Cathy Hoelzer

Member Bio

Cathy has been involved in medical missions since 1991 when she first began working with the Kurdish refugees that flooded to the border of Turkey and Iraq. After 3 years working in Iraq she returned to the States to pursue a medical degree as a Physician Assistant. In 2003 she took a 1 month sabbatical to work in Afghanistan. This trip confirmed her desire to return to overseas medical work. Before returning overseas, however, she completed her MPH at Tulane. Cathy did her capstone project in Chad and had an opportunity to work with the Darfurian refugees along the Chadian border with World Vision. In 2006 she and her husband, Brett, started work in South Sudan where they were involved in health and community development programs for over 4 years. While in S. Sudan Cathy taught local Sudanese community health workers, started a successful antenatal program, hygiene and sanitation training in local communities, and also started literacy and basic adult education programs. They also worked in the Philippines where Cathy was involved in teaching primary health care to international midwifery students.

Currently she and her husband are living in Doro, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. Cathy is the Health Program Manger for SIM and runs the Grieve Memorial Clinic. This clinic runs a myriad of programs including a busy outpatient clinic, maternity and ANC ward, leprosy program, family health program and a nutrition village for severely malnourished children. SIM's program in Doro is greatly in need of long-term medical missionaries including NPs, PAs, nurses, and midwives. Please feel free to contact me for more information.