Deogratias "Deo" Niyizonkiza is a Founder and CEO of Village Health Works (VHW) and also a leading Advocate for the most impoverished people in the world.

Deogratias was born in rural Burundi, where he attended Grade school and part of Medical school and left the country during the war that lasted more than a decade. He experienced not only this tragedy, but also Homelessness in New York City, after moving there in 1994.

Deo's life has been told in Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Kidder's book "Strength in What Remains", named one of the best books of the year by Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

In 2005, Deo traveled back to Burundi to establish Village Health Works with the aim of creating a Healthcare system model in Kigutu, a remote village of Burundi, that is considered to be one of the poorest on the planet. The center was opened in December 2007.

Despite all the troubles, Deo managed to enroll Columbia University, where he received a Bachelor degree in Biochemistry and Philosophy. After graduating, he attended the Harvard School of Public Health, where he got acquainted with Paul Farmer and began working at the medical Non-profit organization Partners In Health. Then he left the organization to continue his medical education at Dartmouth Medical School.

Being a frequent Lecturer on Global health, Deo is being honored by The Carnegie Foundation of New York as the 2016 Great Immigrant: The Pride of America , the 2016 Presidential Medal: Amities des Peuples.

Deogratias is also the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2014 Wheaton College Otis Social Justice Award, the 2014 Dalai Lama Unsung Hero of Compassion Award, a 2013 Honorary degree from Williams College, the 2013 People to People International's Eisenhower Medallion Award, the 2011 International Medal Award of St. Johns University, and the 2010 Women's Refugee Commission's Voices of Courage Award.