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 National Immunization Days (NID) 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 to help communicate the need for eradication as the immunizations themselves.She has shared her story hundreds of times at numerous Zone Institutes, District Conferences, PETS and Foundation events, and at the Rotary International Conventions 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.
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 honored 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 and 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. She was honored 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 and served District 7780 in many capacities, including as Governor in 2010-2011. Currently, she is Executive Director of the Polio Survivors Rotary Action Group, Chair of the RAGs Council and Chair of The Fellowship of Rotarian Past District Governors. Outside Rotary, she serves as a trustee of York Hospital in York, Maine.
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 R.I. Presidents’ Representative at several district conferences and represented Rotary at an Easter Seals Annual Convention. Previously she served as a member of the RI Rotarian Action Groups Committee, the Reach Out to Africa Initiative, and as Zone 32 Coordinator for Health and Hunger.