Board
U.S. Executive Board of Directors
Kathie Amble, C.N.P, M.A.
Kathie, who holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing, has worked in a variety of environments, including a hospital, a college health clinic, and several nursing homes. She received an Adult Nurse Practitioner’s/Master's degree in 1986 and was the Manager of School-Based Clinics for the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support in Minneapolis, Minnesota until 2001. Kathie has volunteered for Guatemalan NGO Common Hope since 1992, and developed the formulary for their clinic's pharmacy. Since 2000, she has travelled to Guatemala every year to manage this program and volunteer in the clinic. It was through this work that she met WINGS founder, Sue Patterson, who asked her to observe a WINGS Pap smear mobile clinic. Becoming increasingly aware of the urgent need for reproductive and sexual health services for women in Guatemala, Kathy was moved by her experience and sought to serve disadvantaged women in Guatemala further by joining WINGS’.
Rodrigo Barillas, M.D., M.B.A.
Rodrigo is a Guatemalan physician who brings extensive local knowledge to the board. Now a consultant for the Population Council’s Guatemala office, Rodrigo previously managed a large portfolio of health projects for Alianzas Project, supported by USAID. An active Rotary member, Rodrigo is uniquely qualified to connect the private sector in Guatemala with nonprofit organizations like WINGS.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Casparian
Peter is an Episcopal priest and is currently the Rector of Christ Church in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. He holds degrees from Rhodes College (Memphis) and the University of the South, Sewanee (Tennessee). Peter has served churches in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky and from 1995 until 2004 was the Rector of St. James Church in Florence, Italy.
Peter first met Sue Patterson during his tenure in Florence where she was Consul General as well as Warden of St. James. Her passion for the people of Guatemala and her commitment to their welfare were contagious. Shortly after his return to the States in 2004, Sue invited Peter to join in the formative years of the WINGS board. Peter's first visit to Guatemala had been in 1975 as a young priest with a Companion Diocese program with the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky and he was pleased to be reconnected with the country. In other aspects of his ministry he has served on the World Missions Committee of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, as well as in short-term ministries on the Pine Ridge and Navajo Reservations, in Central Mexico, and in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
Fabio Castano, M.D., M.P.H.
Fabio began working in reproductive health in Colombia, his native country, where he was a health advisor to the President’s Office. In his more than 20 years of experience, he has worked for several international nonprofits, developing and implementing complex global programs in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. He currently works for Management Sciences for Health and has direct experience carrying out programs in Guatemala.
Susan J. Cushman, M.D. - Secretary
Susan, an OB/GYN physician, has dedicated her career to the field of reproductive health, with a focus on preventative care. WINGS’ innovative approach to family planning and involvement of both genders struck a chord with Susan, and she joined the board in 2011. Before WINGS, Susan served on that board of Interfaith Service to Latin America (ISLA) and worked with medical teams performing tubal ligations in low resource settings in Nicaragua. Susan recently retired from medical practice to focus on writing, learning Spanish and helping meet the medical needs of economically disadvantaged women. She is excited to support the evolution of WINGS’ Cervical Cancer program when a rapid, low-cost HPV test becomes available in the next year or two.
Hunt Kooiker, M.D., M.P.H.
Hunt is a family practice physician with more than 25 years I of clinical medicine experience in a variety of settings, including working on the Navajo Indian Reservation and serving as the Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties. His Masters in Public Health specialized in maternal and child health. Hunt consulted with WINGS for a sexually transmitted infections prevalence study in 2004 and early 2005 and returned in 2006 to assist WINGS in adopting the VIA/Cryo technique into the Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment program. Hunt is Board-Certified in Public Health and Preventive Medicine and was a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine from 1993 to 2010.
Evelyn Landry, M.P.H. - Vice President
Evelyn is a senior manager and program evaluator with 25 years experience developing, implementing and evaluating comprehensive reproductive health programs in more than 35 developing countries in Latin America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Some of Evelyn’s first work out of graduate school was in Guatemala so she was thrilled to join the board in 2008 and return to support family planning here. She is currently serving as the Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Advisor for a maternal health project with Engender Health in New York City; prior to this position she served as Engender Health’s regional director in Thailand for 5 years (2001-2006) managing and supporting reproductive programs in nine countries. Evelyn is fluent in Spanish.
Sue Patterson – Founder
Sue graduated from Duke University and became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia before joining the Foreign Service, where she served for 25 years. Her posts included Chile, Iran, Guatemala and Italy. She now lives permanently in Guatemala and donates her time to WINGS.
Sue Wheeler – President
Sue owns a consulting business in Minnesota, coaching non-profit leaders and organizations in transition. She has 25 years of leadership experience in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, including three years as U.S. Director for Common Hope. Sue learned about WINGS through her participation as a translator on a volunteer medical team that traveled to Antigua in early 2002. She has been an enthusiastic supporter of WINGS' work ever since, and makes regular trips to Guatemala to see it first-hand.