As we closed out 2023, our President and CEO, Martha Holley Newsome, announced that she is stepping down from her role in January 2024. After 7 faithful years of service — and much prayer and reflection — she has made the decision to leave Medical Teams and make way for a new leader.

We are so grateful for Martha’s compassionate leadership and commitment to our work. With Martha at the helm, Medical Teams grew from a small team into a major, internationally recognized organization serving more than 3 million people each year. And that is just the beginning of her impact.

Read on to hear from Martha about her decision and her many accomplishments as the leader of Medical Teams!

Martha, in her own words

After much deliberation and prayer, I have decided to resign as the President and CEO of Medical Teams International. I know it is the right time for a new leader to join. I am confident they will build on all that we have achieved in the last 7 years, especially as we start a new and exciting cycle of strategic planning.

Today, Medical Teams International is a vastly different organization than when I started in September of 2016. Together, we solidified our identity and committed ourselves to a vision and mission that we affectionately dubbed Our Calling:

Daring to love like Jesus, we boldly break barriers to health and restore wholeness in a hurting world.

We also developed new values, a new strategy, and a core service package. Throughout the process, we focused on where we would work and what we could do to make the biggest difference: providing loving, life-saving medical care for people facing crisis. Then we worked to develop our brand, “the why” behind our work, and the first 3-year strategic plan.

An ambitious vision for the next 5 years

Based on learning from our previous strategy, we launched an ambitious follow-up plan that had 3 major goals: to triple our capacity to sudden disasters, triple the number of refugees and displaced people served, and triple the number people we serve in the U.S. We also initiated our first comprehensive fundraising campaign.

Alongside the Board of Directors, we also increased our “risk appetite” by developing our organizational safety and security policy enabling Medical Teams to build capacity and work in more insecure and volatile contexts.

Within our 5-year strategic plan, our goal was to develop 5-7 large, at-scale country programs. Prior to this, Uganda was our only at-scale country program. In a relatively brief timeframe, we achieved this goal! Today, we have 6 at-scale, high quality country programs, each with a budget over $4.4 million.

Our U.S. program was also reimagined as Care and Connect Mobile Health, setting us up to respond to better respond to the needs of our neighbors within Pacific Northwest. Our U.S. program has doubled in size within the last 7 years too. Now, we are providing much needed medical services in addition to dental health care and partnering with large scale and reputable health service partners.

Adapting to challenging times

After launching the 5-year strategic plan, we faced a global pandemic in early 2020. Prayerfully, we adopted the belief that Medical Teams had been created “for such a time as this” and leaned in to respond locally and globally. With this attitude, we responded to the COVID crisis while also launching our latest programs to care for people affected by conflict in Ukraine and the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Along with the upheaval from COVID came national protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, causing us to reflect on and affirm our commitment to diversity. Our incredible staff volunteered to start an Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) advisory group. Together with the Board of Directors, we developed our first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy for the organization. Since then, with the guidance of wise teachers like Nikki Lerner, we have been making progress toward creating a diverse and equitable environment for all.

Looking forward for Medical Teams

In the last 7 years, we have experienced exponential growth together. We have gone from serving 1 million people each year to 3 million people. We have already achieved 2 of our aspirational goals. The organization’s size has grown from $24 million to $60 million, with nearly 3,000 employees around the world. This growth was fueled by the incredible generosity of our supporters and the institutional funders who recognized the excellent medical care our staff provides around the world.

But for me, it has never been just about the numbers. It is about the quality and impact of the health services we provide and the reputation we have developed for both. It’s also about the loving care that our staff and volunteers demonstrate to people experiencing incredible hardship, showing them that they are loved, seen, and “not alone.”

Now, in 2024, we are in the final year of our 5-year strategic plan. The impact we have achieved together, and the transformation of the organization, is remarkable. I am so proud of each member of this team — staff, volunteers, donors, and supporters — and how each of you has given your best. You continue to show up to “dare to love like Jesus” and to “boldly break barriers to health and restore wholeness in a hurting world.”

With gratitude and love

My own passion, and my calling, is to bring healing to a hurting world. It has been an incredible joy to serve alongside each of you every day. I am confident that you, an incredibly compassionate and faithful community, will go on to make Medical Teams an even stronger organization.

God has been with Medical Teams International since 1979. He cares more for hurting people — people who have experienced oppression and marginalization — more than we ever could. He has called us, whether staff, volunteer, or supporter, to this work and He will provide all that is needed! I know the next leader will be welcomed with open arms, and I trust they will answer this Call too.

And as for me, I will be praying and cheering you on as a faithful supporter. My son can tell you — I am one of those loud parents on the sidelines! It has been an honor to lead Medical Teams for the last 7 years. I’m so grateful for our time together. I am excited for the adventure that lies ahead for Medical Teams.

With gratitude and love,

Thank you, Martha!

As we begin this next chapter as an organization, we’re reflecting on the gift that Martha has been to Medical Teams. Phyllis Cavens, a pediatrician and beloved donor who volunteered on our first trip to care for Cambodian refugees 45 years ago, sent a kind letter to Martha after hearing of her decision.

Phyllis summed up Martha’s tenure, saying:

“What an enormous legacy you have provided to Medical Teams International. All three million people in crisis who have received care under your leadership say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ There can never be enough ‘thank yous’ to cover your gift of generative vision to undertake the radical change of heart needed…You have named and called all of us, ‘Someone who dares to love like Jesus.'”

Martha’s legacy is more than the professionalism and incredible growth we achieved under her leadership — it’s about inspiring a passionate community to “dare to love like Jesus” together. With Martha’s guidance and vision, we’ve cared for millions more people.

Thank you, Martha, for 7 years of your leadership! We are grateful for your service.