The Lake Clinic Cambodia

Professor Varun Kumar, M.D. is a clinical pediatrician and an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Brown University Medical School, in Providence, RI.

A native of Washington D.C., Varun was raised in Maryland and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, a Medical Degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO and was a resident pediatrician at Brown University from 2002 until 2005.

Varun has been living and working in Cambodia for two years, where he is serving as the Medical Advisor at Angkor Hospital for Children.

Hal Kussick is a general dentist and a member of both the American and Singapore Dental Associations. After 12 years of general dental practice in Seattle, Washington, Hal moved to Singapore in 2005, where he has spent the last two years practising dentistry.

Raised in New Jersey, Hal received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. After four years in construction management, he attended the University of Washington School of Dentistry, graduating in 1993.

Since moving to Southeast Asia, Hal has been able to work more frequently at Angkor Hospital for Children, where he first volunteered as a dentist in 2004. Hal has also pledged his services as a volunteer to the Lake Clinic.

In late 2007, Hal completed a 2,500 mile journey across Australia - on a bicycle!

Jon Morgan is executive director of the Lake Clinic Cambodia.

From 1998 to 2007, Jon was the first executive director of the Angkor Hospital for Children, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. AHC opened its doors on January 14, 1999 and has become an outstanding example of affordable, sustainable healthcare provision in the developing world. Today, AHC treats over 100,000 patients annually.


Jon first came to Cambodia in 1994, when he co-founded a local, Cambodian NGO providing development aid to people in the provinces of Siem Reap, Takeo, and Kompot. In 1998, the NGO was handed over to the local people to manage and Jon was able to join the Japanese photographer, Kenro Izu, in the founding of AHC.


After eight years running AHC, Jon has stepped down to found the Lake Clinic; he believes it is time to build on the enormous success of AHC by taking basic healthcare to some of the poorest and most deprived Cambodians – the people of the Tonle Sap Lake.

Dr. Ngoun Pheaktra, M.D. is the medical director at Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap.

Born and raised in Cambodia, Pheaktra was educated in Cambodia and Thailand, with a degree in general medicine from the University of Health Sciences, Phnom Penh (1997) and a degree in pediatrics from the Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

Pheaktra joined the staff of AHC as a junior pediatrician in 1999. In 2001, he was appointed senior pediatrician; in 2002, chief of the emergency department; and medical director in 2004.

Michael Owen is a principal and co-founder of Baystrategy, LLC a management consulting firm based in Los Angeles.

Specializing in the provision of interim management services, strategic planning and debt and equity fundraising in the U.S.A. and the European Union, Baystrategy also provides general and technical project management services.

Michael currently serves as a non-executive director of Premier Mission Group Ltd, a London based brand development company, where he advises on strategy and alliances; and Bayskills Inc, a Los Angeles based executive search and IT contract staffing company. Michael is a member of the advisory boards of several companies, both in the U.K. and U.S.A. and a co-founder of WHS Fund, a non-profit venture capital fund based in Cambodia.

With over twenty years’ experience as entrepreneur, senior executive and consultant, Michael has lived and worked throughout the U.S.A. and Europe. During this time he has founded, co-founded, managed or advised many successful businesses.

Professor Walter Patrick, M.D., PhD has worked as a primary care physician in several Asian Countries. He is a distinguished medical and public health educator, having served as Visiting Professor in ten universities in Asia, and now heads the Global Health and Medicine Program at the John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, where he served as mentor-advisor to Jon Morgan, TLC's founder and executive director.

Professor Patrick serves as the Secretary General of the prestigious Asia Pacific Academic Consortium of Public Health – a 60 member university consortium from 20 countries extending across the Asia Pacific region, from Kazakhstan to USA and Japan to Australia.

Having served as advisor to WHO, UNICEF and many NGOs in primary healthcare, child survival and issues such as improving gender equity in health in Asia, he has contributed to health development in many disadvantaged community settings.

Prak Manila is currently Nursing Education Coordinator at Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, where she has been employed in various nursing roles since February 1999.

A native of Cambodia, Manila graduated from the Nursing School, Battambang in 1989 and served a two year internship in the maternity and pediatric department of Siem Reap Provincial Hospital (1990 to 1991). Subsequently, Manila served for over seven years as a pediatric nurse and birth spacing counselor at the Siem Reap Health Center from 1992 to 1999.

Dr. Sar Vuthy, M.D. is currently serving as the chief surgeon and vice medical director at Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap.

A native of Cambodia, Vuthy graduated from the University of Health Sciences, Phnom Penh in 1994 and was a resident pediatrician and obstetric gynecologist at the Calmette & National Pediatric Hospitals, Phnom Penh from 1993 to 1994.

Following two years in general medicine in the Siem Reap and Kra Lanh Referral Hospitals, he began training as a surgeon in 1995 at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital, joining the staff of AHC as a trainee pediatric surgeon in 1998. In 1999, Vuthy was appointed as a surgeon at AHC, becoming chief surgeon in 2003.

Kaoru Sato is an IT logistics specialist with over fifteen years’ experience of financial and operational management in the banking, software and entertainment sectors. Since moving to Cambodia in March 2007, she has been working as a full-time volunteer at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, where she has been streamlining budgeting and administrative procedures.

Prior to this, Kaoru worked for Morgan Stanley in Tokyo for nine years, where she worked in risk management, equity options trading support and latterly as IT logistics manager. From 1997 to 1998, Kaoru was finance and operations manager of the Japanese subsidiary of web imaging solutions provider, Live Picture Corp.

After gaining a degree in Sociology at the State University of NY, Kaoru worked in New York City for five years – initially in financial operations for Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (1991-1993), and subsequently as coordinator of international operations for MTV Networks(1993-1995).

Mr. Som Sophal is currently the Director of Nursing at the Angkor Hospital for Children. He is one of the first nurses hired at AHC in 1998, and quickly advanced into a management position. Sophal is also the first nurse to actually be selected to represent The Cambodian Nursing Association at an international conference.

A native of Siem Reap Province, Sophal prior to working at AHC was the Supervisor for the Provincial Hansen's Disease Department, and prior to that worked as the Information Officer of the Siem Reap Provincial Health Department from 1994 to 1996. He has continued his education; recently receiving his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

Tep Navy is currently assistant director of nursing and coordinator of clinical training at Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, where he has been employed in various nursing roles since February 1999.

Navy graduated from the Nursing School, Battambang in 1995 and served as a nurse in the Sothnikum District Hospital until 1998, when he was appointed deputy director of Sothnikum Health Center. Navy has also studied in Thailand and the Philippines and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Build Bright University in Siem Reap, Cambodia.