Executive Director of the VOOM Foundation

After serving two years as a volunteer fundraiser for VOOM Foundation, the VOOM Foundation Board of Directors hired Shawn Andaya-Pulliam as the first Executive Director, Foundation Development and Sustainability in January of 2017.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Shawn has spent the past 20 years in non-profit fundraising development and the past 8 years in fundraising for healthcare.  Andaya-Pulliam’s experience includes capital campaigns, major gifts, annual giving programs and special events. Recently exceeded capital goal of $8M raising $25M to complete state of the art Emergency & Trauma Center at CHI St. Joseph Health in Bryan, Texas where she met Dr. Vincent Ohaju, D.O.

Ms. Andaya-Pulliam’s assists the board of directors with activities related to strategic planning, donor retention, fund development, corporate partnerships and sustainability to accomplish short and long term organizational goals.

Shawn is married to Al Pulliam and has two son’s AJ and Trey.

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The Vincent Obioma Ohaju Memorial (VOOM) Foundation was established to raise standard of care and create
​sustainable medical programs in Nigeria.

VOOM Foundation was born from the vision of Dr. Vincent Ohaju, Chief of Surgery & Medical Director for Trauma Services at CHI St. Joseph Health in Bryan, Texas. Originally from the town of Ihitte, in South Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Ohaju had personally witnessed the effects of inadequate available medical care on friends and family. His father, Vincent Obioma Ohaju passed away in 1983 at the age of 56 due to complications from pulmonary aspiration. A simple procedure such as bronchosocopy readily available in even the smallest hospital in the United States could have prevented his demise.

It was a close and personal reminder to Dr. Ohaju that over 95% of the people in Nigeria live without essential medical services. In 2016 the World Health Organization ranked Nigeria 163 out of 190 countries in healthcare.

The Nigerian healthcare system is poorly developed and suffers from several recent epidemics. Despite Nigerian’s strategic position in Africa, the country is greatly underserved in the healthcare sphere. Health facilities, expertise,  personnel, medical equipment and major diagnostic modalities are inadequate, especially in rural areas.