Medicine for Humanity 28th Annual Fundraiser
SOLD OUT
It's official - our event is hotter than a jalapeno pepper! Unfortunately, all tickets are sold out, but we're keeping a standby list in case some spots open up. If you want in, send us an email at shelley@medicineforhumanity.org. And if you can't attend, you can still be a hero in our eyes by donating to our cause. It's like wearing a cape, but less itchy. We are grateful to our wonderful village.
Healing women. Training doctors. Changing lives. Together.
Join us in celebrating all that we have achieved together. Share an evening envisioning the limitless possibilities for our future impact.
Event Location
Rafi Lounge
22741 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Malibu, CA 90265
Get Directions »
May 20, 2023
6:00pm – 10:00pm PDT
Food, drinks + dancing
$250 per ticket, $450 per couple
Limited tickets available
VIP seating + Sponsorships available
Additional Information:
Coastal Chic Attire.
Outdoor Event.
Adults only, please.
Valet parking available-$10/vehicle.
Contact: Shelley O’Connor
shelley@medicineforhumanity.org / 310-489-2197
Not able to attend but still want to support us?
Even if you can't be with us in person, you can still warm our hearts with your generous donation. Your support goes a long way in empowering change and making a lasting impact.
Event Sponsorship Opportunities
We are committed to healing women, training doctors, and changing lives. Together, we can create a sustainable impact on the future of women’s health in East Africa.
To become a sponsor, contact Shelley O'Connor at shelley@medicineforhumanity.org / 310-489-2197.
- One VIP ocean-view cabana includes tickets for ten
- Premier listing on all event signage + materials
- Partner recognition on website + social media platforms
- Verbal recognition from stage during event program
- Ten limited-edition Medicine for Humanity sweatshirts
- VIP seating includes tickets for six
- Prominent listing on all event signage + materials
- Partner recognition on website + social media platforms
- Six limited-edition Medicine for Humanity sweatshirts
- Four event tickets
- Listing on all event signage + materials
- Recognition on website + social media platforms
- Four limited-edition Medicine for Humanity sweatshirts
- Two event tickets
- Listing on all event signage + materials
- Recognition on website + social media platforms
Preview Paradise: Luxury Vacation Homes Up for Silent Auction
Looking for a way to indulge your wanderlust while also making a meaningful impact? Our silent auction has got you covered. Escape to beautiful destinations with our selection of stunning properties, from luxurious desert villas to cozy mountain cabins. And the best part? Every bid you make will help support Medicine for Humanity's Urogynecology Fellowship, improving women's healthcare worldwide.
Beach Paradise
Punta Mita, Mexico
4-night stay
4 bds/5 ba
Generously donated by: Glenn & Kathy Feig
Desert Dream
Rancho Mirage, CA
5-night stay
4bd/ 3ba
Mountain Retreat
Mammoth Lakes, CA
5-night stay
Generously donated by: Larry Hess & Janet Semple-Hess
Ski/Snowboard Retreat
Park City, Utah
3 bd/ 2ba
Generously donated by: Jodie & Rob O'Connor
Our mission
Medicine for Humanity is a medical care and teaching organization dedicated to restoring dignity, hope, and quality of life to women suffering from obstetric fistula. We believe that every woman should have the opportunity to be healed from the devastating effects of childbirth injuries. We provide surgical care and build specialty training programs for the next generation of doctors in East Africa.
Our Future — Our Heroes
Medicine for Humanity’s Urogynecology Fellowship Program seeks to train East African Obstetrician Gynecologists and future leaders in the field of women’s health. Our goal is to expand access to quality healthcare and improve capacity by creating a sustainable model of education and training to drive real change so that more women suffering from obstetric fistula can be healed.
Recipient physicians are taught leadership skills and training to become the next thought leaders and to develop and nurture others to further this cause. Successful leadership requires technical proficiency, compassion, professional conduct, self-assessment and self-improvement, ethical and moral decision making, trust from one’s community, and a vision for improvement with integrity.
Paul Kato, MD
Hometown: Kyenjojo, Uganda
Onesmus Byamukama, MD
Hometown: Mbarara, Uganda
Fundraiser Committee
It takes a village!
Founders:
Ann & Leo Lagasse, MD
Executive Team:
Christopher Tarnay, MD – President
Shelley O’Connor – Executive Director
Social Media:
Molly Marler – Photographer
2023 Event Committee:
Melanie Angel
Leslie Button
LanAnh Do Tarnay
Felicia Faden
Lili Foster
Meghan Herndon
Nancy Herndon
Lori Keeffe
Amy Kijner
Molly Marler
Board of Directors:
Christopher Tarnay, MD
Jeff Baker, JD
LanAnh Do Tarnay, MD
Musa Kayondo, MD
Susan Lagasse, Ph.D
Lisa Nicholas, MD
Aviva Regev, MD
Emeritus Board Members:
Stewart Fisher
Ellie Kanner
Patricia Maischoss
John Miley, MD
Jodie O’Connor
Asha Randall, DAOM
R. Bradfield Yates, PhD
Thank you to our generous sponsors!
Urogynecology Leadership Fellowship Fundraiser
Urogynecology Leadership Fellowship Fundraiser
Worlds Apart. Standing Together.
Medicine for Humanity is committed to healing women and training doctors.
