#plugintodevin - Your Mark on the World with Devin Thorpe

Rotary International is headquartered in the United States and a plurality of recent presidents are from the U.S., but Rotary lives up to its monicker with a majority of its Presidents coming from outside the U.S. Rotary’s current president-elect is Holger Knaack from Hamburg, Germany.

Fit and vigorous, Holger sports reading glasses positioned low on his nose, giving him the appearance of a skinny Santa Claus. The likeness doesn’t end there. Genuinely jovial, he seemed to delight in our conversation.

Rotary is an international organization with leaders coming from around the world, operating in a representative manner. Holger shared with me some of the differences he sees between Rotary in Central Europe, including Austria, Switzerland and Germany on the one hand and the U.S. on the other. Differences are remarkable.

One key difference is that it remains such an honor to be invited to join a Rotary Club in Germany that he jokes, we only leave Rotary “feet first.” Retention and recruitment are not a problem. He noted, however, that their American counterparts remain more generous with the Rotary Foundation.

Watch the full interview for more insights.

Interview with Holger Knaack, the President-elect of Rotary International.

The following is the pre-interview with Holger Knaack. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above.

What is your personal or professional connection to polio?

For more than 30 years, Rotary has been the driving force in the worldwide polio eradication effort.

Where are you presently focused?

Rotary must continue to connect the world in the effort toward polio eradication. World Polio Day is a time for Rotary and its partners and supporters from all over the globe to come together, recognize the progress we have made in our fight against polio, and plan the action we must take to end polio forever.

How do we get from where we are to total polio eradication?
It’s imperative that we continue to raise awareness about the importance of polio eradication. Rotary embarked on this journey in 1985, and we won’t back down until every last child is protected from polio.

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Dr. Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, a former leader on malaria eradication with the World Health Organization and co-author of a recent report published in The Lancet, says we are making progress on malaria eradication as a result of four key interventions being scaled up in endemic countries:

Bed nets and other efforts to protect people from mosquito bites
Rapid diagnosis leads to earlier treatment and fewer deaths
More effective treatments have been developed and implemented
Environmental controls to reduce mosquito breeding places

Reaching full eradication will require not only continuing to scale these interventions but also adding additional innovation, including the need for an effective vaccination.

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Boxabl, led by CEO Paolo Tiramani, has created an innovation for housing construction that could stand up a home ready to move in in a matter of hours rather than months!

The process begins with factory-built units that can be assembled almost like Legos on-site to create buildings up to four stories.

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Every year, Rotary International spends $150 million on polio eradication. Ever wonder how they decide where to spend that money?

Judith Diment, a member of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee who serves on the grants committee, takes us inside the decision-making process to help us see both how exciting and difficult the process is. Watch the full interview above.

Interview with Judith Diment, the Coordinator of Rotary's Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force/UK National Advocacy Advisor for polio of Rotary International.

The following is the pre-interview with Judith Diment.

What is your personal or professional connection to polio?

I have helped shape Rotary polio advocacy in the UK for more than 20 years.

Where are you presently focused?

The economic case for investing in polio eradication as an important public health cause.

How do we get from where we are to total polio eradication?
The GPEI’s updated Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023 outlines the remaining challenges in achieving eradication and addresses the steps we must take to end all forms of poliovirus for good and sustain a polio-free future.

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Eden I&R is an indispensable part of the Alameda County community in the East Bay area of Northern California.

Eden I&R does a lot with a little. This small nonprofit with an annual budget of just over $2 million, handles over 60,000 contacts annual, helps 350 HIV/AIDS clients find housing and other services, maintains a database of 73,000 rental units and a list of 3,100 services available from other agencies.

Alison DeJung, a nonprofit veteran with 22 years of experience, took the helm of Eden I&R in 2017 and is working to expand its funding and services.

Dayton Thorpe, my son, recently joined the Board of Eden I&R.

Interview with Alison DeJung, the Executive Director of Eden I&R.

The following is the pre-interview with Alison DeJung. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above.

For-profit/Nonprofit: 501(c)3 Nonprofit

Revenue model:

Eden I&R receives just over 2/3 of its funding from government sources--all 14 cities in Alameda County and several county departments. Most of the remainder comes from foundations and corporations. The agency receives less than 1% of its funding from individual donors but we are trying to dramatically grow our individual donor base over the next couple of years. Finally, we receive a small portion of funding from fee for service such as creating specialized resource directories and online portals for clients and providing subscriptions to our housing database.

