recipients of the INMED Awards at the 2025 Humanitarian Health Conference, May 29-30 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Introducing Susan Aycock, 2025 International Medicine Award recipient. Dr. Aycock, INMED Master’s Degree in International Health (MIH) graduate, did the service-learning component of her degree in Roatan, Honduras, where she discovered that cervical cancer screening was prohibitively expensive. Dr. Aycock developed a cost-effective protocol to screen and manage cervical cancer on the island one that continues being used today. Dr. Aycock states, “I have resolved to develop a tool to win this battle in the service of women worldwide.”
Please meet Pedro Espinoza, winner of the 2025 National Healthcare Service Award. Pedro is the Founder and CEO of Pan Peru USA, a nonprofit that focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs in Peru. Founded in 2018, the program empowers women use their knitting and crochet skills to build their own businesses, crafting 100% handmade alpaca apparel for the global market. All proceeds from sales go directly to these women, providing them with economic independence and sustainable livelihoods.
Get to know Linabelle Finnegan, recognized with the 2025 Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award. Linabelle grew up in a poverty-stricken community in the Philippines and earned the INMED Master’s Degree in International Health (MIH) with her scholarly project on building self-sustainable communities in the Philippines to reduce poverty and thereby to fight the main driver for human trafficking. In the US, Linabelle is also actively involved in supporting missions for trafficked children in Mountain Grove, MO, and a home for trafficked pregnant teens in Lee’s Summit, MO.
Don’t miss Safia Ahmed, 2025 International Healthcare Preceptor Award recipient. Safia is a public health nurse with over 20 years of experience leading and delivering health services to refugees, newcomer immigrants, and residents in low-income neighborhoods in Toronto. In 2023 she earned the INMED Professional Qualifications in Helping Babies Breathe, Helping Mothers Survive, and Essential Care for Every Newborn. Since then, Safia continues to actively teach these subjects in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Says Safia, “Through INMED, I have gained a wealth of knowledge and added many new tools to my toolbox. More than the courses, at INMED I have found a supportive family of like-minded individuals.”
Introducing Jacquelyn Borst, winner of the 2025 Humanitarian Crisis Response Award. For her INMED Master’s in International Health (MIH) Jacquelyn created a Refugee and Immigrant Healthcare course curriculum for her nurse practitioner students at the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania PA Program. Today, Dr. Borst is the Executive Director of the International Impact through Medicine Foundation – a nonprofit that supports medical projects in Haiti and Honduras. In her leadership role, Dr. Borst has led over forty short-term medical service teams to Haiti and Honduras, providing PA students an inspiring opportunity to see a vision of service to the world’s most vulnerable people.
Be inspired by Nizar Mamdani, recognized with the 2025 Comninellis Award for Compassionate Service to Humanity. Says Dr. Mamdani, “During my extensive travels around the world I developed profound understanding of the challenges faced by many individuals who have poor eyesight and who have no hope to access clear vision. I observed an acute need for affordable, easily accessible corrective eye care solutions.” Nizar and his wife, Marsha Davidson-Mamdani, PhD, founded First Sight, a philanthropic organization established to provide free, low-tech, fool-proof, clinically tested, and affordable vision-screening and prescription eyeglasses to children and adults in developing countries. Over 139,000 eyeglasses have been distributed by First Sight and its associates to children and adults in 31 countries.
Where can you meet so many inspiring individuals all at once? How could you arrange an opportunity to explore the organizations with whom they themselves are serving? Please register today for the Humanitarian Health Conference and make plans for May 29-30 in Kansas City, Missouri, to get to know the 2025 INMED Award winners!