Directors
Committed to the Cause
Kathy Kieffer
Director of Medical Missions
Kathy graduated from HSU with a BSN and PHN in 1981. She bounced from working a locked ICU psych unit and landed in the ED for the past 32 yrs. She is recently retired! She has been the lead SANE for her county for the past 15 yrs. Her non-profit work has been in the medical field for the past 7 yrs - setting up the groundwork for teams in Peru, Dominican Republic and Cambodia. She has led medical teams to remote regions of Peru and the Dominican Republic. She has also been active in fund raising, writing in-country manuals, team travel and safety. She believes the key to change is education - something we all have in abundance and can freely share. We are wealthy beyond our imaginations.
Dibah Dean
Director of Hospital Relations
Dibah has had a passion and desire to help others since her youth in Afghanistan, where she spent the first five years of her childhood in the midst of war and poverty. Due to a lack of resources and dangers of war, formal education particularly for girls at this time was practically nonexistent. Although her childhood was often traumatic, these experiences have motivated her to live a life of meaning and purpose that is founded upon utmost care and concern for her fellow human beings.
She graduated from Cal State East Bay with a degree in Public Health Education. She currently works as a Level II Trauma/Neuro ER RN in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. She feels lucky to have had many experiences in working with multicultural and bilingual patients and families. She has had the privilege of continuing her humanitarian work through her international travels, volunteering as a nurse in Peru, Cambodia, Kenya, and Mexico.
Lillian Ramos
Director of Mexico City & Volunteering
Lilian is a graduate of Universidad del Valle de Mexico with a degree in psychology. Currently, she serves as the Human Resources Manager for a group of digital companies. She is passionate about helping the underserved, and it was after Mexico's earthquake on September 19, 2017, that she played an instrumental role in organizing medical clinics for The Collective Human Spirit and leading a volunteer force at campsites for the survivors of the earthquake.
In her free time, she loves to travel, eat, spend time with her family and friends. She enjoys theater. loves to sing, dance, write and listen to music.
She believes that if each of us puts a grain of sand to help and respect others, we can have a better world.
Directors
Committed to the Cause
Nallieli Santamaria
Creative Director
Nallieli Santamaria is a Researcher in Human-Centered Design and a story-teller who has always been fascinated by people and cultural nuance. Nallieli studied psychology at UCLA and NYU, and has contributed her talents at companies like Google X, Philips Healthcare, Nest, and more. In her free time, Nallieli enjoys photography, travel, and is working on her first picture book.
As a young child, Nallieli and her mother were part of a community that collected used clothing and food, and every few months drove from Los Angeles to Tijuana to personally give these goods directly to those who needed it. She remembers playing with kids her age in the dusty streets and tin-roof homes of Tijuana, realizing there was no difference between her and them –– it was only luck that she was on the giving side. These early experiences made humility, generosity, and kindness important values for Nallieli, and it is with great pleasure that she now joins the Collective Human Spirit to empower communities with education and resources in hopes to make the world a slightly better place.