The Robert K. Pedersen Global Outreach Endowment was established in 2005 through a gift from Don and Kathy Pedersen’s Family Foundation to create an endowment in memory of Don’s father, who was an international businessman. This program provides financial support to projects involving PAs and PA students in humanitarian activities designed to improve the quality of life in underserved areas of developing countries and the United States. The grants are intended to promote sustainable development in the areas of healthcare and health education for populations and communities in need. Funding is provided for projects that enhance or expand existing programs and provide the participating PAs and students an invaluable learning experience in healthcare delivery, leadership, and project management.
The Pedersens have been PAs for more than 30 years, Don as a professor and director of the University of Utah PA Program and Kathy as a primary care PA with community health centers in Salt Lake City. Don and Kathy are currently focusing their time on a program they established called Global Partners, through which they broker resources from the University of Utah Academic Health Center to meet the needs of their overseas corporate, academic, and humanitarian partners through education and clinical care. The program currently operates in Indonesia, Angola, Morocco, Thailand, and Nepal. Additionally, the Pedersens give back at a local level through their volunteer service at free clinics in Salt Lake City.
The Robert K. Pedersen Global Outreach Endowment has supported 48 projects operating in over 20 countries since its inception.
2024 Application Cycle – Now Open
Opens: February 5
Closes: March 4
Apply through the Global Outreach Grant application process.
View the 2024 qualifications and requirements document.
Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Project Title | Location |
| 2024 | OVI Children’s Hospital | OVI Children’s Hospital Virtual Reality Therapy Initiative | Kenya |
| 2024 | Partners for Andean Community Health | Mobile Medical Clinic for Underserved Ecuadorian Communities | Ecuador |
| 2023 | Bay Path University | American and Liberian PA Collaboration to Address Neonatal Asphyxiation in Liberia | Liberia |
| 2023 | Rhode Island Hospital | Structured Didactic Sessions to Improve Trauma Care at District Hospitals in Rwanda | Rwanda |
| 2023 | Waukesha Free Clinic at Carroll University | Beat Diabetes with Healthy Lungs and Healthy Feet – Pneumovax/ Diabetic Care Clinic | United States |
| 2022 | Community Empowerment | Diabetes Evaluation and Management Program in the Dominican Republic and Haiti | Dominican Republic/Haiti |
| 2022 | OVI Healthcare | OVI Fellows Hygiene and Sanitation Initiative | Kenya |
| 2022 | Friends of Shirati | Establishing Point-of-Care Ultrasonography (POCUS) in Shirati, Tanzania | Tanzania |
| 2021 | Care New England – Kent Hospital Foundation | Stop the Bleed Rwanda | Rwanda |
| 2021 | Touro University | Assessing the Resilience of Humanitarian Organizations Working with Migrant Communities on the United States-Mexico Border: A Comparative Case Study | U.S.-Mexico Border |
| 2019 | Community Empowerment | A Diabetes Screening Program in Haiti and the Dominican Republic | Dominican Republic |
| 2019 | Mayanza, Inc. | Santiago Schools Community Health Program | Guatemala |
| 2018 | Touro University | Supporting Global Health PA Education for Vulnerable Populations in Uganda and Bolivia | Uganda/Bolivia |
| 2018 | Colorectal Team Overseas | CTO Medical Mission Trip to Da Nang, Vietnam | Vietnam |
| 2017 | Three Strands | Water Sanitation, Filtration, and Education | Central African Republic |
| 2017 | Wagner College PA Program | Expansion of the Women’s Health Initiative: Making an Impact on Neonatal Mortality in Guatemala | Guatemala |
| 2016 | The Dream Project, Inc. | The Dream Project, Mozambique | Mozambique |
| 2015 | Arcadia University | A Medical and Public Health Mission in Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
| 2015 | Foundation for Cancer Care in Tanzania | Dispensary Level Cancer Education in Tanzania | Tanzania |
| 2015 | Carilion Medical Center | Magale Health Project | Uganda |
| 2013 | Pamela Burwell, PA-C | Peacework Medical Clinic | Haiti |
| 2013 | Boston University, Mary Warner, MMSc, PA-C | Capacity Building for Asthma Care | Uganda |
| 2012 | University of Utah, Jennifer Coombs, PhD, PA-C | Rural Health Outreach | Guatemala |
| 2012 | Pacific University | Service Learning Project | Nicaragua |
| 2011 | Yale University PA Program | Capacity Building for Non-communicable Disease | Uganda |
| 2010 | Quinnipiac PA Program | QU/HHI Medical Service Trip | Dominican Republic |
| 2010 | Jennifer Wall, PA-C | Africa Burn Relief Program | Malawi |
| 2010 | Amanda Welbourne | Medicial Mission trip to Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
| 2010 | Eucharia Iwuanyanwu, PA-C | Medical Mission trip to Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
| 2010 | Catherine Hoelzer, MPH, PA-C | Dajo Literacy Training Project | South Sudan |
| 2009 | Cheung P. Tung, PA-C | China Medical Mission for Children | China |
| 2009 | Catherine Hoelzer, MPH, PA-C | Dajo Literacy Training Project | South Sudan |
| 2008 | Tanna Donaldson (of University of Oklahoma) | AIDS Relief in Ghana | Ghana |
| 2008 | Phoumy Bounkeua, PA-C | Global Health Literacy Project & Village Healthcare Worker Training | Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
| 2008 | Jessica Wallace, PA-C, George Washington University PA Program | Hospital San Carlos Community Medicine Program, Doctors for Global Health | Mexico |
| 2008 | Eucharia Iwuanyanwu, PA-C | Cancer Medical Mission to Cross River State | Nigeria |
| 2008 | David Dereczyk, PA-C | The Goodness and Mercy Foundation | Nigeria |
| 2008 | Catherine Hoelzer, MPH, PA-C | Southern Sudan Literacy Project | South Sudan |
| 2008 | Tyler Anderson, PA-C | Rafiki Foundation Medical Program | Uganda |
| 2007 | Michelle Klein, PA-C, Kari Shmul, PA-C | Peacework Medical | Ghana |
| 2007 | University of Utah and Ministry of Health | Ghana Clinican Medical Service Elective | Ghana |
| 2007 | University of Wisconsin – Madison | Diabetes Screening, Prevention and Early Intervention | Guatemala |
| 2007 | University of Wisconsin – Madison | Health Promotion and Education | Guatemala |
| 2007 | Baylor College of Medicine | Shoulder to Shoulder PA Project | Honduras |
| 2007 | Phoumy Bounkeua, PA-C | Laos Global Health Literacy Project and Village Healthcare Worker Training | Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
| 2007 | Augsburg College PA Program | Rural Health Clinic in Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
| 2007 | Catherine Hoelzer, MPH, PA-C | Health Education for Southern Sudan | South Sudan |
| 2006 | Shenandoah University Division of PA Studies | Medical Mission trip to Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
| 2006 | Amy Dereczyk, PA-C | The Goodness and Mercy Foundation | Nigeria |
| 2006 | Tyler Anderson, PA-C | Rafiki Foundation Medical Program | Uganda |
Questions? Contact Caroline Pierce at 571-319-4510 or cpierce@aapa.org.