It’s my great pleasure to announce an entirely new inspirational opening at Under the Radar:Mobility this year…

Mobile phones provide us with gaming and entertainment platforms, ways to improve our productivity on the go, and strengthen personal and professional connections.

But mobile devices can also save lives.

November 19th meet a guy who’s evangelizing for mobile health (mHealth) in developing countries. Josh Nesbit is doing more than just talking about the need for mobile devices to advance rural public health – he’s making it rain.

Josh has been an inspiration to those of us in the mobile health field for several years, since the launch of his Mobiles in Malawi program as an undergrad at Stanford. Check out Josh’s blog at Jopsa.org.

While most of us were watching bootlegged copies of the Matrix and drinking too much Red Bull, Josh was busy figuring out how to save the world using a donated laptop, 100 old cell phones and 1500 bucks.

His work in the non-profit advancement of mobile health has earned him recognition worldwide. Josh serves as a PopTech Social Innovation Fellow, Rainer Arnhold Fellow, Strauss Scholar, and Haas Public Service Fellow.

Josh is now Executive Director and Cofounder of FrontlineSMS:Medic, a non-profit based on the idea that text messages can, literally, save lives in developing countries where rural health workers need additional resources to deliver care.

While implementing the FrontlineSMS:Medic program, Josh and his cofounding team discovered an additional problem – they’d need plenty of phones to expand services to additional rural medical clinics and hospitals.

Rather than going after funding to purchase new phones, they created HopePhones, a campaign that asks you to donate your old cell phone rather than tossing or recycling it.

HopePhones sends you everything you need to get a collection started, including prepaid shipping materials. They can even track exactly which medical clinics benefit from your old phones. How’s that for a little feel-good mobile karma?

I donated my old Blackberry last spring, and can tell you it was easier than setting up a new Google account.

Just pop your old phone in the prepaid shipping envelope and voila!

For more on HopePhones, Josh, and the rest of the team, check out the Facebook page here.

Click here to register for Under the Radar, and don’t forget to bring your old mobile phones!

This is the easiest philanthropy you’ll do all year. Your old phone reshaped your view of what was possible. Give it new life – donate to a cause that will help it renew a sense of hope for clinics in the developing world.