In 2014, Dr. Steven Shu joined No-Scalpel Vasectomy International, Inc(NSVI), an international medical volunteer organization led by Dr. Doug Stein in Tampa, FL. While providing vasectomies to patients in Haiti, Dr. Shu witnessed many locals who suffered from severe filarial hydrocele diseases. It became apparent that these underserved communities grossly lacked the health care they needed. Dr. Shu immediately began envisioning an organization that would bring highly-trained surgeons to Haiti to provide quality, affordable care to local communities. He hoped that while one surgeon’s capabilities may be limited, an entire group of equally dedicated surgeons would surely make a difference.
Dr. Shu’s first step was to invite fellow Chinese-American physicians to help establish the nonprofit medical mission group, Medical Volunteers International (MVI). Since January 2017. MVI carries out its medical missions with a group of physicians from multiple specialties every year.
Next, Dr. Shu shared his surgical mission vision with several urologists, including Dr. Doug Stein, Dr. Ramon Suarez, and Dr.Jay Sandlow, and they all were willing to support the hydrocele project and became the mission advisors. Dr.Stein suggested that Make Men Smile® could be a good name for the mission project. Later, Dr. Shu established a second mission group, Surgeon Volunteers, in later 2017. The organization’s first project, titled “Make Men Smile®,” helps relieve Haitian men from symptoms of filarial hydrocele diseases.
In 2018, Dr. Shu got to know Dr. Kevin Lee, a urologist from Florida on a web forum. Dr. Lee was sharing his previous hyrocele mission experience in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Dr. Lee has supported Make Men Smile program since.
After several trip to Cap Haitien, Dr. Shu met with the local public health leaders, hospital presidents, local doctors and NGO workers, and found a local community hospital – New Hope Hospital as the mission partner.
