ANN LEE HUSSEY

"Have Great Dreams and Dare to Live Them"

Ann Lee Hussey has made the eradication of polio and the alleviation of suffering by polio survivors her life’s work.

Over the past several years she has actively participated in 30 volunteer NID (National Immunization Days) teams organizing and leading the last 26 teams herself, choosing to take those NIDs to places that do not often see westerners – Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Niger, Nigeria, Madagascar, Pakistan as well as less “touristy” destinations in Egypt and India – where the need is greatest and where the publicity and goodwill surrounding the trip are as critical as the immunizations themselves to help communicate the need for eradication.

As a global advocate, she has shared her story and passion hundreds of times at numerous Zone Institutes, District Conferences, President Elect Training and Foundation events, and at the International Assembly in 2017, 2018, and 2019 carrying the message of polio eradication around the Rotary world and beyond, raising money and creating new converts to the fight. She is determined that no child will needlessly have to suffer what she herself, a polio survivor, has been through. Her concern for polio survivors includes working to ensure mobility and dignity for those who survived the disease but did not have access to the kinds of surgeries and treatments that she was able to receive. And has led Rotary International grants to this end.

Ann Lee has put a face on the subject of polio eradication, winning hearts and minds and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. A polio survivor herself, the story Ann Lee tells is personal, and so is her journey in the fight to eradicate polio.

But for all the immunizations Ann Lee has herself made possible through NIDs, she considers fundraising, public awareness and inspiring others her most critical accomplishments. To this end she shares the opportunities that Rotary offers individuals for personal and professional growth.

Ann Lee’s work has earned her the International Service Award for a Polio-Free World, the Rotary Service Above Self Award and she was honoured as a White House Champion of Change for her humanitarianism and contributions to public service, aimed at improving people’s lives and making a better future around the globe. She was featured in the magazine Real Simple in June 2012. She was featured in a video in Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Annual Letter for February 2017. In March 2017, Rotary and The World Bank recognized her as a Woman of Action celebrating International Day of Women. Locally in her home state of Maine, she was honoured at the Maine State Senate chamber for her remarkable achievements and included in Maine Magazine as one of the 50 Mainers of 2017 who have changed our world, improved our lives, and broadened our horizons.

Ann Lee is a member of the Rotary Club of Portland Sunrise in Maine and served District 7780 in many capacities including as Governor in 2010-2011. Currently, Ann Lee is serving as a member of the Global Polio Eradication Imitative (GPEI) Integration Working Group, Council on Legislation Rep 2020-2023; Executive Director of the Polio Survivors Rotary Action Group, as a Director on the PDGs Fellowship, as District 7780 PolioPlus Chair and as her club’s president for 2020-2021. She ended her term as Chair of the Rotary Action Group Council and Chair of The Fellowship of Rotarian Past District Governors as of June 2019. Outside Rotary, she serves as a trustee of York Hospital in York, Maine.

Previously she served as an Advisor to Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee and as a member of the Global Polio Eradication Transition Management Group from 2015-2018. She has also served as Presidents’ Representative at several district conferences and represented Rotary at an Easter Seals Annual Convention. Previously she also served as a member of the Rotary International Rotarian Action Groups Committee, the Reach Out to Africa Initiative, and as Zone 32 Coordinator for Health and Hunger.

Ann Lee, who with her late husband, Michael Nazemetz, DVM recently retired from their practice, Village Veterinary Clinic in Rollinsford, New Hampshire. Ann Lee resides in South Berwick, Maine USA with her devoted yellow Labrador, Parker and her curious cat Elliott.

She is a member of the Paul Harris Society, a Rotary Foundation Major Donor and Bequest Society member.