As we reflect on International Medical Corps’ 40-year history, we’re highlighting some of the courageous volunteers and staff members who have dedicated their lives over the years to helping others. This profile of Dr. Jill John-Kall is the fifth in that series. We profiled long-time staff member Dr. Dayan Woldemichael, and three volunteers, Dr. Mike Karch, Dr. Chuck Wright and Dr. Michael Grady.
“My first mission with International Medical Corps was almost 20 years ago,” says Dr. Jill John-Kall. “I worked in Chad for five months, and then I went to South Sudan, which wasn’t even its own country yet.”
Dr. John-Kall leans forward, gathering herself before continuing with a story about her time there.
“It was a couple of weeks before Christmas. We had taken a break to have dinner when a couple came into the health facility with a severely malnourished child. It was clear that he was not going to live. It was heartbreaking. We managed to get an IV in his arm, and despite his condition, he opened his eyes and looked at his parents. A few minutes later, he passed away. I was devastated; it’s such an unimaginable loss for a family. And then his parents thanked me and the team for that moment with their child. I think about that a lot when we’re deployed to help after a disaster.”
Dr. John-Kall has dedicated her life to humanitarian aid, despite its challenges and emotional toll. Over the course of her career, she has worked in more than 15 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Growing up, she saw first-hand the grit and dedication it takes to do this work.
“My family is from India and several of my family members are doctors, including my father,” Dr. John-Kall explains. “I was born in Saudi Arabia because my dad was a doctor there for a few years. Then he moved to the United States, and my mother and I went back to India and waited until we had all the paperwork necessary to join him. In the meantime, he got a job, a house and a car. Finally, when I was 6 years old, we moved to America.”
Despite living in the US, her family traveled back to India often to visit family. During that time, her father volunteered in his mother’s village and the surrounding areas, providing free medical care to underserved communities with few resources. He was joined by other doctors in their family—and Jill and her siblings often went with them.
“I grew up watching the doctors in my family see patients for free and get medications for them in these rural villages in India,” Dr. John-Kall explains.
When she decided to pursue medicine, she attended medical college in India, where she studied clinical medicine and surgery. It was a learning experience on more levels than she had anticipated.
“When I studied in India, it was the first time I realized that this was my patient. It’s one thing to watch someone else, like your aunt or uncle or your dad, do this kind of work. It’s a different thing when it’s your responsibility to diagnose and treat patients who can’t afford all the lab tests and X-rays that are available to people in high-resource environments.”
After medical college, Dr. John-Kall returned to the US for specialty training at New York Medical College. She completed her residency in family medicine at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers, a suburb of New York City. Though she received job offers in New York, she knew her heart was in humanitarian work abroad.
Dr. John-Kall joined International Medical Corps in 2005, deploying first to Chad and then to South Sudan, Sudan and eventually Afghanistan. She worked closely with her team and utilized her problem-solving skills to provide effective care for her patients—despite the challenges that arose in low-resource areas. Dr. John-Kall took on her current role as Senior Health Advisor in 2012.
In this role, she provides guidance and technical support for both the country missions and headquarters, focusing on quality of care, she says, “to help ensure that our Health programs run smoothly and our patients get the best care possible.” This often involves traveling to different countries to meet with our Health teams, learn what gaps exist and how to address them, and provide training and mentorship. She also deploys during emergency responses, including in Gaza, Syria and Ukraine.
In 2018, Dr. John-Kall helped lead International Medical Corps’ Emergency Response Team in a field hospital simulation exercise in Los Angeles with medical staff from several local hospitals. The exercise involved different components that would normally be seen in an emergency, including infectious disease outbreaks like cholera. Participants walked through the setting up and running of a field hospital while learning more about International Medical Corps—encouraging their interest in volunteering with us during emergencies.
“When there’s an emergency, people look for the health workers—and that’s where International Medical Corps comes in,” she says. “We’re not going somewhere because it’s easy and because they have lots of supplies, doctors, nurses and midwives. We’re going where they don’t have many resources, where we can help people not only find immediate relief but also long-term stability through our programs and training.
“We also pride ourselves on providing integrated services,” Dr. John-Kall continues. “No matter what your issue is, if you go to a health facility that’s supported by International Medical Corps, there’s someone who can help you. For example, a primary healthcare facility may be most people’s first point of contact, but it offers more than providers treating a wound or an infectious disease. We often provide mental health care and maternal and child services, or we can refer you to a health facility that offers more advanced care if needed.”
When reflecting on the past 20 years, Dr. John-Kall shares that people often ask her how she keeps going when there are so many problems in the world, when there is always another emergency.
“Our focus is to help people,” she explains. “I’m not saying that’s going to cure the larger problem or fix it, but I feel like it’s just a little bit easier to deal with so many horrible things happening around you if there’s someone who cares, who’s there to help you in your time of need. Even if that’s just a hand to hold, you know? That can be enough to make a difference.”