2011 MEPI Symposium
2011 MEPI Symposium Speaker Bios and Presentations
The following table shows the 2011 MEPI Symposium Speakers by Agenda. Click a name to see each speaker's Picture, Bio, and/or PowerPoint Presentations and Video Clip from the event.
Ambassador Donald Gips
Ambassador Donald Gips was nominated as Ambassador to South Africa by President Barack Obama on June 4 and confirmed by the Senate on July 7, 2009. He presented his credentials to South African President Jacob Zuma on October 1, 2009. He was recently recognized for his efforts to promote improved relations with South Africa when the US State Department chose him as the recipient of the 2010 Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service.
Before being asked to be President Obama's personal representative to South Africa, Donald Gips served as Assistant to the President. He was a leader on the Presidential Transition Team and then served in the White House, where he ran the office of Presidential Personnel, overseeing the selection of several thousand political appointments for the Obama Administration.
Ambassador Gips previously served in the White House during the Clinton administration, working as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore.
From 1998-2008, Gips was Group Vice President of Global Corporate Development for Level 3 Communications, where he served as Chief Strategy Officer and led the company's merger and acquisition efforts.
Mr. Gips also served as Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission where he was responsible for WTO negotiations and spectrum policy. Additionally, Gips is dedicated to promoting a culture of service and helped launch America's national service program, Americorps.
Before entering government, he was a management consultant to Fortune 500 companies at McKinsey & Company. Gips received an MBA from the Yale School of Management and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
Ambassador Eric Goosby
Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as the United States Global AIDS Coordinator, leading all U.S. Government international HIV/AIDS efforts. In this role, Ambassador Goosby oversees implementation of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as U.S. Government engagement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He serves on the Operations Committee that leads the U.S. Global Health Initiative, along with the heads of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PEPFAR is the cornerstone of the Global Health Initiative, which takes a comprehensive approach to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes in the developing world.
Ambassador Goosby served as CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation from 2001 to June 2009. He previously served as Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Ambassador Goosby has played a key role in the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS national treatment scale-up plans in South Africa, Rwanda, China, and Ukraine. He focuses his expertise on the scale-up of sustainable HIV/AIDS treatment capacity, including the delivery of HIV antiretroviral drugs, within existing healthcare systems. Ambassador Goosby has extensive international experience in the development of treatment guidelines for use of antiretroviral therapies, clinical mentoring and training of health professionals, and the design and implementation of local models of care for HIV/AIDS. He has worked closely with international partners on the development of successful HIV/AIDS treatment and treatment-based prevention strategies for high-risk populations.
Ambassador Goosby has over 25 years of experience with HIV/AIDS, ranging from his early years treating patients at San Francisco General Hospital when AIDS first emerged, to engagement at the highest level of policy leadership. As the first Director of the Ryan White Care Act at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Ambassador Goosby helped develop HIV/AIDS delivery systems in the United States.
During William Clinton’s Administration, he served as Deputy Director of the White House National AIDS Policy Office and Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ambassador Goosby has longstanding working relationships with leading multilateral organizations, including UNAIDS, the Global Fund and the World Health Organization.
Catherine Ngugi
Catherine Ngugi is the Project Director of OER Africa, an initiative of the South African Institute for Distance Education. Prior to holding this post, she established the African Virtual University’s Research & Innovation Facility (RIF) in January 2005, and managed it until September 2007. During this period, the RIF hosted two OER projects and launched a Pan-African pilot study on the use of OER in African universities. Catherine holds an MA from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
Catherine began her career in the private sector, working for a multinational manufacturer. In 1997, she relocated to Dakar, Senegal to work with CODESRIA (the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa), where she initiated and coordinated a grants management system and designed the CODESRIA Endowment Plan. Upon joining Oxfam GB, she conducted regional training sessions (Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania) in project sustainability across the organization’s regional group and facilitated the funding by SIDA of the Oxfam GB West Africa Regional Girls Education Program.
A Rockefeller Associate of the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town, Catherine has worked as a consultant in higher education and the Arts to various international organizations headquartered in Nairobi. Her work has been published in Kwani and in the Journal of African Cultural Studies. She has co-edited various publications including the eight country report on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Higher Education in Africa commissioned by the Centre for Educational Technology (CET) for the Educational Technology Initiative of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA).
