2011 Community Leadership Awards Finalists
Finalist: MARY BERSOT
MedShare may not be a household name yet, but Mary Bersot is striving to fix that.
The Georgia-based organization collects surplus medical supplies and equipment from hospitals, medical distribution companies and individuals. It then solicits donations to ship them to impoverished health care facilities in the developing world and free clinics in the United States.
Since 2008 Ms. Bersot, chief executive of Bersot Capital Management LLC in Mill Valley, Calif., (primary custodian Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services) has led the effort to expand MedShare's resources beyond Georgia by leasing a warehouse in California. The organization currently collects medical surplus from 60 hospitals in the two states.
In the past 18 months, Ms. Bersot has raised $100,000 to help fund shipments of supplies to Haiti and American Samoa for earthquake and tsunami relief, respectively. She also secured a $270,000 in-kind donation of medical supplies and recruited high-level community leaders to promote awareness of MedShare on the West Coast.
"For me, it was a very easy decision to get involved in MedShare, because I've witnessed the primitive condition of clinics in Africa,"; Ms. Bersot said.
“I believe that providing better quality medical care for the underserved here and internationally is critical for a healthy world,"; she said.