[Washington, DC - November 15, 2012] Health Volunteers Overseas is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Fisher, MD as chair of the HVO Board of Directors. He succeeds Julia Plotnick, RN, MPH, FAAN, RADM, USPHS (ret), who has served so ably since 2009 and who will continue to serve as Chair Emeritus.

Richard Fisher, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon, who has served as an HVO Board member since 2009 and, until this past February, served as chair of Orthopaedics Overseas, the founding division of HVO. Dr. Fisher has been an active HVO member for many years, and has served as a volunteer in Bangladesh, Peru, Bhutan, Ghana, and Vietnam. He served as Country Director for HVO's USAID-funded rehabilitation project in Mozambique and was a member of the Technical Advisory Group for HVO's Vietnam Rehabilitation Project. Dr. Fisher is a member of the WHO Expert Panel for Clinical Technology, a participant in the WHO Global Initiative for Emergency Essential Surgical Care, and co-editor of the WHO publication Surgical Care at the District Hospital. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Sri Lanka in 2007.

A private, nonprofit organization, HVO was founded in 1986 to improve global health through education of local health care providers. In 26 years of service, HVO's training has transformed lives - of local health care providers, of their colleagues and patients, and of HVO volunteers themselves.  HVO designs and implements clinical and didactic education programs in child health, primary care, trauma and rehabilitation, essential surgical care, oral health, blood disorders and cancer, infectious disease, nursing education and wound management. In more than 25 resource-poor countries, HVO volunteers train, mentor, and provide critical professional support to health care providers who care for the neediest populations in the most difficult of circumstances. For more information, please visit the HVO website.