- Ngugi_Catherine2.pdf (223 download)
Christine Lim
Christine Lim MPH, CHES is Public Health Analyst for the Global HIV/AIDS Program at the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). In this position she provides oversight to HRSA’s health system strengthening activities for programs funded under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Prior to joining HRSA, Ms. Lim served as a HIV/AIDS Advisor in the Kingdom of Lesotho with the U.S. Peace Corps, where she worked in training and skills development for vulnerable children and young adults relating to health, psychosocial support, children’s’ rights, and small business development. As a Health Services Evaluator at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Ms. Lim conducted needs assessments and evaluation studies for HIV/AIDS services funded by the State of Maryland. She has also managed several international multi-site clinical trials as a Senior Research Coordinator at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
Deborah von Zinkernagel
Deborah von Zinkernagel serves as the Principal Deputy Global AIDS Coordinator in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, which leads implementation of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). She previously served as the Vice President for Policy and Senior Clinical Expert with the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation. Her work has focused on program development for expansion of HIV/AIDS treatment capabilities and systems of care in Rwanda and South Africa, and supporting local models of care bridging rural and urban populations in China. Prior to joining Pangaea, Ms. von Zinkernagel was the Deputy Director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1997-2001. She served as a Health Policy Analyst for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources as a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff 1990-1995, with legislative responsibilities for HIV/AIDS, maternal/child health, and safety net health programs. Ms. von Zinkernagel was a Kellogg Fellow from 1987 to 1989 in the Joint Program for Research Training in Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
She holds masters degrees in Health Policy and Management, and Community Health, and a BSN from Cornell University.
- Zinkernagel_Deborah2.pdf (316 download)
Honorable Doctor Aaron Pakishe Motsoaledi
Honorable Doctor Aaron Pakishe Motsoaledi was appointed the Minister of Health for the Republic of South Africa on 11 May 2009. He is a Medical Practitioner by profession (MBCHB, 1983).
He is currently a serving member of the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC), and had been such since December 2007. He has served in the NEC’s Health and Education Sub-Committee since that time.
After the unbanning of the ANC, Dr. Motsoaledi was elected into the Executive Committee of the ANC in Limpopo Province of South Africa, where he has served for the past 19 years. A student activist since 1979, he was elected into the National Executive of the Student Organisation (AZASO) in 1981. He was the Student Representative Council (SRC) President of the University of Natal in 1982. Dr Motsoaledi became a leader in the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983, and has been a very active member in the activities of the then banned African National Congress (ANC) since 1981.
Dr Motsoaledi has served in various portfolios as a Member of the Executive in the Province of Limpopo, South Africa. He was the first Executive of the Province to address the transformation agenda of the democratic government in 1994. This included the amalgamation of five apartheid-created administrations into one Provincial Administration. In addition he was instrumental in developing provincial policy and strategies to address poverty, unemployment, and access to services amongst others.
He has previously served in the following Portfolios within the Province of Limpopo:
• Provincial Minister of Education
• Provincial Minister of Agriculture
• Provincial Minister of Transport
• Provincial Minister of Education again
Dr Motsoaledi worked in Public Hospitals and later worked as a Private Medical Practitioner in Limpopo Province serving remote and underserved rural areas.
He is married to Thelma Dikeledi (Mpyane), and has 3 daughters and 2 sons. His eldest daughter is following in the footsteps of the family by studying medicine.
Doctor Agnes Soucat
Doctor Agnes Soucat is a MEPI Coordinating Center Counselor and the Director for Human Development for the African Development Bank, where she is responsible for health, education, and social protection for Africa, including 53 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb. Previously she worked at the World Bank where she variously served as Lead Economist and Advisor to the Director for Human Development for Africa; and Advisor to the Director for Health the World Bank. She has been leading the Health Systems for Outcomes (HSO) program of the Africa Region, a program focused on health systems strengthening to reach the MDGs.
She has over 25 years of experience in International Health directly covering more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. She is a public sector and public finance specialist and has worked extensively on designing and implementing Community Based Financing programs, Poverty Reduction Strategies, Social Services Decentralization and Performance Based Financing. She has been responsible for multi-sectoral and results based budget support programs covering sectors such as agriculture, education, health, water, energy etc, and focusing on reaching the MDGs in several countries, particularly Rwanda.
