Staff

2024 Leadership Team

Program Leader

Volunteer Mentors

Volunteer Mentors-in-Training

Board of Directors

Nicolas Cuttriss, MD, MPH, FAAP | Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board

ncuttriss@ayudainc.net

Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board | AYUDA

Founding Director | ECHO Diabetes Action Network

Pediatric Endocrinologist, Medical Director | ENDO Diabetes & Wellness

Dr. Cuttriss is a social entrepreneur and a practicing pediatric endocrinologist and public health professional with a unique dedication to health disparities and improving the quality of life of people living with diabetes. Nick co-founded AYUDA at the age of fourteen with his friend Jesse Fuchs-Simon during their freshman year at Georgetown Day High School. The two traveled to Ecuador where they met a family that had exhausted all of its funds paying for a child’s insulin and diabetes supplies. After discovering that few families in the country had any information about how to manage diabetes, Dr. Cuttriss and Jesse founded AYUDA with start-up funding from Ashoka’s Youth Venture. In Ecuador, Dr. Cuttriss witnessed the lack of education among kids and families living with diabetes. He also witnessed the power of youth in overcoming education barriers and serving as agents of change to empower youth with diabetes to live happier and healthier lives. Those two initial observations continue to play into Dr. Cuttriss’ focus within AYUDA and his medical career.

Dr. Cuttriss currently serves as Founding Director and CEO of the ECHO Diabetes Action Network after serving as Director of Project ECHO Diabetes and Project ECHO Diabetes in the Time of COVID-19 at Stanford University. Prior to Stanford, Dr. Cuttriss served as the first pediatric endocrinologist for the University of New Mexico Project ECHO Institute ENDO teleECHO clinic, designed to democratize diabetes specialty knowledge by empowering primary care clinicians to care for patients with complex diabetes who lack access to routine diabetes specialty care. Clinically, Dr. Cuttriss founded ENDO Diabetes & Wellness, a medical practice specializing in diabetes and telehealth, where he also supports and consults with medical groups and hospital systems around the country to address barriers to routine diabetes specialty care.

Dr. Cuttriss received his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and his medical and public health degrees from the George Washington University School of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and his fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the Jackson Memorial Hospital-University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Program, where he also served on faculty in public health sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine during and after his training. After completing his training, Dr. Cuttriss focused his attention towards better understanding disparities of care in diabetes and alternative approaches to providing a more practical and efficient model of delivery of care, as well as empowerment to children and their families dealing with chronic pediatric endocrine conditions.

Dr. Cuttriss is a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Cuttriss has published articles on AYUDA’s impact and programs; he is a frequent speaker at international and national professional meetings; and he serves on several boards and advisory committees. As a practicing pediatric endocrinologist, Dr. Cuttriss supports underserved communities in the United States and globally. Dr. Cuttriss continues to help guide and direct AYUDA by serving as its Chairman of the Board.

Marsha Basloe | Board Member

Board member Marsha Basloe began as President of Child Care Services Association (CCSA) in Chapel Hill, NC in January 2018 after being a Senior Advisor for the Office of Early Childhood Development at the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). CCSA is a nationally recognized nonprofit working to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality early care and education for all children and families. The organization accomplishes its mission through direct services, research, and advocacy. Before joining HHS, Marsha served as the executive director of the Early Care & Learning Council, the statewide Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agency for New York State’s 37 CCR&R agencies, where she was a member of the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. Prior to New York, she was in North Carolina as the executive director of Durham’s Partnership for Children, the county non-profit agency that implemented North Carolina’s early childhood Smart Start initiative. Earlier experience includes more than 20 years as an educator, program director, resource development director, and executive director.

Marsha became involved with AYUDA when her daughter Laurie Basloe, who is living with Type 1 diabetes, participated as a volunteer in Ecuador. The experience impacted Laurie’s life and work as she continued to incorporate the youth empowerment model in her teaching experience, raising awareness about diabetes and supporting AYUDA. Marsha joined the board in December 2014. She looks forward to participating in this important work and hopes her non-profit experience will be valuable in this position.

Benno C. Schmidt III | Board Member

Emmy-nominated broadcast news veteran Benno C. Schmidt III has reported around the world, with a recent emphasis on the challenges and triumphs of those living with diabetes. Benno has written extensively about his own diabetes journey, after being diagnosed in college and nearly dying. He anchored dLife on CNBC for years and recently shared his struggles with complications in a series of videos to help others know there’s hope. Benno was named a "Diabetes Champion" in 2014 by dLife and is host of DRI-TV for the Diabetes Research Institute in South Florida’s as the D.R.I. for a biological cure. He’s a diabetes patient advocate for Boston Scientific. In 2015, Benno traveled with AYUDA to Haiti with the Camp de l'Amitie Program as a skilled volunteer.

Martin Lafontaine | Board Member

Born and raised in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada, a graduate from University du Quebec in Trois-Rivieres, and since employee of the pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline, Martin has more than 12 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he had the opportunity to occupy various roles within Canada as well as at the International level, developing strong cross-functional commercial expertise. More recently, Martin has used his skills to launch the UK based NGO Project Hope United Kingdom, a new initiative in South African soil, and the Thoughtful Path Munsieville,  a revolutionary program aiming at developing a fully integrated model of excellence in the care for orphans and other vulnerable children, based on community empowerment. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 13, Martin’s personal and professional interests are focused on diabetes and the worldwide need for more optimal care. He dedicates his free time to inspiring and challenging his peers with diabetes to free themselves from self-imposed limitations and supporting their efforts to live long, happy, active, and limitless lives! On top of his role as a member of the AYUDA Board of Directors, Martin also serves on the Board of Directors of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute, the world's first organization dedicated to tackling the unmet psychological needs of people with diabetes. His motto… life should be lived without limits!

Jake Rosenberg | Board Member

Jake was born in Cherry Hill, NJ. He became involved with AYUDA after meeting Nick Cuttriss and Jesse Fuchs-Simon at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Health Care Management and Health Care Systems. After attending multiple AYUDA camps, where he helped write the camp songs, Jake graduated college and worked in healthcare finance while pursuing music at night. He wanted to be more hands on in medicine and decided to go to medical school, graduating in 2012. He is currently in his psychiatry residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, where he enjoys working with patients and developing educational tools for doctors and patients alike.

Kim Morse | Board Member

Honorary Board Members

Jesse Fuchs-Simon, Esq

Jesse Fuchs-Simon, a Washington D.C. native who attended Georgetown Day School, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in History and Sociology of Science. He received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador, where he worked on a World Health Organization research program involving Type I diabetes. Jesse has guided AYUDA's activities in countries around the world. He used to practice law in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and now helps build hotels.

Adam Jason Ross, MPA/ID

Adam served as Vice President and member of the Board of Directors for over a decade, starting in 1997. He is extremely grateful for his experience with AYUDA and the opportunity to contribute to such a worthy cause. His tenure with AYUDA was the catalyst for his career in international development, which included working as an Economist at the World Bank and as a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Adam earned his BSc. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and MPA in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School. He now lives in India.

Jenny Osterhout, MA

Jenny Osterhout is a Washington D.C. native who attended Georgetown Day School, graduated from Duke University, and received her Masters degree in International Affairs and Development at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. She has been a part of AYUDA since 2003, when she spent the summer living and volunteering in Ecuador. Jenny currently works as an associate at McKinsey and Company in New York and Mexico City.