Advisory Board to MoM Ghana
Hella Bluhm-Stieber
Hella grew up in West-Berlin, Germany. She worked as head librarian in a church organization in Stuttgart that provides social services and runs programs for international development. In 1988, she moved to the US where she obtained her masters in library and information science. She works part-time as a medical librarian at a teaching hospital in San Jose, California and is one of the founders of the San Jose State University alumni association for librarians. Hella has been heavily engaged in governing bodies of her church since she first moved to the USA. She has also co-founded a neighborhood association, and is involved in several other community and environmental activities.
Hella has been interested in social development and especially in fostering the development of women for many years, and she is delighted to be part of the exiting work of Medicine on the Move, and bring in her experience of working with non-profit organizations.
It all started when she and her husband Tony took their children to visit Tony's former school in Ghana in 2007. While touring Ghana, Burkino Faso and Mali, they came across Medicine on the Move, and they were so impressed by the work of MoM that they wanted to get involved as a family.
Tony Stieber
As student in Ireland, Tony was so inspired by the founding of the Peace Corps that he got a job after high school as a teacher in a Kenyan village. Once he completed his engineering degree in Dublin, he just had to go back to Africa, and now worked in a vocational school in northwestern Ghana teaching and developing a curriculum in metalworking. He then spent six months riding a motorbike back to Ireland.
He has been working for Hewlett Packard in Germany and California in various roles including technical marketing, software internationalization, strategic alliance management, IP licensing, digital photography and now user experience. HP and Agilent loaned him to a high school program for three years to run an industry partnering program for challenged students. When his children were younger, Tony worked part-time for nine years (including six years in a job-share).
Tony is an active member of the Civil Air Patrol (US Air Force Auxiliary), where he is a search mission pilot, and he volunteers for his church as well as for Medicine on the Move. He and his wife, Hella always enjoy participating in the exploits of their two children.
Tony's engagement with Medicine on the Move started when he and his wife Hella took their children to visit his former school in Ghana in 2007. While touring Ghana, Burkino Faso and Mali, they came across Medicine on the Move, and they were so impressed by the work of MoM that they wanted to get involved as a family.
Melissa Pemberton
In 2005, at 22, Melissa became the youngest female to ever make the US Unlimited Aerobatic Team. She has won multiple awards in aerobatics and competed at the World Championships. Today she flies air shows in her Edge 540 and a Stearman 450 for a wingwalking team. She is also a display skydiver along with her husband Rex.
Melissa grew up in Pittsburgh, PA where she first flew with her grandmother, Marylou Waite in her Cessna 150-Aerobat. Marylou took Melissa for her first loops and rolls and got her hooked on aviation at a very young age. At 17, she learned how to fly with her grandfather, Leo Jansen in that very same Aerobat. In high school Melissa was given the book Jungle Pilot which inspired her to peruse a career in aviation in the hopes to someday become involved in humanitarian aviation.
Melissa holds her ATP ratings in the US and Canada. With over 2,000 flight hours Melissa is focused on helping to train the AvTech students in aviation and to fly humanitarian aid missions in both Ghana and Central America. She is using her air show career to help to promote MOM's mission and to encourage women in aviation all around the world. Having flown on 6 different continents, Melissa has also performed in air shows throughout North and Central America, Asia and Europe.
Rex Pemberton
On May 31, 2005 Rex Pemberton made history by becoming the youngest Australian to climb to the summit of Mt Everest. Having delivered significant Return on Investment to his sponsors, Rex raised funding to support his next successful quest, becoming the 3rd youngest person in the world to climb the highest mountain on all seven continents. Along with his wife, Melissa, Rex performs skydiving displays on the air show circuit.
Rex is not only an athlete he is also a Mt Everest keynote speaker and facilitator. Rex has delivered over 400 corporate presentations to over 70,000 people across 7 continents. His client list includes corporations like Hewlett Packard, Seagate technologies, Genentech and Google. Rex, as a Mt Everest keynote speaker & facilitator effectively combines his knowledge of the mountains with his experience in management and sponsorship to deliver inspirational presentations. Rex is possibly the only presenter in the world to completed presentations on all 7 continents.
Rex is the only athlete ever to earn the 'Young Adventurer of the Year Award' twice by Australian Geographic for his climbing achievements.
Rex also works in adventure film and photography having produced 2 documentaries of his own including 'To Stand Above the Clouds' on his climb to the summit of Mt. Everest and 'The Calling,' a documentary on Medicine On the Move. He is using his passion for adventure and filming to help to promote MOM and to encourage people all around the World.
Clay Hollenback
Clay earned his bachelors degree in genetics from Purdue University in 1988. He has worked in several molecular and micro biology laboratories and currently works at the University of Iowa in the Department of Internal medicine in the division of infectious diseases with the inflammation program.
Between 1999 and 2002 Clay traveled to Nepal with his wife on 4 medical missions. It was during these trips that he developed a love for humanitarian work.
Clay is a pilot and is building a Zenith Ch 750. While looking for advice on the Zenith builder’s forum, Clay read a post from Medicine on the Move founder Jonathan Porter. An interest in both humanitarian work and bush flying drew Clay’s attention to Medicine on the Move.
