About Us

Omni Med began in 1994, when Dr. Edward O'Neil was seeking a way back to East Africa after a transformative experience working in a mission hospital in Tanzania in 1987 as a fourth-year medical student at George Washington University. While working at Nairobi's Nazareth Hospital in the winter of 1994, he began to envision a text that would decipher world orders of health inequality, list organizations that sought medical personnel for overseas projects, and explain how one travels abroad and works effectively in poor communities. That text became two, which were published by the American Medical Association in 2006, with a foreword written by Paul Farmer. 

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In 2008, Omni Med began a collaboration with the Ugandan Ministry of Health in its Village Health Team (VHT) Program. This program trains local volunteers to provide preventive and curative care, refer sick villagers to health centers, and collect data for the Ministry. This became the foundation of our community-based approach in Uganda.

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We see ourselves as facilitators in a Ugandan initiative, coordinated and executed primarily by Ugandans. 

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Participants from U.S. universities and institutions learn alongside Ugandan staff and providers, gaining firsthand experience in ethical global health practice while supporting community-led initiatives, and helping Ugandans build up their local health infrastructure. We also measure the impact of our work through numerous clinical trials, some of which are ongoing. 

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This creates a space for mutual learning: Ugandan communities gain support for health initiatives they identify as priorities, and participants gain insight into sustainable global health approaches grounded in equity and partnership.