$10,190
Raised
$25,000
Left to Raise
With your help, we intend to raise $25,000 to create a Urogynecology Leadership Fellowship to provide a full year of specialized training to a Ugandan physician in the field of
Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.
- This program will give rise to a future leader in the field of women’s health.
- It will build capacity within the Ugandan health care system to care for its most vulnerable members- women and mothers.
Please give what you can.
Your donations will allow a physician to become a specialist in the field of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.
Center for Gynecologic & Fistula Care
Center for Gynecologic & Fistula Care
You made this happen! You created a place where women and mothers can commune, recover, and heal with dignity.
During our annual surgical program, the women and mothers seeking fistula repair have had to recover from surgery in tents, sheds, and other temporary shelters. Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital was overwhelmed with patients and limited space.
In 2018, to increase capacity and support our vision, we created the Center for Gynecologic & Fistula Care. It is a 50-bed care facility with an on-site procedure room, doctors’ offices, nursing station, and conference room to support medical education.
This year-round surgical ward ensures that our patients will NEVER again have to convalesce on the floor while healing from surgery.
Watch How We Built Hope
With the support of our donors, Medicine for Humanity completed construction of a new ward in 2018.
Dr. Musa Kayondo & Dr. Christopher Tarnay celebrate the new Center for Gynecologic & Fistula Care
What is fistula?
Fistula is the most heartbreaking condition you’ve never heard of.
An obstetric fistula is a birth injury to a mother caused by a prolonged, obstructed labor. It most commonly occurs among women who live in developing countries, who give birth without adequate access to Caesarean section.
A fistula is a passage or hole between two organs in the body.
An obstetric fistula is a passage between a woman’s vagina and her bladder and/or rectum. This abnormal communication develops at the end of pregnancy when labor is obstructed and lasts many hours or days. The pressure of the baby’s head against the mother’s pelvis cuts off blood supply to the surrounding tissues in the birth canal.
Two million women suffer from fistula worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in Uganda alone there are over 200,000 women enduring life with fistula. For every woman that gets treatment over 50 women go without.
Lack of timely medical intervention, including extremely limited access to emergency Caesarean sections, forces women to endure life-threatening labor.
The consequences of the hours or days of obstructed labor are tragic:
- the baby often dies in utero from prolonged lack of oxygen
- the mother is left with severe physical injuries: obstetric fistula, causing uncontrollable, chronic incontinence that leads to extreme social stigmatization.
- These women are often abandoned by husbands and outcast from society and work.
- They suffer kidney disorders, skin infections, severe depression, neurological problems like foot drop and even death if left untreated
Obstetric fistulas are entirely preventable and correctable.
Obstetric fistula occurs most often among impoverished girls and women, especially those living in regions without adequate medical services. Affecting the most powerless members of society, obstetric fistula touches issues related to reproductive health and rights, gender equality, poverty and adolescent reproductive health.
Our Roots
Taking action for the less fortunate.
In 1995, while on safari in Kenya, Dr. Leo Lagasse, a gynecologic oncologist, and his wife Ann, herself a nurse, were deeply moved by the plight and suffering of local women who lacked access to proper health care. Upon their return to Malibu, Dr. Lagasse called upon his UCLA colleagues and organized a group of volunteer physicians to return to Africa where Medicine for Humanity was conceived.
For 20 years, the Lagasses led volunteer teams of highly trained, dedicated UCLA physicians and nurses all over the world from the Philippines, South Africa, Mongolia, Nepal, Mexico, Malawi, Uzbekistan, Poland, Croatia, Costa Rica, Panama, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Niger, Eritrea, Kenya, Cameroon, and Tanzania. Focusing on the care of women with gynecologic cancers, performing life sparing surgery, creating programs for the early detection of cervix cancer, and assisting communities with educational outreach have been the hallmarks of Medicine for Humanity for the last two decades.
“We know helping to improve women’s health creates healthier families, communities and countries."
— Dr. Leo Lagasse, MFH Founder
In 2009, the Lagasses invited Dr. Christopher Tarnay, a Urogynecologist from UCLA, to accompany them to Mbarara, Uganda. Recognizing the skill and effort of his Ugandan counterparts coupled with the absolute abject poverty and need of these most deserving of patients, Dr. Tarnay was “hooked.” The Lagasses’ recognized Dr. Tarnay’s passion, newfound commitment and a new chapter of MFH unfolded.
Dr. Tarnay now serves as Medicine for Humanity's President and Medical Director.
With a focus on treating obstetric fistula and other childbirth injuries, Dr. Tarnay directs our annual two-week fistula surgical program at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, a teaching hospital in Southwest Uganda.
The Lagasses created a “long arm of Malibu,” which has reached and extended itself across the globe.
We continue to sustain this outreach with hopes of greater transformational impact on the healthcare profession and ultimately the health and wellness of women and mothers worldwide.
Who We Are
Who We Are
Medicine for Humanity was founded on the principle that ensuring the health of mothers leads to healthy communities. Our organization strives to improve the health of women and mothers in underserved populations around the world.
Our donors and medical volunteers make it possible to provide surgery, transportation, housing, food, medical support, and postoperative care for every woman needing fistula repair.
Our academic partners are David Geffen’s School of Medicine and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health and our international partner is Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Mbarara, Uganda.
Our Team
Dr. Christopher Tarnay
Paul Kato, MD
Our Board
Our Advisory Board
“I tell other women there is hope. Hope of being better.”
- Christine, 21. MFH 2016 Camp