President Zelenskyy Awards GMKA’s Mac Dunwoody the Order of Merit and Nelya Melnitchouk the Order of Princess Olga for Distinguished Contributions to Healthcare and Public Service

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has awarded W. McComb ("Mac") Dunwoody Ukraine’s Order of Merit and Dr. Nelya Melnitchouk the Order of Princess Olga for distinguished contributions to healthcare and public service.

W. McComb ("Mac") Dunwoody, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Medical Knowledge Alliance (GMKA), and Nelya Melnitchouk, MD, MSc, FACS, GMKA Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, have been honored by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who awarded Mr. Dunwoody Ukraine’s prestigious Order of Merit and Dr. Melnitchouk the Order of Princess Olga. The awards were presented in New York during UN Week at a ceremony honoring individuals whose work has made a significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine.

The Order of Merit is a Ukrainian state honor recognizing outstanding achievements in public, economic, scientific, cultural, and other fields. The Order of Princess Olga is a Ukrainian state honor recognizing outstanding personal contributions to public service, science, education, culture, philanthropy, and other areas of civic life.

Mac Dunwoody serves as Chairman of the GMKA Board of Directors. He is the retired founder of Inverness Management LLC, a privately held investment firm, and serves as a member of the President’s Executive Council and the Board of Visitors of MD Anderson Cancer Center, and The Cockrell Foundation. He formerly served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of National Oilwell, Inc. and Chairman of Project GRAD USA. Through his leadership on the GMKA Board, he has supported the organization’s work to strengthen healthcare in Ukraine.

Dr. Melnitchouk is a colorectal surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Through her clinical, academic, and humanitarian work, she has contributed to strengthening medical education and healthcare in Ukraine through GMKA.

Born in Deliatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Dr. Melnitchouk moved to the U.S. as a young adult and completed her medical education and surgical training at world-renowned medical institutions in the USA, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Throughout her career in colorectal surgery, she has remained deeply committed to advancing healthcare in her home country.

In 2017, Dr. Melnitchouk co-founded GMKA to bridge Ukrainian healthcare professionals with international expertise, foster cross-border collaboration, and advance evidence-based medicine.

“Receiving the Order of Princess Olga was both a genuine surprise and a tremendous honor. I see this award not as a personal achievement, but as recognition of the work of GMKA’s entire international team, our partners, and the thousands of Ukrainian healthcare professionals who work every day to strengthen medicine in Ukraine.”

"We believe change begins with each physician who improves their own practice, then their team, their department, and their hospital," she continues. "That is why we bring leading medical institutions from around the world together with Ukrainian hospitals — to strengthen teams, introduce modern approaches, and build models of high-quality care that can be scaled across Ukraine."

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, GMKA rapidly expanded its scope to address critical wartime needs. Under Dr. Melnitchouk’s leadership, GMKA has grown into a leading nonprofit organization supporting the advancement of Ukrainian healthcare through education, partnerships with world-renowned medical institutions, and system-level initiatives designed to improve the quality and safety of patient care.

Moreover, GMKA broadened its support for Ukraine’s healthcare system, focusing on areas that became especially critical during the war, including trauma care, neurology and neurosurgery, oncology, rehabilitation, and quality and patient safety. The organization also deepened long-term partnerships between Ukrainian hospitals and international medical institutions so that global expertise would not remain with individual clinicians, but could be translated into practice and shared across teams and institutions throughout Ukraine.

To date, more than 6,000 Ukrainian healthcare professionals have been trained through GMKA educational programs led by experts from leading international institutions.

Under Dr. Melnitchouk’s leadership, GMKA has advanced the implementation of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) in Ukraine, including training Ukrainian clinicians in this internationally recognized approach to the early hospital management of patients with severe injuries.

Another major initiative is HealUA, a mobile app developed by GMKA that gives Ukrainian physicians free access to expert support from medical professionals around the world. Through the platform, clinicians can discuss complex cases, receive specialist input, and exchange knowledge across specialties and borders. More than 5,200 healthcare professionals currently use HealUA.

At the same time, GMKA works to make high-quality medical knowledge available in Ukrainian. The GMKA educational platform now features more than 500 resources for healthcare professionals and the general public, and has reached more than 600,000 people in Ukraine.

International clinical observerships are another important part of GMKA’s work, developed in partnership with Help Ukraine Group (HUG). Through this collaboration, more than 120 Ukrainian healthcare professionals have trained at Mayo Clinic, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and other leading U.S. medical centers. After returning to Ukraine, participants apply what they have learned in their own institutions and share that knowledge with colleagues.

It is especially meaningful that Nataliya Kovalchuk, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Stanford School of Medicine and Co-Founder and President of Help Ukraine Group (HUG), was also awarded the Order of Princess Olga.

"For the GMKA team, this is a special source of joy and pride. HUG has been our partner for many years in creating professional opportunities for Ukrainian healthcare professionals and strengthening connections between Ukrainian hospitals and leading U.S. medical institutions. We wholeheartedly congratulate Nataliya Kovalchuk on this recognition, deeply admire her dedication to Ukraine, and are incredibly grateful that we are able to do this work together," says Dr. Melnitchouk.

Another major focus of Dr. Melnitchouk’s and GMKA’s work is strengthening cancer care in Ukraine. Under her leadership, GMKA conducted an assessment of Ukraine’s cancer care system commissioned by the World Health Organization and supported by the European Union. The findings informed the development of national cancer policy through 2030.

Dr. Melnitchouk also consistently represents Ukraine’s medical community and the needs of its healthcare system on the international stage, including at major global forums convened by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, and the Clinton Global Initiative. This work helps translate international attention and solidarity with Ukraine into long-term professional partnerships, new educational opportunities, and tangible support for Ukrainian medical teams.

“For me, this recognition also comes with a responsibility to keep going — to build partnerships, teach, share experience, and help Ukrainian hospitals become stronger, so that what begins today within one team can become a new standard for others tomorrow.”

These honors recognize Mr. Dunwoody’s and Dr. Melnitchouk’s years of work in support of Ukraine and Ukrainian healthcare. It also reflects a principle that has guided GMKA from the beginning: lasting change grows through professional collaboration — when knowledge and international expertise become part of everyday clinical practice, strengthen healthcare teams, and ultimately improve the quality of care for patients across Ukraine.