Hannah Akre

Hannah Akre co-founded the non-profit organization Gloves Go Global in 2012 and spearheaded the organization’s transition and growth to becoming Health Goes Global in 2019. She has served as Executive Director of the organization since inception. Her unwavering passion for global health and preventative medicine has taken her on missions to Kenya, Haiti, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guyana. She appreciates the richness of diverse cultures in our world and aims to embrace local norms in conjunction with preventative health implementation. Hannah has obtained a Bachelors of Arts in Molecular Biology from Colgate University, a Masters of Medical Science from the University of Vermont, and now attends medical school at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is a “Care for the Underserved” Scholar as she has a particular interest in practicing medicine in resource limited and underserved communities.

Organization background:

Health Goes Global grew out of an ingrained dedication to service in resource limited, remote corners of our world. While volunteering at a clinic in Nyeri, Kenya sisters Hannah and Geneva noticed how powerful prevention of disease was in underserved settings where the proper treatments were not always readily available. One staple of preventative medicine that was missing from this clinic was medical examination gloves. These sisters began brainstorming how they could possibly gather enough gloves to make a difference in Nyeri, in Kenya, and in Africa as a whole. Gloves Go Global was born as they collected, repackaged, and shipped unused medical examination gloves from the US to clinics in Africa. In a short seven years, this organization would grow to become Health Goes Global, having worked in seven countries and impacting many sectors of preventive health, including water sanitation, proper disposal of human waste, infant and maternal mortality, mental health and wellness and dental hygiene.