About Us
Science in Service to Humanity
Our Mission & Values
How We Are Different
Dedicated to Solving Challenges in Communities That Need it Most
Chemists Without Borders is a global humanitarian organization. We are a diverse group of scientists, professionals, and passionate volunteers who believe in the power of science to create lasting positive change. By connecting scientific expertise with on-the-ground needs, we help build a healthier, cleaner, and more sustainable world for everyone.
A Catalyst for Change: The Founding Vision of Chemists Without Borders
Reading the article “Carbohydrate Vaccines”, published in Chemical & Engineering News on August 9, 2004, Dr. Bego Gerber was appalled that there was an outstanding vaccine against typhoid fever sitting on the shelf unutilized at the National Institutes of Health, while as many as 21 million people around the world have this terrible disease. This prompted a letter to the editor suggesting the creation of Chemists Without Borders to bring an end to such maldistribution.
Dr. Steven Chambreau responded to this letter, and although the pair had never met, they decided to pursue the development of Chemists Without Borders as a global humanitarian organization to utilize chemistry and mobilize chemists and their networks to solve humanitarian challenges.
Our Mission & Values
Mission
We use science to improve the quality of life in communities most in need. We achieve this through service, education, innovation, and community empowerment.
Our work is guided by a strategic framework that ensures our efforts are impactful, respectful, and sustainable:
- Service: We are committed to developing and delivering high-impact projects that address critical humanitarian needs.
- Connection: We build bridges between scientists, institutions, and local communities, fostering partnerships that are essential for success.
- Education: We believe in empowering people through knowledge, expanding human capacity through mentorship and educational programs.
- Innovation: We focus on conceiving and implementing practical, long-term solutions in concert with all stakeholders.
Learn more about our work
Our Values
Our work at Chemists Without Borders is guided by a core set of values that define how we operate, how we collaborate, and how we serve the global community.
Sustainability
We drive results through strong fiscal and operational sustainability, which includes a deep commitment to embracing diversity in all its forms. This value ensures our organization remains robust, adaptable, and enduring.
- Inclusion: We are committed to enhancing diversity and equity, adopting a holistic mindset that values every perspective.
- Accountability: We take ownership of our mission, consistently driving results, achieving goals, and being responsible to our partners and the communities we serve.
- Expectant: We approach challenges with a positive mindset, assuming the best of situations and of each other to foster an optimistic and proactive environment.
- Edification: We strive to build one another up, encourage one another, and create a fundamentally positive and supportive atmosphere.
Integrity
We operate with trustworthiness, transparency, and principled action to establish and maintain the highest level of trust with our stakeholders.
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Respect: We demonstrate this by honoring local laws, practices, communities, and one another in every interaction.
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Collaboration: We are committed colleagues who embody cooperation, responsiveness, accountability, and transparency, ensuring the open sharing of resources and results.
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Trust: We prioritize establishing long-term relationships that are essential for supporting and achieving our organizational goals.
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Excellence: We are dedicated to operating at the highest levels of competence and expertise in all our scientific and humanitarian endeavors.
Mentorship
We provide leadership, guidance, and wise and trustworthy counsel through an unwavering commitment to advocacy and support.
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Compassion: We deliver our services and support with empathy, kindness, and care.
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Empowerment and Commitment: Our goal is to expand the local capacity to thrive by investing in the skills and resources of our partners.
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Leadership: We view leadership as an act drawn entirely from a moral, social, or personal duty to improve the lives of others.
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Coaching: We listen closely to people, learn from them, identify their needs, and guide them to develop, implement, and fulfill their potential.
Learning
We pursue expertise through the perpetual pursuit of knowledge, taking necessary risks through experimentation and exploration to find the best solutions.
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Courage: We are willing to blaze new trails and take calculated risks to bring maximum value and increase capacity where it is most needed.
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Competence: We commit to continuously providing expertise, specialized capabilities, and informed advocacy to support our global mission.
How We Are Different: Connection is the Work
Our approach begins and ends with people. At Chemists Without Borders, we don’t compete with institutions of science; we complement them by bringing the human element back into the equation. In communities where access to clean water, medicine, and education remains scarce, the first need is not more technology; it is building partnerships. It is being present.
Our work begins with listening. It grows through mutual understanding, and it endures because it is grounded in respect for local knowledge, culture, and lived experience.
We bring together people who believe that science should be practiced in relationship with communities, built on empathy, curiosity, and shared purpose. Addressing humanitarian challenges requires more than expertise; it requires scientists who can engage across disciplines, cultures, and worldviews.
Chemists Without Borders exists to build trust, where scientists connect as people first, and communities are engaged as partners.
Our Goals
Chemists Without Borders is a humanitarian organization driven by a foundational belief: that everyone deserves access to clean drinking water, clear fresh air, and uncontaminated soil for agriculture. We partner with impoverished communities, funding entities, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to achieve this vision.
Our goals focus on applying scientific expertise and building lasting local capacity.
Advance Scientific Literacy
We are committed to expanding scientific knowledge within communities. This includes mentoring students and educators to pursue and excel in science, fostering a culture of curiosity and expertise.
Facilitate Knowledge Sharing
We enable crucial academic partnerships and knowledge exchange to ensure that proven, sustainable scientific solutions are made accessible where they are needed most.
Build Sustainable Solutions:
We pride ourselves on respecting local culture and leveraging native knowledge. By applying scientific expertise in a culturally sensitive way, we empower communities to design and manage solutions for their immediate and long-term environmental and health challenges.
From Our President
“Humanitarian challenges are not technical puzzles, but complex human realities shaped by history, culture, and inequality. Addressing them requires science practiced with humility, connection, and purpose. Chemists Without Borders exists at this intersection—where science meets humanity—to turn compassion into capability and help communities move from need to empowerment.”
Ramin Sedehi
Ramin Sedehi, President & CEO
Our Partners & Sponsors
The power is in the network. The greatest things can only be achieved when joining forces with inspired individuals and organizations. Together we can brainstorm, innovate, design solutions and execute them.
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur
