User:Salvavida08/Wilfredo Perez

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Wilfredo Perez Jr. Wilfredo (“Will”) Perez, Jr. (born April 17, 1986) is an American medical student, international health activist, and advocate for equity in access to high-quality health services. He is best known for his public health work in rural Haiti, where he served as the first Public Health Director for the Pwoje Espwa orphanage in Castel Pere, conceptualized and directed a village-wide bedbug extermination demonstration project, launched an international campaign to raise funds to provide shoes and other necessities for children, and founded a public health training and education program staffed by local residents. He is now working closely with several other NGOs in Haiti including, Hope for Haiti, one of Haiti’s largest NGOs to expand the public health training programs to all areas of rural Haiti.

In 2010, Perez was awarded a VH1 Do Something! Award by the New York City-based Do Something! Foundation, naming him a Top Five World Changer Under 25. His work has gained national recognition, with features in Fast Company Magazine, The Huffington Post, Philanthropy Project, The Rhode Show, Time: for Kids, The Providence Journal and Take Part.com Perez currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island, where he is a third-year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Biography

Early life and Education

Perez was born in Keene, New Hampshire, the son of Lori Kirkman. He attended 8 schools throughout Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts before earning a full academic scholarship to Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) on the banks of the Connecticut River, adjacent to the towns of Northfield and Gill, Massachusetts. A graduate of the Upward Bound program, Perez became the first person in the history of his family to graduate from high school. Two years later, his mother and younger sister became the 2nd and 3rd to earn their diplomas. He graduated from NMH cum laude and was awarded the President’s Award and Cambridge Award, NMH’s two highest honor awards in 2004. He returns frequently to the school as a guest speaker. Perez was accepted into the Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) at Brown University and awarded a full scholarship in 2004, earning him an undergraduate degree in Public Health in 2008. After a sabbatical in Haiti, he entered medical school at Brown in 2009. He is currently a third-year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Work in Haiti

Inspired by the work of anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer, Perez went to Haiti after completing his undergraduate work at Brown University – deferring medical school for a year. While working as the first Public Health Director for the Pwoje Espwa orphanage, he became increasingly aware of the intense public health needs of both the children at the orphanage and the people who lived in surrounding villages. Aware that the children were constantly enduring cuts, infections, and parasitic infections due to walking barefoot on muddy ground, he launched a campaign to provide every child with a pair of shoes. He then launched an innovative public health training and education program which prepares village residents to provide their families and neighbors with life-saving public health information. In 2010, he brought the program to Hope for Haiti, with which he continues to collaborate closely.

Philanthropy

Perez has been active in philanthropy since his student days at Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH), where he drew upon his own experience with homelessness as a child to launch Operation: Happy Birthday, a charity that brings birthday parties to children living in homeless shelters, in 2004. He brought Operation: Happy Birthday with him to college when he enrolled at Brown University, and the program continues to thrive today under the auspices of student groups at Brown University and Northfield Mount Hermon. Operation: Happy Birthday has served over a thousand children since its inception. In 2006, Operation: Happy Birthday was awarded $50,000 as the winner of Brown University’s Entrepreneurship Competition.

Perez’s philanthropic pursuits intensified during his tenure at the Pwoje Espwa orphanage, where he began by issuing a request for shoes to break the cycle of injury and infection among the children there. Nike responded with a gift of 600 pairs of sneakers. He then went on to raise $250,000 in support of public health programs in rural villages around the orphanage primarily through a blog he started to keep his family informed about his safety in Haiti, willinhaiti.blogspot.com. In 2008, he raised $25,000 in sponsorships while running the Cayman Island Marathon. Perez continues to raise funds for his public health work with Hope for Haiti through his website, www.willinhaiti.org, and other initiatives.

Speeches

Perez travels the country speaking on issues of health care, homelessness, international health and the health care systems in the developing world. He has delivered over a dozen keynote addresses at universities and leadership conferences around the country including Brown University, the Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Willmington College, Roger Williams University and Johnson & Wales University. He is frequently a guest speaker at high schools throughout New England, and a guest lecturer on Haiti and Anthropology at Brown University.

In 2011, Perez was the keynote speaker at the New England Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (NEAHP) in Newport, Rhode Island. Again, in 2011, Perez was awarded a Vagina Monologue Award for his commitment to empowering women in Haiti through health education and training.

Awards

Albert Schweitzer Award, Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence RI, 2011 Vagina Monologue Award, for work empowering women in Haiti, Cranston RI, 2011 VH1 Do Something Award Winner, $10,000 award for work in Haiti, Los Angeles CA, 2010 Foreign Studies Fellowship, Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence RI, 2009 NMH Alumni Community Service Award, the youngest alum to take home the honor, Northfield, MA, 2009 David J. Zucconi Fellowship, $25,000 Award, Brown University, Providence RI, 2008 Howard R. Swearer International Fellowhsip, Brown University, Providence RI, 2008 Brown Entrepreneurship Competition Winner, $50,000 prize for Operation Happy Birthday, Providence RI, 2006 Nelson Baker Scholarship, $160,000 academic scholarship, Northfield MA, 2002-2004 The Cambridge Award, Northfield Mount Hermon, Northfield MA, Spring 2004 NMH President’s Award, Northfield Mount Hermon, Northfield MA, Spring 2004 Henry F. Cutler Scholar Award, Northfield MA, Spring 2003 President’s Community Service Award, Northfield MA, Fall 2003 Cum laude Society, Northfield MA, Inducted Fall 2003