FAME Board of Directors
FRank Artress, MD, Co-Founder/President - Karatu, TZ
Frank is Co-founder and Co-director of the Foundation for African Medicine & Education (FAME). He did his undergraduate and post-graduate medical training at Loma Linda University in the US. Prior to coming to Tanzania, he spent 20 years doing cardiac anesthesia, the last 18 years at a hospital in Central California where they did an average of 600 open heart surgeries per year. As a member of a cardiac team with the Medical Relief Foundation, he helped to set up heart surgery programs in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Vladivostok, Russia. Born in Ethiopia, where his father worked as a doctor for seven years, he comes by his love of Africa and medicine naturally. He currently serves as the Medical Director at FAME and practices general medicine along-side an all Tanzanian medical team.
Susan Gustafson, Co-Founder/Vice President - Karatu, TZ
Susan is is Co-founder and Co-director of the Foundation for African Medicine & Education (FAME). She has a background and training in Counseling and Educational Psychology. She completed her undergraduate work at UC Berkeley and her graduate work at California State University, Stanislaus, and University of the Pacific. She spent over 16 years working in the California public school system as an elementary school counselor. In addition to working with children experiencing learning difficulties, she developed and coordinated a number of school-wide prevention and intervention programs designed to support children and families. In 2004, she and her husband, Dr. Frank Artress, moved to Tanzania full-time, where they built FAME Medical. She focuses her energies on project implementation, grant writing, donor relations and fundraising for the hospital.
Jeanne Artress, Secretary/Treasurer - Redding, CA
Jeanne was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but moved to the U.S. at the age of three. One of six siblings, she is the sister of FAME Co-Founder, Dr. Frank Artress. She studied Accounting at San Fernando Valley State College and Shasta College, eventually forming her own business through which she provides bookkeeping and tax preparation services for multiple companies in and around Redding, CA. Jeanne is a founding FAME board member and was instrumental in helping to establish FAME as a registered 501(c)(3) organization. When Jeanne is not working, she is volunteering her time and expertise for FAME, insuring transparency in FAME’s financials, communicating with donors and providing administrative support in the US and Tanzania. Jeanne has traveled to Karatu fourteen times, spending 4-6 weeks with the FAME Medical team every year. An extraordinary ambassador for our work, Jeanne has personally sponsored two FAME staffers through nursing school. Since serving on the board, she has organized and hosted eleven fundraising events for FAME, building an amazing circle of supporters in her church and community.
Katharine Crawford, Board chair - Orinda, CA
Katharine Crawford brings with her many years’ experience in planned and major gift fundraising and non-profit and volunteer management. She has worked at the foundations of the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, San Francisco and Haverford College. In addition to serving on the FAME Board of Directors, Katharine consults to non-profit organizations regarding fundraising and marketing. Katharine holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Barb Dehn, Director - Cupertino, CA
Barb is a women’s health nurse practitioner who cares for patients in the heart of Silicon Valley. She’s also a popular television, radio, internet and published health educator and expert, known as “Nurse Barb.” As an entrepreneur, she also founded Blue Orchid Press, a provider of women’s health guides. Barb earned her BS from Boston College and then began her nursing career at Stanford University Medical Center where she was privileged to care for the first children to receive heart transplants. She earned a masters and NP certificate from the University of California, San Francisco.
"Nurse Barb" has been volunteering at FAME since 2016 and brings a unique perspective, having worked alongside her Tanzanian colleagues on many return visits and understanding the challenges inherent in many aspects of caring for people in rural Tanzania. She has provided clinical education to the Tanzanian medical staff in all aspects of women's health issues, helped create FAME's cervical cancer screening program, and also provided critical input on FAME’s new Maternal Health Center.
Frank Lee, Director - Boston, MA
Frank has over thirty years of experience in the biotechnology industry, in research, management and as an entrepreneur. He was founder and CEO of several companies: Dragonfly Sciences, Adnexus Therapeutics, and Epitome Biosystems and held previous positions as a research director at DNAX Research Institute/Schering Plough and Chief Scientific Officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals. His current interests are in education, healthcare and entrepreneurship. He has served on the Stanford University Board of Trustees and the Humanities and Sciences Council, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Biosciences Advisory Committee. With his wife, Carol Hall, he co-founded Tanzania Education Corporation, a non-profit organization which supports primary and secondary education in Tanzania. He is on the Board of Directors of IonPath, an early stage life science company, and an advisor to Incite Health, an innovation and entrepreneurship program in primary care at Harvard Medical School. Frank earned his PhD at Stanford University and carried out post-doctoral research at MIT and the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Jack Paddon, Director - Newcastle, CA
Jack has guided over 37 years of value-enhanced services for Williams + Paddon clients, and is a recognized leader in the region for innovative design with an emphasis on sustainability and resiliency. Notably, Jack has deep experience with many planning and design projects for numerous projects in Placer County and the Sacramento Valley Region. Jack has led the design for several project types including Schools, Civic Centers, Libraries, Performing Arts Centers, Museums, and Park Facilities.
