Kim Nolte

She’s Connecting Migrants to Care That’s Needed More Than Ever

Last year, when the avian flu swept across American farms, migrant farmworkers were on the frontlines. They were among the most likely to contract the virus but also the most likely to lack crucial access to care, especially in states like Florida and Texas, which recently passed laws designed to dissuade immigrants from going to the hospital. Enter the Migrant Clinicians Network. The nonprofit has been connecting migrants with high-quality care for 40 years by offering training to thousands of providers, organizing more than 16,000 health screenings a year, and advocating for worker safety. In 2023, when migrants arrived at the U.S. southern border in record numbers, the group helped connect more than 1,700 patients with clinicians (and two-thirds of those patients were pregnant). Leading this increasingly vital effort is Kim Nolte, who was named a TIME100 Influential Leader in Global Health in 2024. She began her career in public health as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and later co-managed the CDC’s teen pregnancy prevention strategy.

By Audrey Goodson Kingo