The Board of Directors of the Jerome Lejeune Foundation USA elected Deb O’Hara Rusckowski as our new chairperson in New York on November 20th and they could not have made a better choice. Deb is deeply committed to the nonprofit sector, and especially to the Jerome Lejeune Foundation where she is able to combine her three passions of nursing, business, and bioethics.

Responding to her election as Board chairperson, Deb said “Jerome Lejeune’s family has done an amazing job of continuing his incredible legacy in France. I am excited and honored to have been entrusted to lead the Jerome Lejeune Foundation USA into a new phase. We are exploring meaningful partnership with other organizations, and continue to search for more and more ways to expand the profound love, that was the hallmark of Jerome Lejeune’s life, to the community of the intellectually disabled in the U.S.”

Deb has been a Critical Care nurse for over 30 years. She earned both her BSN and an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston and held several marketing positions at Hewlett Packard, Agilent and Marquette Electronics. Deb graduated from Boston College in 2014 with yet another degree, a Masters in Theology with a concentration in bioethics.

Deb’s past philanthropic engagements include four years on the Board of the American Heart Association, and five years on the Board of Directors for Boston’s Healthcare for the Homeless Program. She is a member of the Federal Disaster Medical Team and was deployed to New York City on September 11, 2001 after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. She has been on missions to Bosnia twice and the Dominican Republic several times.

In 2007, Deb initiated a nursing educational program at CRUDEM's Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti, and continues to serve on the board while working to improve nursing education. With a deep commitment to the people of Haiti, she spent several weeks working there after the devastating 2010 earthquake, both on the ground and on the USNS Comfort ship for Project HOPE.

Deb currently works for the United Nations on the Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons (CSTIP). She is coordinator of an educational exhibit called a GIFT Box that has been exhibited in Boston/New England and Haiti to raise awareness and empower people in the fight against human trafficking. She is also involved with several other philanthropic Boards in addition to the Jerome Lejeune Foundation, including RAD-AID, and the World Youth Alliance (WYA). Deb is a member of the American Association Order of Malta and serves on its Board of Councilors, and she participates in the Order's annual pilgrimage to Lourdes as a member of the medical team. She is also leading a media project for Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, placing radio ads with Catholic messages on secular radio. In addition, she is on a Steering Committee for the Sisters of Life.

Deb served for seven years as Coordinator/Director of the Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of Boston, and implemented a new chastity curriculum for schools and parishes. She also initiated a young adult program called Pure in Heart in Boston, Haiti, Ireland, UK and Kenya, and brought Theology of the Body training and a Natural Family Planning program to Haiti.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she grew up mostly in Boston but now resides in New York City with her husband Steve.