Scale:

In FY 18/19, Eden I&R raised just over $2 million and spent nearly all of it on our program operations. 211 handled over 61,000 contacts (calls and two-way text messages) and provided nearly 93,000 health, housing and human service referrals. The AIDS Housing & Information Program served over 350 unduplicated clients living with HIV/AIDS obtain housing and supportive services. The Housing Department updated the 73,000+ rental units in the housing database and added close to 3,000 new units. The Information Management Department updated the 3,100+ programs in our Services Database. The Disaster Preparedness Coordinator delivered 34 disaster preparedness trainings. Staff attended 70 outreach events and community fairs throughout the county to promote 211 and Eden I&R's programs. Eden I&R currently has 32 employees, not all of whom are full-time.

What is the problem you solve and how do you solve it?

Eden I&R is often the entree to the safety net for our clients; the first step they take in figuring out how to navigate the complex and ever changing maze of community-based and government services. Some clients are not fluent in English, some grapple with mental health issues and a host of other challenges. By continually updating our two rich databases of social service information and housing units and keeping apprised of the various programs (and any changes) that can assist our clients, Eden I&R's staff is well equipped to conduct an intake and provide the most relevant and comprehensive referrals to resources that can assist, sometimes conducting three-way calls and doing other sorts of advocacy on behalf of clients as needed.

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The population of Africa could almost double to 2.3 billion people by 2050 with a huge portion of that population being prime working age. The UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee, sees this as an opportunity Africa can harness to accelerate economic growth and lift hundreds of millions of people now living in extreme poverty out of it.

Sid, a passionate advocate for both women and the people of Africa, sees the opportunity to employ this population in productive work as a key to a prosperous future.

Interview with Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya. of United Nations Kenya.

The following is the pre-interview with Siddharth Chatterjee. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above.

We’ll be discussing Promise or Peril-Africas’s 830 million youth by 2050 with Siddharth Chatterjee.

How are you personally affected by Africas’s 830 million youth by 2050?

Africa’s population is expected to reach around 2.3 billion by 2050. The accompanying increase in its working-age population creates a window of opportunity, which if properly harnessed, can translate into higher growth and yield a demographic dividend.

In the wake of the Second World War, the Marshall Plan helped to rebuild shattered European economies in the interests of growth and stability. We need a plan of similar ambition that places youth employment in Africa at the center of development.

What is your take on Africas’s 830 million youth by 2050?
Whether the future of Africa is promising or perilous will depend on how the continent and the international community move from stated intent to urgent action and must give special priority to those SDGs that will give the continent a competitive edge through its youth.

The core SDGs of ending poverty, ensuring healthy lives and ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education all have particular resonance with the challenge of empowering youth and making them effective economic citizens.

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In 2014, when the epidemic of Ebola was running wild in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, a few cases of the frequently lethal hemorrhagic disease popped up in nearby Nigeria. This was scary because Nigeria is so much more populous than the other affected countries--almost 200 million people were suddenly at risk.

Health officials tapped the existing polio-fighting infrastructure in Nigeria to quickly organize an effective effort to prevent the spread of the disease there.

Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of the PolioPlus Committee of Rotary International in Nigeria was a first-person witness to the effort. During my recent visit to Rotary headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, I visited with Tunji about the Ebola experience.

It is worth noting that fighting Ebola did not unduly distract from fighting polio. The country has now been three years without a single case of polio from the wild poliovirus.

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The Women’s Bean Project doesn’t just make chili, it makes a difference. It also makes a variety of other products, many that feature beans. The nonprofit doesn’t exist to make its products, it works to change the lives of the women who make them.

Tamra Ryan, CEO, and Miranda Zamora, a production supervisor, joined me to talk about the program’s products and its impact. Miranda is a prime example of the life-changing impact of the work at the Women’s Bean Project.

Miranda came to work there a bit over two years ago with the encouragement of a case manager. She has four kids, the youngest of whom is now two years old. She was completely lacking in self-confidence and hadn’t finished high school.

She flourished in the program, overcoming challenges with transportation and daycare to become a dependable employee. When she was ready to graduate from the program, a permanent position came open as a supervisor and she was offered the position.