Jack has served on the DSA Green Committee and CHPS (Collaboration for High Performance Schools) Standards & Implementation Committee, contributing his deep passion and expertise for passive envelope design, Zero Net Energy, Zero Net Water, and natural daylighting strategies focused on qualitative learning environments. Jack brings vision, thoughtfulness, experience, and leadership to an expert team of architects and engineers.
Graham Pierce, Director - Austin, tx
Graham hails from Dublin, Ireland, where he started his career as a medic for St. Johns Ambulance Brigade. In 1984, he came to the US, where he studied Paramedicine at Ingalls Hospital in Chicago and received a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration. Graham is a director at PHI Air Medical, a premier full-service air ambulance provider, caring for more than 30,000 critical care patients each year out of 110 operational aircraft across the world. He is also President and Co-founder of the Medical Relief Foundation, a non-profit medical organization dedicated to enhancing the level of emergency and paramedic healthcare in developing countries.
Michael Rubenstein, MD, Director - Philadelphia, PA
Michael Rubenstein is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, and West Virginia University School of Medicine. He completed his neurology residency at the University of Virginia in 1989 and began private practice in the Philadelphia area while also holding a clinical appointment at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, he moved to a full-time faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology and the Director of Health Equities and Global Health for the Department of Neurology. He has served as a primary referral resource for state, regional and national Tourette syndrome organizations over the last 25 years and currently evaluates and cares for patients with Tourette syndrome at both the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Michael brings residents and fellows from both the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to FAME biannually to provide a global health experience and partner with FAME’s Tanzanian medical team to offer neurological care to the Karatu community.
Craig Wainscott, Director - Seattle, WA
Craig is a 30-year veteran of the international finance markets and former Managing Director of Russell Investments. At Russell Craig held a variety of roles, including CEO, Russell Canada, and Senior VP and Director, Russell Australia. Since leaving Russell Craig has been an advisor and board member of a variety of companies. Currently Craig is CEO of instaCOVER, LLC an insurance technology company and on the board of Brandes Mutual Funds and the Paradigm Project, L3C.
John Weems, Director - San Francisco, CA
John is head of business development and partnerships for BPM LLP, a San Francisco based accounting and consulting firm. He has spent more than a decade each in the corporate and non-profit sectors, serving as a pastor at two large Presbyterian churches in the Bay Area. Long before meeting Susan Gustafson and Frank Artress, John shared their story as a source of inspiration for bringing positive impact to the world. John has previously served and raised funds for HIV/AIDS and water purification NGOs in Zimbabwe, Guatemala, and Cuba. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California and a doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary.
FAME Medical NGO Board
Peter MMASSY - Karatu, TZ
Peter joined the Rift Valley Children’s Village in 2004 as its Assistant Director when it was just a rented home on a hill and has been working there ever since. Peter has a degree from the Community Development Training Institute and an MBA from Mzumbe University, and his skills and insights have been instrumental in the development and success of RVCV’s various community outreach programs. He lives and works at RVCV full time along with his wife, Grace, and their three daughters.
Nickson Mariki - Karatu, TZ
Nickson was born and raised at the foot of Kilimanjaro. He has lived in Karatu for ten years and operates a number of local restaurants here. He is also director and co-founder of Black Rhino Academy - International School, a non-profit school recently built in Karatu.
MWASITI JUMA MSAHARA - Arusha, TZ
Ms. Mwasiti is a practicing Advocate and owner of AMAL ADVOCATES, a law firm based in Arusha. She has vast knowledge and special skills on matters pertaining to NGOs, corporate transaction, conveyancing, employment and labour law. She also has attended various seminars to continue advancing her knowledge and expertise. Ms. Mwasiti is one of the lawyers who were fortunate to be mentored and trained by the late Advocate Nyaga Paul Mawalla, founder of Mawalla Advocates before establishment of her law firm.
The FAME Medical NGO Board also includes Frank Artress and Susan Gustafson