Our History
Combined vision of the Piasecki Family
In 2023, the entire Piasecki family had been on multiple medical mission trips and saw them as an avenue where they could use their skills and talents to spread love and joy throughout the world. Dr. Piasecki and Jill were already committed to continuing this work with a few existing organizations when Kate began taking classes at Stanford University which shed light for her on the downsides of fly in medical mission trips. She approached her parents and asked if they would be interested in joining with her to create a non-profit that focused on sustainable solutions for medical mission work.
The resulting non-profit, Operation YOJ, combines the skills and talents of the Piasecki family and their network of big-hearted healthcare workers and international missionaries to spread love and joy to kids all over the world. Middle daughter, Natalie, followed Kate's path to Stanford and is also studying global health with plans to become a surgeon to serve internationally.
Our Team
Jill Piasecki Administrator Harbor Plastic Surgery Center
President, CEO, Operation YOJ
Jill comes to Operation YOJ with 10 years of health care business consulting experience and 16 years as the administrator of Harbor Plastic Surgery Center. She has a passion for helping kids and works to support several community organizations in her home town of Gig Harbor,
Justin Piasecki, MD Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Medical Director and Director of YOJ
Dr. Piasecki is a triple board certified plastic surgeon from Gig Harbor, WA. His home practice is focused on skin cancer removal and reconstruction and he travels several times a year to perform free cleft palate surgeries all over the world. He is an innovator in the plastic surgery world - the only doctor in the world with his three certifications. While he loves treating skin cancer, he is at his happiest in the operating room treating cleft patients
Kate Piasecki Pre-dental Student Stanford Univers
Kate Piasecki Pre-dental Student Stanford Univers
Director of Emerging Oportunities
On her first mission trip to Ecuador in 2019, Kate saw so many patients turned away and referred to dentistry. From that moment on, she devoted herself to becoming a dentist - so she could help kids in her own community with their dental needs but also could travel the world and volunteer her time helping people with dental care. As an ideological freshman and Stanford University, she learned the downsides of medical mission trips - that often people fly in to help people and end up hurting them.
Kate took her knowledge from classes and research at Stanford and worked with her parents to start this non-profit, focused on sustainable medical mission trips. She works to evaluate every opportunity that comes our way to determine if we will help a community and if it's a sustainable solution to a problem.
Natalie Piasecki Pre-Med Student Stanford University
Kate Piasecki Pre-dental Student Stanford Univers
Director of Fundraising, Operation YOJ
Natalie graduated from Gig Harbor High School's Running Start program, where she spent the last two years of high school taking classes at our local community college. This gave her the flexibility to train and work as a scrub tech and histotech at Harbor Plastic Surgery Center, start a non-profit to raise money for mission trips and compete nationally in beach volleyball.
Natalie loves being in the operating room and used her artisitic talents to raise money to participate in mission trips in Ecuador and the Philippines in high school. She is now pre-med at Stanford University, majoring in Human Biology focusing on global health.
Natalie serves as a scrub tech on every mission trip she can go on and helps Operation YOJ with fundraising throughout the year.
Hailey Piasecki High School Student Phillips Academy Andover
Director of Technology, Operation Yoj
Hailey is a senior at Phillips Academy, Andover. While she loves that the rest of the family is focused in medicine, Hailey's passion is technology (and circus arts).
Hailey's role for Operation YOJ is evaluating technology and implementing the use of it. She organized fundraisers to raise money and collect used iPhones to connect patients with Dr. P post-operatively. Our team gave cell phones to 4 patients during our 2026 Mexico mission and we plan to continue this program.
Hailey is also responsible for implementing the electronic medical record for our mission teams for historical data and to communicate with one another while abroad.
Chai Chi Huang Director of Nursing UCLA Childrens Hospital
COMING SOON