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About Us
Charaplast Board of Directors
 Dr. Donald Laub - CEO dlaub@stanford.edu |
Charplast was founded by Dr. Donald R. Laub in 1980. The purpose was to put together a nonprofit organization for family members to use as a vehicle to help the people of the world. Charaplast is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the USA. Dr. Laub is also the founder of the organization Interplast. Interplast was found over 30 years ago to bring medical relief to children and young adults with cleft lip and cleft palette deformities. Over the years, Interplast has been to over 30 countries and performed tens of thousands of free surgeries on children of the world. After completing 159 surgical trips to developing countries, Dr. Laub is now focused on mentoring undergraduate and medical students, and conveying the value of students in the field of international health. He has been involved in teaching several courses at Stanford University, including Principles and Practice of International Humanitarian Medicine. |
 James Laub - President Jameslaub@email.phoenix.edu |
James Laub started Charaplast’s first mission to Cambodia in the year 2001. It was at that time that Charaplast was successful in bringing the organization Operation Smile into Phnom Penh. They performed cleft lip and cleft palette surgery on 160 children over 10 days. That set into motion a series of other opportunities and similar medical missions to DaNang, Veitnam and Cambodia. In 2009, a new educational outreach program was started in Siem Reap, Cambodia where Charaplast now sponsors 11 Cambodian students to PUC university. The goal is to support young upward mobile students and give them an opportunity to succeed in their own country while giving back to their own population in the future thus becoming fellow humanitarians. |
 Daniel Gratch Board Member - Director Student Communication and Development dgratch@stanford.edu |
Having grown up in New York City to a privileged family fond of traveling to remote places around the world, Daniel Gratch knew from an early age that the concepts of service and giving back were very important to him. These values were further instilled in him while attending Stanford University, an institution which stresses service as integral part of each student's education. It was there that he studied under Dr. Donald Laub who ultimately inspired him to join the Charaplast team by participating in a service trip to Cambodia in 2010. After graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy, Daniel is now pursuing a post-baccalaureate certificate in premedical sciences at Columbia University with the hopes of becoming a doctor that specializes in global public health issues. As board member and Director of Student Development for Edulift, Charaplast remains an important part of Daniel's life. |
 Ariana Afshar Board Member - Director of Intelemed arianakafshar@gmail.com |
Ariana graduated from Stanford University in June 2011 with a degree in Human Biology, concentrating in International Women and Child Health. Her numerous volunteer experiences and coursework have solidified her career aspirations to provide quality health care in vulnerable populations. Underscoring the need for student involvement in global health, she is the founder of InteleMed, the newest subsidiary of Charaplast. Ariana is also the instructor of the "Global Humanitarian Medicine" course at Stanford University. Motivated with a passion for equality in access to health care and the individual connection, she will be applying to medical school next year. |
| Rod Stoddard Board Member - Co-Director Edulift rodericstoddard@gmail.com |
Coming Soon |
Charplast was founded by Dr. Donald R. Laub in 1980. The purpose was to put together a nonprofit organization for family members to use as a vehicle to help the people of the world. Charaplast is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the USA. Dr. Laub is also the founder of the organization Interplast. Interplast was found over 30 years ago to bring medical relief to children and young adults with cleft lip and cleft palette deformities. Over the years, Interplast has been to over 30 countries and performed tens of thousands of free surgeries on children of the world. Around 1999, James Laub began to discover some educational and medical opportunities of need in Cambodia. After several trips and preliminary work, he paved the way for educational supplies and computers donated from the USA to be sent to the schools outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Following that came the successful partnership with Operation Smile which is another organization of doctors and nurses who provide cleft lip and cleft palette surgeries throughout the world.
James Laub provided the means and for Operation Smile to come to Cambodia in 2002 where they landed with a team of medical personnel and equipment and conducted over 160 cleft lip and cleft palette surgeries in one week. Since then, Operation Smile has been returning to Cambodia annually to do the same thing each year. Over 500 surgeries in Cambodia alone have now been performed changing the lives of these children forever.In 2005, more opportunities were discovered by James Laub in Vietnam. After establishing a rapport with the hospitals in DaNang, Vietnam, Laub secured medical equipment donations from the USA (Swanson Family Foundation) and had a container of equipment delivered to the hospitals of Danang City. With the help of the nonprofit organization in Vietnam called Children of Vietnam, the equipment was safely received and delivered to the hospitals in need.
A relationship was cemented with the directors and doctors of DaNang General hospital and Danang Orthopedic hospital.
In 2007, Laub invited a Polish contingent of doctors to come to these 2 hospitals to provide training, new techniques and perform surgeries in the pediatrics ward of Danang General and with children and adults in DaNang Orthopedic hospital. The Polish team came with 7 pediatricians of various specialties along with 3 orthopedic doctors and one orthopedic nurse. The goal was to give the Vietnamese doctors more advanced Western style medical techniques and procedures. In addition, the Polish team lectured to the hospital staff in each specialty area giving the doctors of Vietnam more hope and strategies to help the children and adults.
In 2009, a new scholarship program was started to help young adults attend University in Cambodia. The intent is to send qualified high school students to University when they could not otherwise attend college. Charaplast will sponsor their college tuition and in return these students will be members of Charaplast giving back by volunteering in the future when we bring medical or educational missions to the country.
