Board of Directors

Nick Cuttriss, MD, MPH

Chairman of the Board, Secretary-Treasurer

Co-Founder

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Dr. Cuttriss, a Washington, DC native, co-founded AYUDA at the age of fourteen with his friend Jesse Fuchs-Simon during their freshman year at Georgetown Day High School. The two traveled to Ecuador where they met a family that had exhausted all of its funds paying for a child's insulin. After discovering that few families in the country had any information about how to manage diabetes, Dr. Cuttriss and Jesse founded AYUDA.

In Ecuador, Dr. Cuttriss witnessed the lack of education amongst kids and families living with diabetes. He also witnessed the power of youth in overcoming education barriers and serving as agents of change to empower youth with diabetes to live happier and healthier lives. Those two initial observations continue to play into Dr. Cuttriss' focus within AYUDA and his medical career.

After receiving a B.A in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Cuttriss pursued an MD/MPH degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Public Health,. He is now finishing his pediatric residency training at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center, after which he will be completing a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the University of Miami Children's Hospital.

Dr. Cuttriss continues to help guide and direct AYUDA by serving as its Chairman of the Board.

Martin Lafontaine

Board member

Born and raised in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada, a graduate from University du Quebec in Trois-Rivieres, and since employee of the pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline, Martin has more than 12 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he had the opportunity to occupy various roles within Canada as well as at the International level, developing  a strong cross-functional commercial expertise. More recently, Martin has used his skills to launch the UK based NGO, Project Hope United Kingdom new initiative in South African soil, the Thoughtful Path Munsieville,  a revolutionary program aiming at developing a fully integrated model of excellence in the care for orphans and other vulnerable children’s, based on community empowerment. Diagnosed with Type one diabetes at age 13, Martin’s personal and professional interests are focused on diabetes and the worldwide need for more optimal care. He dedicates his free time to inspiring and challenging his peers with diabetes to free themselves from self-imposed limitations and supporting their efforts to live long, happy, active and limitless lives! On top of his role as a member of the AYUDA Board of Directors, Martin also serves on the board of director of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute, the world's first organization dedicated to tackling the unmet psychological needs of people with diabetes. His motto… life should be lived without limits!

Jacob E. Osterhout, MFA

Board member,

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Born and raised in Washington DC, Jacob attended Dartmouth college before receiving his MFA in non-fiction writing from Columbia University. He first volunteered for AYUDA in 2002 while living in Quito, Ecuador. Since then, Jacob has help run a half dozen diabetes camps in Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

After a stint writing about college sports for SI.com and CBS College Sports, Jacob currently works as a features reporter for the New York Daily News. He still holds the distinction of being the only AYUDA volunteer to bring his dog to camp.

Honory Board Members

Jesse Fuchs-Simon, Esq

Jesse Fuchs-Simon, a Washington D.C. native who attended Georgetown Day School, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in History and Sociology of Science. He received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador where he worked on a World Health Organization research program involving Type I diabetes. Jesse has guided AYUDA's activities in countries around the world. He used to practices law in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and now helps build hotels.

Adam Ross, MA

Adam Ross grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and received his Masters degree from the Kennedy School of Government. After he lived in Ecuador working to promote and strengthen AYUDA’s programs, Adam returned to the U.S. to join the Human Development Network at the World Bank. His  responsibilities include the design and management of rigorous impact evaluations of key health and education projects.

Jenny Osterhout, MA

Jenny Osterhout is a Washington D.C. native who attended Georgetown Day School, graduated from Duke University and received her Masters degree in International Affairs and Development at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. She has been a part of AYUDA since 2003, when she spent the summer living and volunteering in Ecuador. Jenny currently works as an associate at McKinsey and Company in New York and Mexico City.