Now six months into her tenure as a boss, she’s helping other women—many of whom have a history of incarceration, drug abuse and/or homelessness—build self-confidence and job skills so they can achieve their full potential.

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Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most complex and aggressive type of cancer that originates in the brain. There hasn’t been a new FDA approved treatment brought to market in 15 years, and survival rates for GBM have not changed in 30 years - 90% of those diagnosed succumbing to the disease within five years. For the 1.4 million people worldwide living with malignant brain tumors, and an estimated 256,000 that will be diagnosed by the end of the year, this is a grim reality.

Venturing where others have not, the Ivy Brain Tumor Center is taking a completely different approach to personalized care with industry-first clinical trials that are based on:

Advanced genetic testing that matches each patient with the best possible treatment.
Micro-dosing, which reduces short-term side effects.
The combining of FDA approved treatments for GBM with other FDA approved cancer drugs that have never-before been used for brain tumors.

As a result, the Ivy Brain Tumor Center can now determine if any given course of treatment is working in as little as seven days, versus the months it traditionally takes. If a tumor does not respond within seven to 10 days, patients are then quickly put on a new path, which saves valuable time and reduces the cost of care.

Interview with Catherine Ivy, the Founder and Board President, Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation of Ivy Brain Tumor Center.

The following is the pre-interview with Catherine Ivy. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above.

For-profit/Nonprofit: Operating under a 501(c)3.

Revenue model: The Ivy Brain Tumor Center is a non-profit clinical trials program. It was established through a $50 million grant from the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, in collaboration with the Barrow Neurological Institute.

Scale: As a non-profit, the Ivy Brain Tumor Center does not generate revenue. There are currently 40 staff members and scientists dedicated to the program.

More about Ivy Brain Tumor Center:

Twitter: @IvyBrainTumCtr
Facebook: facebook.com/IvyBrainTumorCenter
LInkedin: linkedin.com/company/ivy-brain-tumor-center
Instagram: @theivybraintumorcenter
Website: www.ivybraintumorcenter.org

The Ivy Brain Tumor Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ is a non-profit translational research program that employs a bold, early-phase clinical trials strategy to identify new treatments for aggressive brain tumors, including glioblastoma. The Ivy Center’s Phase 0 clinical trials program is the largest of its kind in the world and enables personalized care in a fraction of the time and cost associated with traditional drug development. Unlike conventional clinical trials focusing on single drugs, its accelerated trials program tests therapeutic combinations matched to individual patients.

Catherine Ivy. Photo Credit: Ivy Brain Tumor Center

Catherine Ivy’s bio:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/catherineivy/

Catherine Ivy is responsible for the administration, investment management and charitable grant-making of the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation. She monitors and participates in the design of the overall grant-making strategies and policies emphasizing the needs of brain tumor research.

A Certified Financial Planner, Catherine worked in the financial planning industry for over 24 years. Prior to becoming involved in the brain tumor community, she served as owner and president of Ivy Financial Planning and Associates in Palo Alto, California. She has a Master of Science degree in personal financial planning from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Arizona State University.

Catherine has a very personal interest in this work. She became involved in the brain tumor community when her husband, Ben Ivy, lost his battle with glioblastoma brain cancer in 2005. Since 2005, Catherine has led the effort of the Ivy Foundation contributing over $91 million to brain cancer research. She currently continues her efforts to support research on brain cancer, leading to the development of better diagnostics and treatments that offer long-term survival and a high quality of life for patients with brain tumors.

Catherine serves as a member of the Mayo Clinic Arizona Leadership Council, a board member of the Board of Directors of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) Foundation and is a member of The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW). Catherine has been on the Advisory Board of the Barrow Neurological Institute, the Advisory Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Advisory Board of PathNorth. She also had been on the Advisory Board of the National Brain Tumor Society and served on the External Scientific Committee for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) with the National Institutes of Health.

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Carol Pandak, director of PolioPlus for Rotary International announced in this episode of the Your Mark on the World Show recorded on October 22, 2019 that wild poliovirus type three has been officially eradicated.

“The achievement of polio eradication will be a milestone for global health. Commitment from partners and countries, coupled with innovation, means of the three wild polio serotypes, only type one remains,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Polio Oversight Board in a statement.

“We remain fully committed to ensuring that all necessary resources are made available to eradicate all poliovirus strains. We urge all our other stakeholders and partners to also stay the course until final success is achieved,” he added.

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