The Haiti Project to Hold 13th Annual Art & Soul Gala at Vassar College
March 16, 2025 – POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The Haiti Project’s 13th annual Art & Soul Gala will honor accomplished Hudson Valley physicians Diane Cicatello, MD and Kimberly Heller, MD, who both went to Haiti and served in our clinic there. Also being honored are the Vassar Haiti Project alumnae/i whose dedication to the organization’s health mission has manifested in healthcare careers. We are excited to celebrate the achievements of our honorees and their impact on our collective work.
The Art & Soul Gala is on Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 5:30pm at Vassar College’s Alumnae House. The event is the only funding source for the medical clinic which serves 3000+ residents of almost 50 villages in the mountains of northwest Haiti.
Diane M Cicatello, MD is a well-established Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician who has been serving children and families in the Mid-Hudson region for the past 29 years. In 2010 she joined the CareMount Medical Group, and now is a partner at Optum Health, where she is actively involved in providing the region’s most premier care for children. In 2016, she joined the Haiti Project’s Medical Advisory Board, through which she has shared knowledge and medical expertise to develop and maintain an operational medical clinic in Fiervil, Haiti. The outcome has provided necessary access to medical care for the region. “Climbing the mountain,” Dr. Cicatello recalls from her Haiti trip in 2017, “connecting with the indigenous people and realizing their needs are my own - we are all the same, that was powerful! Giving unconditionally has always been an inherent value of mine which invariably seems to provide enormous return - working to meet the needs of the villagers was the epitome of selflessness and amazingly rewarding!”
Dr. Kimberly Heller, MD a highly recognized, fellowship-trained, board-certified maternal fetal medicine specialist has worked in health care since the 1970s. She started her career as a nursing assistant and became a registered nurse in 1977. She became a physician in 1985 and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology. She completed a fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine and has been caring for women with high-risk pregnancies in the Hudson Valley since 2008. Her interests include reproductive rights and safe childbirth. She joined the Haiti Project Medical Advisory Board in 2014 and traveled to Haiti in 2017. Dr. Heller recalls: “My fondest memories of my time in Haiti include my conversations with the local midwife, my admiration of her knowledge and experience, singing and dancing with the women’s collective, meeting the young artisans, and wading across a flooded river with help from the locals.”
Many students who participated in the Vassar Haiti Project have chosen to pursue careers in the health field are also being honored at the Gala. Their participation in the Project’s initiatives helped to imagine, and then build, the medical clinic in Fiervil. Some of the students being honored are now physicians, and researchers across many medical fields and committed to furthering the mission in the service of others through their choice of careers.
Former Vassar Haiti Project (VHP) president, Paarul Sinha’17 has devoted hours to planning the upcoming Gala: “For me, being part of the effort to support healthcare in Haiti is deeply meaningful – especially now, with all the volatility in Haiti in recent years. Through those challenges, I’m inspired by how the clinic has remained a steady source of healthcare for over a decade. It’s a reminder that sustainable, community-driven healthcare matters—and I’m humbled to play a small part in ensuring that this essential work continues, through a beautiful and inspiring fundraiser like Art & Soul.”
The clinic has continued to operate without a pause during exceptionally challenging and dangerous conditions, thanks especially to the leadership of its director, Dr. Bertrand Norvilus. According to Dr. Norvilus, “when we know that there are people who fight day by day to accompany us, we must continue with our mission because in turmoil, there is always hope; when everything appears black, a wisp of light will appear. Every day I receive thanks from patients who receive treatment and feel cured of their illnesses. They pray for the entire Vassar team, foreigners, [supporters], students who care about us despite the physical distance that separates us.”
Clinic in Chermaitre
Despite the obstacles, we are happy to report some very happy news: the completion of the construction of a solar-powered laboratory, which was funded by Rotary International and members of the Haiti Project’s Medical Advisory Board.
“I find it hard to believe I'm about to graduate from medical school,” says former Health Initiative VP Gabriela Mandeville ‘19. “It feels like it was just the other day that I was having my first real clinical experience in Haiti. My experience at the Fiervil clinic ignited my passion for medicine and has continued to be a meaningful part of my journey through my medical education.”
Paul Pesco’s fabulous band, La Bonne Vie will be joined this year by special guest, Elvis Francois, MD. Known as the singing surgeon, Dr. Francois is of Haitian origin and is completing his final year of Harvard’s Spine Surgery Fellowship. Vassar’s Mahagonny Jazz Combo will regale us during the cocktail hour, and beautiful, vibrant Haitian art will be available for purchase throughout the gala. Additionally, there will be delicious hors d'oeuvres, desserts and beverages, catered by Main Course. The program runs from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm and tickets for the event are $125.
Visit this Ticket link to purchase a ticket. Sponsorships to underwrite the annual clinic operational budget including the doctor’s salary, nurses and medications are welcomed. Sponsorship Link
“Working with the Haiti Project is important to me because it provides an opportunity in which I can directly help people most in need while also highlighting the beauty of Haitian culture,” says planning team member and current Vassar student Logan Watts ‘27, who hopes to be a doctor one day. “This opportunity also allows me to work within a motivating, intimate community of individuals who are dedicated to the mission of the organization.”
The Haiti Project is a 501©3 nonprofit organization that works closely with community members, youth of all ages, and like-minded organizations such as the Vassar Haiti Project. Their work is an experiential education program that teaches student volunteers the theory and practice of global citizenship. In addition to the purchase and sale of original Haitian art, contributions benefit five initiatives in the northwest mountains of Haiti: education, reforestation, clean water access, a women’s cooperative, and health care.
About Vassar College
Vassar College–based in Poughkeepsie, New York is a co-educational, independent, residential liberal arts college where perspectives cross, ideas intersect, and passion burns bright. Originally founded to provide women an education equal to that once available only to men, Vassar was the first all-women’s college in the nation to become coeducational when it opened its doors to men in 1969. Vassar fosters an intellectual openness and independence in students, who meet each other as equals, and are encouraged to absorb diverse thought and impassioned dialogue that give them the insight and confidence they will need in a complex world where they will make important contributions. Consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country, Vassar is renowned for pioneering achievements in education, for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the beauty of its campus.
