Congratulations to Dr. Melissa Smith, long-time medical advisor and friend of  Hesperian Health Guides, for receiving the University of Washington Medicine Alumni Association Humanitarian Award for her profound dedication to serving others through  medicine. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Washington School of Medicine, she has had extensive involvement in global health work, training health workers and midwives for over two decades in poor communities of Central America and Mexico.  

After serving as medical editor for Where Women Have No Doctor, Dr. Smith is now the lead writer and central planner for the development of Hesperian’s work-in-progress Health Action for Women and Girls – a resource that will educate communities on the use of grassroots strategies to overcome social and political barriers that prevent the effective use of women’s health information.