Founders

• Hotlin Ompusunggu, CeHE

  
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Dentist
  • Head of the ASRI non-profit
  Dr. Hotlin, a licensed dentist, comes originally from Sumatra. She has four years experience serving in an Indonesian government clinic in a rural part of Sumatra, including two years as the director of a mobile clinic and on-board dentist that traveled via boat in rural Sumatra. She also coordinated medical and dental teams in the wake of the Tsunami in Aceh. She completed a one year diploma in Community Development and Higher Education while living in England before she co-founding ASRI with Kinari Webb, and Antonia Gorog. Hotlin’s goal has always been to work together with under-served communities and at ASRI she became increasingly passionate about conservation as well. In 2011 Hotlin was awarded a prestigious Whitley Fund for Nature Conservation Award. See more here http://www.whitleyaward.org/

• Kinari Webb, MD

  

  Dr. Webb first developed the vision for this work when studying orangutans in 1993 at Gunung Palung National Park. There she encountered not only a beautiful and threatened natural environment but also the dire health needs of the people surrounding the National Park.

  After her experience in Indonesia, Kinari decided to become a physician and return to Indonesia to work together with local communities to improve both their health and preserve the natural environment. Dr. Webb graduated from Yale University School of Medicine with honors and then completed her residency in Family Medicine at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, California. Dr. Webb has traveled to Indonesia numerous times since 1993 to study orangutans, do research on child mortality and malnutrition, and work as a physician. She responded soon after the tsunami in Aceh and was one of the few foreign physicians there who spoke Indonesian. Immediately after residency she moved with her husband Cam Webb (see below) to Indonesia and spent a year traveling around Indonesia looking for the best place to begin a combined human and environmental health program. In an interesting twist of fate, the best place turned out to be the place where Kinari and Cam first met, Gunung Palung National Park. Here there was forest that could still be saved, a supportive government, and unmet health care needs.

  Then with Antonia Gorog, Hotlin Ompusunggu and the assistance of many others, the vision began to come to fruition.

• Antonia Gorog, PhD

  

  Antonia Gorog, one of our original co-founders, has now joined the US side of our work at Health In Harmony as the program director. Antonia is an ecologist and conservationist with a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She worked for two years as the Scientific Advisor and Species Conservation Coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Indonesia, where she coordinated programs for the conservation of Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants, and the maleo bird. Dr. Gorog has done extensive research at Gunung Palung National Park on mammals, has lived and worked as a biologist in Indonesia periodically since 1998, and speaks bahasa Indonesia fluently.

Medical Staff

• Nur Chandra Bunawan, MD

  

  General Practice Physician and Head of the ASRI clinic. Dr. Nur graduated cum laude from the University of Indonesia and says that his goals are to continue to improve health care in Indonesia. He comes originally from Java but chose to work at ASRI because of his fascination with combining care of both humans and the natural environment and because he wanted to care for patients in remote areas who have few other options.

• Verina Logito, MD

  

  ASRI clinic Physician. Dr. Verina graduated with “very impressive” standing from Maranatha University in West Java. Verina chose to come work at ASRI for her required year of rural service because of its reputation for excellent hands-on training. She is a dedicated learner, incredibly compassionate with her patients, and thrilled to be part of the ASRI team.

• Lasmida Ruth Simatupang, MD

  

  Dr. Ruth graduated from the University of Indonesia (the top ranked medical school in Indonesia) with “very impressive” status. She not only likes clinical medicine but is also drawn to public health. She is excited to work at ASRI because she can combine both of these passions.

• Vera Jusnita Sembiring, Architect

  

  Vera is coordinating our expansion from a small clinic to a larger facility that will include an operating room, 15 in-patient rooms, radiology facilities, an emergency room, ICU care, a maternity suite, and an expanded lab facility. She works closely with two key volunteers. Roberto Cipriano (an architect from New York) and Bob Renshaw (a structural Engineer who currently lives in Malaysian Borneo). Please considering donating to make this vision a reality!

• Wilfirimus, Amd. Kep.

  

  Head Nurse. Wilfirimus comes originally from a small Dyak village in the upper reaches of the Kapuas River. He trained at Bethesda Hospital, West Kalimantan, where he then worked for two years on a village health care program providing immunizations, pre-natal care, and health education to extremely remote villages. He also helped with Tsunami Relief in Aceh. As part of our team, Wil is not only the head nurse but also our global warming expert. He is passionate about protecting the environment. On a given day Wil might attend a mobile clinic where he cares for patients, do lab tests on our mobile lab and also teach communities about the importance of rain forest protection not only for their future but for the future of all people on earth. This is just another example of how integrated the ASRI program is.

Conservation Staff

• Etty Rahmawati

  

  Community Outreach Coordinator: Etty came to ASRI with almost ten years of experience teaching English including in the top-ranked English language school in Bali (English First). She is an amazingly gifted teacher and is delighted to use her training to directly help both people and the natural environment. All of us on the ASRI team feel lucky that she is using her wonderful skills to spread the important message of protecting the natural environment.

• Adi Bejo

  
  Illegal Logging Monitoring Coordinator:  Adi graduated from Tanjung Pura University in Pontianak, West Kalimantan where he majored in Biology. He came to work with the ASRI team because of his passion for conservation. He feels that there is real clarity in the ASRI approach and that the work is extremely well-integrated.

• Agus Supianto

  

  Agus coordinates our reforestation program. He graduated from the University of Tanjungpura in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, with a degree in forestry. Agus was born in Sukadana (the site of our clinic) and his greatest desire was to work with ASRI conducting reforestation in the area where he was raised.

• Cam Webb, PhD

  

  Cam Webb, is not technically a staff member but he is nevertheless a critical member of the team. Cam is married to Kinari Webb who he met for the first time in 1993 at Gunung Palung National Park where he was doing his PhD research in rain forest ecology. Cam specializes in Bornean rain forest trees and now works with the Harvard University Arnold Arboretum where you can see his blog. Cam helps oversee the reforestation program and offers his support and technical expertise on all aspects of the program (including creating our medical database program).

The Whole Team

• Our team also consists of four other nurses (Clara Sari, Lidya Christiana, Maria Marta, and Hari Gunawan), a pharmacist (Ika) a directly-observed therapy program coordinator for control of tuberculosis (Natalia), a Goats for Widows coordinator (Jilly), an Organic Farming training coordinator (Maskyur), an accountant (Rahima Tulwasila), a cashier (Nani), a front desk manager (Patma), a guard (Adi), three drivers (Usuf, Okto and Purwanto), and 17 village community health workers. We plan on adding 32 forest guardians this year as well.