Sacred Valley Health Executive Board

Silvia Rosa Martínez Jiménez

Executive Director

Silvia is an anthropologist specialized in social and cultural policies with an emphasis on cultural heritage work with indigenous groups and communities. She has served in leadership positions in Peru’s Ministry of Education, led health programs for at-risk populations during COVID, and was the Executive Director for the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL) with UNESCO in Cusco for 7 years. She is passionate about working at the intersection of health, education, and culture - right where Sacred Valley Health’s work takes place.

Shakira Bandolin

Board Chair

Shakira Bandolin is an Emergency Medicine Physician, currently practicing in Northern California at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center. She grew up in Idaho and started traveling from an early age. She has undergone formal training in International Emergency Medicine with a focus on the development of emergency care systems and critical care and emergency medicine education globally. During her first trip to Peru, she fell in love with the people, culture and stunning landscapes. It was during this trip that she first got involved with Sacred Valley Health and has been a member of the organization ever since. She is the current Director of Global Health for the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis with a specific interest in developing Emergency Medicine education and infrastructure around the world. When she is not working, she spends her free time enjoying the beautiful outdoors of California by mountain biking, skiing and trail running.

Sarah FitzGerald

Co-Founder and Board Treasurer

Sarah FitzGerald began her career in equity research and later became a high school teacher. Her volunteer work with non-profits led to a growing interest in healthcare in the developing world. As a trustee of two small foundations, she also gained experience assessing non-profit effectiveness from a funder’s perspective. Sarah met Dr. Willcox on a bus in Peru in 2011, and offered to help out with the initiative that later became SVH. After returning to the US, Sarah worked for another health-focused NGO. At SVH, she contributes to the budgets and grants processes. Sarah graduated with honors from Harvard College in 1999 and from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2009.

Mark Willcox

Co-Founder and Board Secretary

Mark became interested in health of indigenous communities initially as a pre-med student at Creighton University, where he worked with the Schlegel Center for Service and Justice. While in medical school and residency at Georgetown University, he worked with the Creighton-affiliated community health worker program in the Dominican Republic, and was inspired by this care model. In August 2011, after finishing residency, he moved to Ollantaytambo, Peru to work with the local government clinic, deliver primary care to the rural communities, and most importantly, start a community health worker program. He currently works as a Cardiac Electrophysiologist in Anchorage, AK after completing fellowships at the University of Washington in 2016. In his free time he likes hiking, camping, and exploring Alaska with his wife and two children. He is continually inspired by SVH’s Peruvian health workers.

Keri Baker

Co-Founder and Board Member

Keri was born and raised in Seattle and graduated from Central Washington University with degrees in Biology and Chemistry. She received a one-year research assistantship in Human Osteology, and then completed her Master’s degree in Forensic Archeology and Crime Scene Investigation from the University of Bradford in England. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Rochester in New York. She then completed the Global Health Effectiveness Program at Harvard in July 2012. In 2015 Keri obtained her Master’s of Nursing from Georgetown University and board certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner. In 2016, Keri was selected to join the Carilion Clinic Emergency Medicine Fellowship and in 2018 she completed a second fellowship in Wilderness Medicine, she also obtained her board certification in Emergency Medicine. In the fall of 2020, Keri will be starting her PhD in Nursing. Keri is passionate about global health and working with rural underserved populations. She co-founded Awamaki Health and the mobile health clinic. In her spare time, Keri is an outdoor enthusiast; she enjoys running, hiking, and cycling. She also is an avid traveler who has visited all seven continents and more than sixty countries. Keri served as Sacred Valley’s Health Executive Director from 2012 - 2020.

Emily Groves

Co-Founder and Board Member

Emily currently works with nonprofits all over Alaska as a fund development and fiscal sponsorship consultant with The Foraker Group, Alaska‘s state nonprofit association. Emily has previously led development efforts at Seattle’s Town Hall and the Economic Opportunity Institute, managed special projects at The Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families in Washington D.C., and worked in Braunschweig, Germany as a Fulbright Scholarship recipient. Emily is grateful for the time she lived in Ollantaytambo, Peru, where she spent her time as a grants and strategic planning consultant for the NGO Awamaki — and ended her year as a co-founder of Sacred Valley Health. In her spare time, Emily enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, cooking, weaving, and finding creative ways to entertain young children. She has an honors degree in English from Lafayette College and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington.

Matthew Fuller

Board Member

Matthew Fuller, a native Iowan, graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2006 with a BA in History and went on to medical school at the University of Iowa, graduating in 2010. After graduation, he completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah in 2013, and went on to complete a Global Health Fellowship in 2014 with projects in Peru and South East Asia focusing on capacity building, trauma training of lay providers and Emergency Medicine education. From 2014-2023, he led collaborative projects in Peru and Vietnam, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah as well as the Chair of Global Health Division. In 2023, he accepted a new position as a Regional Medical Officer with the US Department of State and is now based in Mexico City, MX. Since 2014, he has collaborated with Sacred Valley Health to incorporate trauma triage training as a component of their provider training program and felt privileged to join the Board of Directors for SVH in 2017. When able to escape the office, Matt enjoys traveling with his family, ski touring, and fly fishing and experiencing new cultures!

Patricia Manyari

Board Member

Patricia was born in Lima, Peru where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidad de Lima. She emigrated to the United States to obtain her Master’s in Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She has worked in the Finance area of international nonprofits based in the US, from small to midsize organizations providing financial management and implementing sound financial systems and top internal controls. Currently, Patricia is the Chief Financial Officer of Helen Keller International, a health-based non-profit in NY. She oversees and manages the operational business functions of the organization, such as Finance and Accounting; Budgeting; Compliance; Risk Management and Internal Audit. Before Helen Keller International, Patricia spent 7 years as the CFO of the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) in Washington D.C. In the past, she also served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer at CHF International (now Global Communities) in Washington, D.C. and as VP for Finance at PACT Inc., including 3 years working in Peru.