Benjamin Bocio

Benjamin Bocio (Born Selin Benjamin Bocio Richardson; April 27,1996) is a dental surgeon, health activist, and social entrepreneur who has gained recognition for providing accessibility to healthcare in underserved communities in the Dominican Republic.
Early life and education
Benjamin was born in Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
When he was 14 years old, the 2010 Haiti earthquake engendered a scarcity of health resources in the southern Dominican Republic, which is the region that shares the border area with Haiti and the poorest region of the country. In 2010, after the earthquake, Benjamin decided to co-found with his father FUMEBO (Bocio Medical Foundation) a nonprofit medical service organization dedicated to providing health resources in the Dominican Republic; especially the southern region.
He obtained the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery at .
Activism
Poverty Alleviation
Benjamin implemented with Fumebo a model called Robin Hood effect based on a Community-based program design. Through medical missions, the foundation provides patients with a wide variety of multidisciplinary health services and resources that cover different medical and dental specialties.
Fumebo has served over 70,000 patients without quality access to primary healthcare facilities, medicines, and vaccines in the poorest communitities of the Dominican Republic . The foundation provides ongoing help to the Manuel de Jesus Bocio school, which is located in the Municipality of Batista, El Cercado. This school was founded in honor of the foundation's work and is named after Benjamin's paternal grandfather.
Reception
In 2019, Benjamin represented the Dominican Republic in London at the most important summit for young leaders around the world One Young World. At the summit, he was the only latin american selected as a delegate speaker. Benjamin participated in the plenary session on Poverty Alleviation (Can Innovation Solve economic inequality?)
In his speech, he quoted: "Innovation is not always based on technology. Sometimes it’s about changing the system through basic human generosity".
In the same year, Benjamin was awarded by the vice president Margarita Cedeño de Fernández and the Dominican Government with the National Solidarity Volunteering Award (Health). He was also considered as an emerging leader by the Policy Center of The New South, under the high patronage of the king Mohammed VI of Morocco.

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