Ken Isaacs
Vicepresidente de Programas y Relaciones Gubernamentales, Samaritan's Purse
As vice president of programs and government relations, Ken Isaacs oversees all international relief projects for Samaritan's Purse. Isaacs has more than 35 years of experience working in the relief and development communities, and his work has taken him to over 140 countries in response to global emergencies resulting from wars, complex crises, famines and natural disasters. He has testified multiple times before House and Senate committees and subcommittees, including the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House International Relations Committee.
Isaacs has served on the ground in response to foreign disasters and aid projects. He has directed major relief operations around the world since 1991, including Samaritan's Purse' work in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. Isaacs also coordinated relief efforts in Liberia during the Ebola crisis, following massive earthquakes in China and Haiti, and following the devastating cyclones that hit Myanmar and the Philippines. In addition, he designed and implemented emergency relief programs in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Honduras, El Salvador, Kosovo, Turkey, Afghanistan, Nepal, Haiti, Japan and the Philippines. Under the leadership of Isaacs, Samaritan's Purse recently deployed five Emergency Field Hospitals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. From these mobile hospitals, specially configured as respiratory care units, Samaritan's Purse medical personnel treated more than 900 patients in northern Italy, New York City, the Bahamas, western North Carolina, and LA County, California. Isaacs also oversaw emergency relief efforts in Beirut, Lebanon following a devastating explosion and in Ethiopia as internal conflict left millions in need of food assistance.
Durante su carrera, Isaacs también ha servido como el director de la Oficina de Asistencia para Desastres Externos (OFDA por sus siglas en inglés), junto con la Agencia de Desarrollo Internacional de EE.UU. (USAID siglas en inglés). Bajo su dirección, OFDA funcionó como la agencia líder para la ayuda de emergencias que EE.UU. brindó durante el tsunami del Océano Índico en el 2004 y el terremoto en Pakistán en el 2005. También supervisó la ayuda humanitaria de EE.UU en Darfur y en el sur de Sudán, así como las respuestas de emergencias en Etiopía y Nigeria.
Isaacs was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from Health Outreach to the Middle East for leading a response that deployed a Samaritan's Purse Emergency Field Hospital to the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq as Iraqi Security Forces fought to regain control of the city.
Isaacs often speaks at universities, as well as national and international conferences, about complex humanitarian crises with a focus on emergency assistance and disaster relief. He has two sons and four grandchildren. Ken lives in Boone, North Carolina