Agnes was among others the coauthor of the PRSP toolkit and the World Development Report 2004 “MAKING SERVICES WORK FOR POOR PEOPLE" as well as a main author of the background reports to the High Level Task Force on Innovative financing (HLTIF). She was also a member of the Global expert Team on Health Systems of the World Bank. Before joining the Bank she worked for UNAIDS, UNICEF and the European Commission. She holds an MD and a Masters in Nutrition from the University of Nancy in France as well as a Master of Public Health and Ph.D in Health Economics from the Johns Hopkins University. Agnes is a French national.
- Soucat_Agnes2.pdf (216 download)
Doctor Akye Essuman Lecturer, Family Medicine, Department of Community Health, University of Ghana. - Essuman_Akye3.pdf (459 download)
Doctor Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande
Doctor Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training for the Republic of South Africa, was born in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, on 14 April 1958. "Blade" Nzimande was one of the three children of Nozipho Alice and Phillip Sphambano.
Dr. Nzimande attended the Roman Catholic School, Henryville, and then Plessiers Lower Primary School before going to Mthethomusha School in Edendale, the first school in the area established under the new Bantu education system. He matriculated in 1975 at Georgetown High, Edendale.
In 1976 Dr. Nzimande enrolled at the University of Zululand to study towards a BA degree, majoring in Public Administration and Psychology. He became involved in student activity, including a food boycott and demonstrations against the award of an honorary doctorate to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi in May 1976. Following the shooting of demonstrating students in Soweto on 16 June 1976, the administration building of the university was burnt down and the university subsequently closed down for a period. Dr. Nzimande returned to university in 1977. He completed his Psychology Honours degree at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, in 1980. He completed a Masters degree in Industrial Psychology (1981) and more a PhD in the field of Sociology from the University of Natal.
In 1982 Dr. Nzimande undertook his internship in Industrial Psychology in the personnel department of Tongaat Hulett Sugar Ltd. In 1984. Dr Nzimande was then offered a post as a lecturer at the Umlazi branch of the University of Zululand. Dr. Nzimande lectured at the University of Zululand until June 1987 and then joined the University of Natal, Durban to lecture in Industrial Psychology.
He is the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Chairman of the Financial Sector Campaign Coalition, a member of the National Deployment Committee of the ANC, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Centre for Educational Policy Development, and has served as a Council Member at the Universities of KwaZulu Natal, Transkei, and South Africa.
His research focuses upon the effects of violence upon schooling and students in South Africa and beyond. He wrote a book called “Children of Wars: the impact of violence on schooling in Natal.”
Doctor Charles Rotimi
Doctor Charles Rotimi, NHGRI, NIH, a genetic epidemiologist and a biochemist, is a senior investigator in the Inherited Disease Branch of the NHGRI intramural program. He is the Director of the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health (CRGGH). The mission of this new trans-NIH center is to advance research into the role of culture, lifestyle, genetics and genomics in disease etiology and population differences in disease susceptibility and variable drug response. Dr. Rotimi develops large-scale genetic epidemiology studies that explore the patterns and determinants of common complex diseases in human populations with particular emphasis on populations of the African Diaspora. As a senior investigator and director of the CRGGH, Dr. Rotimi leads a team of researchers across multiple disciplines including medicine, epidemiology genetics/genomics, statistics and informatics. His team published the first genome-wide scan for hypertension and blood pressure in African Americans and for type 2 diabetes in West Africans. His lab contributes to the global understanding of human genetic variation and its implication for differential susceptibility to diseases, variable drug response and human evolutionary history. He is the founding and current president of the African Society of Human Genetics.
- Rotimi_Charles2.pdf (269 download)
Doctor Damali Martin
Doctor Damali Martin obtained her Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2004. In 2004, she joined the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, and obtained her MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD in 2005. She continued her post-doctoral training in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Breast and Prostate study group at the Center for Cancer Research, NCI. Her research focused on elucidating whether differences in breast tumor biology from African-American and European-American patients contribute to the lower survival and higher mortality in African-American women, with the goal of understanding mechanisms of the disease to identify targets for new prevention and treatment efforts. Dr. Martin is currently a Cancer Epidemiologist/Program Director at the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) at the NCI where she continues to work on understanding how biological components interact with the social environment to contribute to the health outcomes in underserved populations, and serves as the Health Disparity expert for EGRP and the International Research Coordinator for DCCPS.
