A message from Co-Founder & President, Dr. Alfredo Quinoñes-Hinojosa:
Dear Mission Brain Foundation community,
I am thrilled to share some exciting updates with you today.
First, a heartfelt thank you to Alejandro Ortiz for his dedication as the CEO last year. We wish him the best of success in his future endeavors.
Now, I also want to give you a warm welcome to our new Chief Executive Officer, our new CEO, April Sabangan. Her passion and expertise will guide us toward a bright future.
April is dear to me. She was the nurse who trained me when I was resting in the neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco. I am so excited to continue to learn from her.
Over the last 15 years, we have worked together traveling around the globe and doing things that really, truly inspire me through my journey in this extraordinary world as we try to make a difference for patients that need our help. Your unwavering support is essential.
Together, we are changing the world.
In August 2023, we impacted lives in Monterey, Mexico. We touch the hearts of our patients, for patients and their families, reminding us of our global impact.
Thank you for your commitment to Mission Brain Foundation.
I am thrilled to share some exciting updates with you today.
First, a heartfelt thank you to Alejandro Ortiz for his dedication as the CEO last year. We wish him the best of success in his future endeavors.
Now, I also want to give you a warm welcome to our new Chief Executive Officer, our new CEO, April Sabangan. Her passion and expertise will guide us toward a bright future.
April is dear to me. She was the nurse who trained me when I was resting in the neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco. I am so excited to continue to learn from her.
Over the last 15 years, we have worked together traveling around the globe and doing things that really, truly inspire me through my journey in this extraordinary world as we try to make a difference for patients that need our help. Your unwavering support is essential.
Together, we are changing the world.
In August 2023, we impacted lives in Monterey, Mexico. We touch the hearts of our patients, for patients and their families, reminding us of our global impact.
Thank you for your commitment to Mission Brain Foundation.
About April Sabangan
April Sabangan is an Operating Room Nurse specializing in Neurosurgery at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and has been practicing for over 20 years. She's been deeply involved in training nurses and residents for many years and has been a recipient of the Teaching and Service Awards. She is a member of the Department of Neurosurgery's Diversity Committee, aiming to promote diversity and improve representation. As part of this effort, she is also the O.R. liaison and mentor for the Oasis for Girls, a program devoted to providing girls 14-17 years old with exposure to health care and STEM careers.
Ms. Sabangan's pursuit of improving access to educational opportunities has also led to her involvement with Backpacks for the Future. She serves as secretary to this nonprofit that provides backpacks with school supplies to grade school children in rural areas in the Philippines. Additionally, she's worked as an operating room capacity-building volunteer in Ethiopia with Footsteps to Healing, and project liaison for a blood banking project in the Philippines with Global Healing. She has also volunteered with Operation Rainbow in Haiti and with Habitat for Humanity in Jordan.
Born and raised in the Philippines, she received her Nursing education and training in a large public hospital caring for some of the poorest in the country. Her first-hand experience in health care delivery disparities has galvanized her commitment towards improving access and quality of care in underserved and underdeveloped areas.
She is an avid traveler who has been to 30 countries and all seven continents. She is also an amateur photographer and a member of the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery. Finally, she likes to call herself the slowest but the most determined marathoner who believes showing up, and persevering to finish the race no matter the challenges, even if you finish last, is just as important as finishing first.
Being with Mission:BRAIN since its inception, April is deeply intimate in its development and growth. She is as committed now as she was from the very beginning to making Mission:BRAIN a global organization that creates positive, lasting, impactful change in the community it serves. She wants to ensure that those who are part of the Mission:BRAIN community can reach their full potential to achieve their mission statement to treat, educate, and empower.
Ms. Sabangan's pursuit of improving access to educational opportunities has also led to her involvement with Backpacks for the Future. She serves as secretary to this nonprofit that provides backpacks with school supplies to grade school children in rural areas in the Philippines. Additionally, she's worked as an operating room capacity-building volunteer in Ethiopia with Footsteps to Healing, and project liaison for a blood banking project in the Philippines with Global Healing. She has also volunteered with Operation Rainbow in Haiti and with Habitat for Humanity in Jordan.
Born and raised in the Philippines, she received her Nursing education and training in a large public hospital caring for some of the poorest in the country. Her first-hand experience in health care delivery disparities has galvanized her commitment towards improving access and quality of care in underserved and underdeveloped areas.
She is an avid traveler who has been to 30 countries and all seven continents. She is also an amateur photographer and a member of the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery. Finally, she likes to call herself the slowest but the most determined marathoner who believes showing up, and persevering to finish the race no matter the challenges, even if you finish last, is just as important as finishing first.
Being with Mission:BRAIN since its inception, April is deeply intimate in its development and growth. She is as committed now as she was from the very beginning to making Mission:BRAIN a global organization that creates positive, lasting, impactful change in the community it serves. She wants to ensure that those who are part of the Mission:BRAIN community can reach their full potential to achieve their mission statement to treat, educate, and empower.
