Meet Karen! She’s been with The Max Foundation since 2024, working as a Program Coordinator in our Latin America region. Learn more about why she started with the organization, what her work week looks like, and a special memory she had with a patient.
What drew you to join The Max Foundation, and why does our mission resonate with you?
What motivated me to join The Max Foundation was knowing that I could contribute in my own small way to helping other people, and that my daily work would have a different purpose from anything I had done before: making a positive impact on someone’s life.
What is a special memory you have with patients?
One special memory I have is when I attended my first patient meeting in El Salvador, shortly after I started working at The Max Foundation. I hadn’t been talking with the patients for very long, but when I met them, I felt such a warm welcome and so much gratitude, even though they barely knew me. It was truly a joy for my heart.
Describe a typical work week
If you could describe The Max Foundation in three words, what would they be?
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?
Conflict resolution
What languages do you speak?
What do you love most about where you live?
I really like that it’s a country where you can go from the beach to the forest and enjoy nature.
When you’re not working, what do you like to do for fun?
I really enjoy spending time with my family, being together, and going out for walks.
What’s your favorite food?
Pasta, any kind
If you could have dinner with someone famous, who would it be?
Chris Hemsworth
What is your favorite holiday and how do you celebrate it?
I love celebrating birthdays, both mine and my family’s. I really enjoy doing something fun and making the most of that day.
The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity. For 28 years, Max has pioneered practical, scalable, high-quality solutions to bring life-extending treatments and patient-centered health care to more than 100,000 people living with cancer and critical illness in low- and middle-income countries. Max believes in a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and with hope.
When Ka came to Thailand for access to treatment, she had the chance to join the MaxSmiles patient group meetings. Ka started to dream about having her own meetings and soon found support from Dr. Mary Cluck, an Australian volunteer working with Cambodian CML patients. Ka stepped up and called the patients one-by-one to invite them to their first patient meeting.
In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the female clinicians worldwide who join us to bridge access to treatment for their patients.
The passing of our dear friend, advocate and colleague Ferdinand, has shaken the close-knit global chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) community. CML, a rare form of leukemia that used to be fatal, now is treated with innovative targeted therapies commonly referred to as TKIs. There has been unprecedented global access to these TKIs and this has fostered the development of one of the strongest global patient communities for a rare cancer. Ferdinand, from Nairobi, Kenya, was a loved member of this community.