- Martin_Damali2.pdf (232 download)
Doctor Donna Jones
Doctor Donna Jones MD, MPH is a medical epidemiologist in the Division of Public Health Systems and Workforce Development in the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Georgia, USA. She completed her pediatric training at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1985 and her training as an EIS Officer in 1990. Previously, she worked for USAID in Kinshasa, Zaire, at CDC’s National Immunization Program, and at Emory University in pediatrics and in public health programs including injury prevention, community-based asthma management, and immunization. She served from 2001-2003 as resident advisor to the University of Zimbabwe’s Public Health School without Walls program. She continues to serve as an advisor to the Zimbabwe Public Health School without Walls, and the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programs in Kenya and Ethiopia as well as leading monitoring and evaluation activities for the Division.
- Jones_Donna2.pdf (349 download)
Doctor Emiola Ouwabunmi Olapade-Olaopa
Doctor Emiola Ouwabunmi Olapade-Olaopa MD, FRCS, FWACS is a member of the MEPI African Coordinating Center Faculty and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He trained in general surgery and urology in the United Kingdom and United States and returned to Nigeria in 2000. His areas of interest are urologic oncology (prostate cancer), endoscopy, reconstructive surgery and medical education.
Dr. Olapade-Olaopa undertook a Fellowship in Medical Education and Leadership at the FAIMER (Foundation for International Medical Education Research) Institute in Philadelphia, USA. He has since undertaken educational studies in his medical school and also comparative studies with educators in other medical schools and has also been involved in directing undergraduate medical education in his school since 2002. From 2005 to 2010, he directed the revision of the MBBS Curriculum as the PI of the Curriculum Revision Committee and Convener of the Curriculum Revision and Development Sub-Committees. The new curriculum has been ratified by the University Senate and the first intake of students under the new curriculum was for the 2011/2012 session. He has also been involved in postgraduate medical education since 2001 in capacities such as the departmental assistant director of residency training, Director of several post-graduate courses and workshops, Sub-Dean (Post-graduate), Faculty of Clinical Sciences, and Chairman of the CME Committees of his Faculty and State Medical Association. He has published several papers and chapters on medical education and practice, and has edited two books with a further two in preparation.
Dr. Olapade-Olaopa’s experience in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education has contributed to his being invited to join expert medical education committees and also to give expert lectureships nationally and internationally. He was a member of the Sub-Saharan African Medical Schools Survey Advisory Committee which recently concluded a survey of all medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa; and the WHO-AMSA Task Force which is revitalizing the Association of African Medical Schools (AMSA). He is also an adviser to the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation, the African Coordinating Center of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative. Dr. Olapade-Olaopa is the Secretary-General of the Pan-African Urological Association (PAUSA) and the Program Chair of the PAUSA and Affiliates Education Forum at the American Urological Association.
Doctor Francesca Celletti
Doctor Francesca Celletti is a health policy and health systems expert with expertise in global health initiatives and communicable diseases.
At present, she is Coordinator a.i. of the Health workforce Education and Production unit in the Department of Human Resources for Health in WHO where she leads the current WHO global effort to transform and scale up health professional education and production of mid-level cadres and community health workers in low and middle income countries. Prior to this appointment, she worked as a medical officer in WHO in the fields of HIV, TB and Malaria focusing on health systems strengthening issues. Before joining WHO, she worked in several countries in Africa and the Middle East to assist governments develop national health policies and implementing programmes aiming at strengthening health systems.
A native of Italy, Francesca Celletti received an MD degree from the University of Bologna , Italy. She trained in internal medicine and intensive care at University of Bologna and Harvard Medical School, and has a post doctoral degree from Stanford University.
- Celletti_Francesca2.pdf (260 download)
Doctor Francis Collins
Doctor Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., was officially sworn in on Monday, August 17, 2009 as the 16th director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 8, and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 7.
Dr. Collins, a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the NIH from 1993-2008. This remarkable international project culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. On March 10, 2010, Dr. Collins was named a co-recipient of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for his leading role in this effort. While accepting the honor, Dr. Collins declined his portion of the $500,000 prize in order to comply with government ethics rules.
In addition to his achievements as the NHGRI director, Dr. Collins’ own research laboratory has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington’s disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.
Dr. Collins has a longstanding interest in the interface between science and faith, and has written about this in The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Free Press, 2006), which spent many weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. He is the author of a new book on personalized medicine, The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine (HarperCollins, 2010).
