Dr. Laura Dewitt – Fundraising, Medical Advisory
Dr. Dewitt is currently a board certified anesthesiologist at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, VA since 1996. She received her medical diploma from the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH. She followed her residencies with a regional anesthesia fellowship at Virginia Mason Medical Center in 1995. She is a member of the Virginia and American Society of Anesthesiology and is currently a member and has been Chair of the Inova Alexandria Hospital Anesthesia Quality Assurance Committee.
Dr. Gerard Engh – President Emeritus
Dr. Gerard Engh founded of Operation Walk Virginia in 2006. We took our first medical mission to Nicaragua 2006 in conjunction with the original Operation Walk team out of Los Angeles founded by Dr. Lawrence Dorr. Dr. Engh is a board certified orthopedic surgeon with the Anderson Clinic which was founded by his father Otto Engh and has pioneered the research and development of knee implants. Dr. Engh received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Virginia. He has been in private practice as an orthopedic surgeon since 1973, received the Ranawat Award three years running, and has been published numerous times.
Dr. Kevin Fricka – Fundraising, Medical Advisory
Dr. Fricka is a board certified orthopedist who practices with the Anderson Orthopedic Clinic in Alexandria, Virginia. He received his Doctor of Medicine from George Washington University in 1999 and was a Fellow in Adult Joint Reconstructive Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. He has been published in the Journal of Arthroplasty, co-authored several book chapters and is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. This will be his second trip with Operation Walk Virginia.
Dr. David W. Gehring – Fundraising, Medical Advisory
Dr. Gehring is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and currently practices medicine with Mount Vernon Internal Medicine in Alexandria, VA. Additionally, Dr. Gehring is the Medical Director for Operation Walk Virginia; this will be his third mission. Dr. Gehring received is Doctor of Medicine from the American University of the Carribean and completed his Internship and Residency at Georgetown University. He was selected as a top Physician in Washingtonian magazine.
Dr. Bill Hamilton – Fundraising, Medical Advisory
Dr. Hamilton is a board certified orthopaedist who practices with Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic in Alexandria, Virginia. He has been involved with Operation Walk Virginia since its inception. Involved in the planning, fund raising, and organization of each of the first two operation walk trips to Nicaragua have proved very rewarding. While the workload is significant during the one week stay in Managua, the need is so exceptional and the patients so thankful, that this far outweighs the fatigue.
Constance Kohler, OT – Board President
Connie has been an occupational therapist for 15 years and has been with INOVA for 12 of those years. Connie has practiced in home health, inpatient, outpatient, pediatrics, and even hippotherapy (using the horse as the therapeutic medium. Connie earned her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Shenandoah University after receiving her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Virginia Tech. She is currently the owner of her own Occupational Therapy Practice.
Julia Warner, RN – Board Secretary
Ms. Warner is currently working as the Patient Care Director of the Inova Joint Replacement Center at Inova Mt. Vernon Hospital in Alexandria, VA. She is also a team leader with the Operation Walk Virginia team and organized and participated in all 4 Operation Walk Virginia missions. She graduated from George Mason University with her BSN in 1992 and her MSN in 2009.
David Welsh – Board Treasurer
David has been involved with Operation Walk for the past few years and was fortunate enough to volunteer on the last trip to Panama. He is Manager of Network Operations with Arnold and Porter in their Washington, DC office. David has been involved in the fundraising and organization of the charity.
