We healthcare professionals today feel burdened by time constraints, practice restrictions, administrative duties, and our concern for the pressing needs of our patients. The result is mental detachment, reduced efficacy, emotional fatigue, and physical exhaustion. Where can we turn for refreshment?
Consider this year’s inspiring INMED Award winners! On May 28-29 at the Humanitarian Health Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, we will recognize in-person these uplifting individuals:
International Medicine Award – Michelle Kwok
This award recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to health in developing nations and communities. Award recipients have demonstrated uncommon dedication and endurance in pursuit of this cause.
The 2026 INMED International Medicine Award recipient is Michelle Kwok.
Michelle Kwok is an allergist and immunologist practicing in Montréal, Canada. Dr. Kwok is passionate about medical outreach to resource-poor areas both locally and internationally. She co-founded Connexion Nordique, a quality improvement initiative serving indigenous peoples of northern Québec. These residents are confronted with formidable barriers to healthcare, including economic, geographic, social, and cultural challenges. The existing healthcare model is both financially burdensome and culturally ineffective, compelling patients to travel to the South for medical care. This not only strains resources but also causes emotional distress for Inuit patients, who often face isolation and detachment when treated away from their communities. Connexion Nordique provides allergy care to indigenous peoples through virtual consultation, education, and in-person care on location in northern Québec.
National Healthcare Service Award – Ashish Abraham Thankachan
Many health care professionals within their own nations are sacrificing personal comfort to care for their neglected neighbors. The award recipients are role models in providing health care for their own people.
The 2026 INMED National Healthcare Service Award recipient is Ashish Abraham Thankachan.
Dr. Ashish Abraham serves as the Managing Director of Madhipura Christian Hospital – a unit of Emmanuel Hospital Association – which is a mission hospital located in rural North India providing higher secondary care to the most marginalized communities. He graduated from Volgograd State Medical University and then went on to complete his Community Medicine residency from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. He also completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Mental Health from Christian Medical College, Vellore. Today, Dr Thankachan leads the Community Health and Development Program of the hospital providing quality care in resource constrained settings which includes community health initiatives on anti-human trafficking education, village health clinics, malnutrition screening, non-formal schools, and disaster risk reduction training for rural communities.
Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award – Bill Fuller
This award recognizes one who demonstrates care and concern for culturally diverse communities and who gives selflessly of time and resources for their benefit.
The 2026 INMED Cross-Cultural Healthcare Service Award recipient is Bill Fuller
Bill Fuller is the Placement Coordinator and Recruiter for Crossworld, a global mission agency empowering churches to be communities who launch professional to works in the fields of healthcare, education, biblical literacy, and economic development.Bill spent 6 formative months serving in Ethiopia, followed by 15 years in business, and over 35 years casting a vision among churches in the US and overseas. “My objective,” says Bill, “is to leverage my persuasion abilities, coaching skills, and experiences to mobilize churches to be all-professions sending communities so we can bring God’s love to life in the world’s least reached marketplaces.”
International Healthcare Preceptor Award – Vicki Penwell
This award recognizes individuals who have made an important impact in the training of the next generation of international healthcare volunteers. Through their instruction and their role modeling, award recipients express the value of everyone.
The 2026 International Healthcare Preceptor Award recipient is Vicki Penwell.
Vicki Penwell and her late husband Scott over 40 years ago founded the ministry that became Mercy in Action. This organization is responsible for the safe delivery of more than 15,500 babies in the Philippines since 1991, at no cost to the parents, and with outcomes 4 times better than the Philippines national average. Vicki is a licensed midwife, health educator, missionary, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response organizer. Today, Vicki presently divides her time between the Mercy in Action birthing home is the Philippines and the United States, where she teaches for Mercy in Action’s College of Midwifery, 4-year Bachelor of Science midwifery college accredited in the USA. In recent years, Vicki created a post-graduate Diploma in International Midwifery & Maternal/Child Health that has scholars in dozens of countries on four continents.
Humanitarian Crisis Response Award – Nicholas Maxwell
This award recognizes individuals and organizations who provide exemplary disaster response services for highly vulnerable communities. In doing so, they accentuate the value of life and provide an exemplary model for us all.
The 2026 Humanitarian Crisis Response Award recipient is Nicholas Maxwell.
Dr. Maxwell is a chief resident physician in emergency medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as Director of US Partnerships for the Friends of Joseph Ukpo Hospitals and Research Institutes in Nigeria. He got his start in healthcare through EMT training in high school and then earned his B.S. in Emergency Medical Services at Creighton University. Afterwards, he worked as a paramedic before going on to medical school at the University of Rochester in New York. Along the way, he taught prehospital emergency care in the Dominican Republic and Nigeria. Today Dr. Maxwell also serves as Medical Education Coordinator for Techies Without Borders, bringing together IT professionals to harness their skills to benefit everyone in the world through information technology.
Comninellis Award for Compassionate Service to Humanity – Kris Prenger
This award was established by the INMED Board of Directors to recognize people who demonstrate care and concern for those in need, who give selflessly of their time and resources, and who inspire others to take similar action.
The 2026 Comninellis Award for Compassionate Service to Humanity recipient is Kris Prenger.
Kris Prenger began serving in rural South Asia in 1997, where she continued for 30 years. Throughout that time, Dr. Prenger’s primary work was training healthcare workers who serve in villages with neighborhood groups of rural women. Her passion has been increasing their skill surrounding women’s health, including obstetrics. She taught ‘Participatory Action Research’, an approach that helps the women themselves to be leaders seeking causes and ways forward to action to bring about lasting transformative change. After relocating to the US, Dr. Prenger’s today serves as Midwest Area Coordinator for InterserveUSA.
Where can you meet so many encouraging professionals all at once? How could you explore the organizations with whom they themselves are serving? Please register today for the Humanitarian Health Conference and make plans for May 28-29 to get to know the 2026 INMED Award winners!