Dr. Collins received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to the NIH in 1993, he spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. In a White House ceremony on October 7, 2009, Dr. Collins received the National Medal of Science, the highest honor bestowed on scientists by the United States government.
- Collins_Francis2.pdf (424 download)
Doctor Hannah Akuffo
Doctor Hannah Akuffo is Head of the Division of research cooperation (Formally Sida/SAREC), Swedish International development cooperation Agency (Sida). She has, in different positions, had responsibility for support to research capacity strengthening at Sida since 1999. This has included senior research officer for cooperation with Uganda, deputy then subsequently head of University Research Support. She continued as head of unit for developing appropriate methods for improving research cooperation with Sida partner countries.
Sida advocates collaboration and working with other funders and agencies of research. In that context Dr. Akuffo is the current Chairperson of ESSENCE of Health Research. She is also the current Chairperson of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Both of these initiatives have a strong focus on research capacity building.
Dr. Akuffo takes the opportunity to accept nominations to participate in advisory boards of research networks funded by organisations other than Sida, whose task is to improve research capacity. Currently she is a member of the Advisory Board of THRiVE (Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa) and the Patron Advisory Group of CARTA (The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa), both organisations funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Her interest in research capacity extends beyond her profession to a passion and conviction that research capacity is key for continued possibilities for countries to define and address their own questions.
Research-wise, Dr. Akuffo is an adjunct Professor of Parasitology at the at the Dept. of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet. Her research interest is mainly the mechanisms of resistance and immunity against Leishmania infection. Over the years she have supervised at least ten Swedish and other PhD candidates.
Dr Akuffo was born in Ghana, West Africa, but is currently a Swedish citizen.
She is a mother of 3 daughters.
- Akuffo_Hannah2.pdf (209 download)
Professor James Kiarie
Professor James Kiarie is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program and a senior lecturer in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Nairobi (UoN), consultant obstetrician gynecologist at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Affiliate Associate Professor Epidemiology and Global Health at the University of Washington. He is a member of the University of Nairobi Clinical Epidemiology Unit (CEU) and the University of Nairobi Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (UNITID). He has previously been the Head of Department Obstetrics and Gynecology KNH and Director CEU.
Prof. Kiarie’s research focuses on HIV, reproductive health and use of computer technologies in epidemiologic research. The UoN PMTCT program supports provision of services in Kenyatta National Hospital, Pumwani maternity Hospital, Kisumu East District and Nyando district. This program is currently leading an evaluation of the impact of PMTCT services in Kenya. The HIV and Pregnancy Intention (HAPI) study is enrolling a community based cohort to determine the impact of fertility desires on HIV incidence. He also leads the Nairobi site of a multi-site randomized trial to assess the efficacy oral Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing sexual transmission of HIV in HIV-serodiscordant couples.
In training Prof. Kiarie is active in undergraduate and postgraduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology, research methods and proposal Development. However his greatest interest is in post graduation skills training for health services delivery. In this regard he is the PI of the UoN HIV fellowship program which is an experiential training in health informatics, health economics and program management to build the capacity of indigenous organizations to implement large scale HIV/AIDS programs. He is also the PI of the University of Nairobi MEPI grant whose mission is to improve health outcomes in Kenya through medical education and operations / clinical research.
- Kiarie_James2.pdf (303 download)
Doctor Jan de Maeseneer
Doctor Jan de Maeseneer (1952, Gent) graduated as a Medical Doctor in 1977 at the Ghent University, Belgium.
Since 1978, he has been working part-time as a general practitioner in the community health centre Botermarkt in Ledeberg, a deprived area in the city of Ghent.
He has written articles in several journals on health education, epidemiology, medical decision making, medical education, quality of care, community oriented primary care, interdisciplinary team work, training in general practice, health and poverty, health in developing countries. Dr. De Maeseneer has served as the chairman of the European Forum for Primary Care since 2005 and as Secretary-General of The Network: Towards Unity For Health since 2007.
Dr. De Maeseneer is chairman of the Interuniversity Flemish Consortium for vocational training of family medicine. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Medical Training of the European Union and of the Scientific Advisory Board of the "Organisation for Accreditation and Quality Assurance" in Switzerland.
Dr. De Maeseneer is promoter of the VLIR-Own Initiatives project on "Optimisation of family medicine training in Southern and Eastern Africa” and of the EU-Edulink Primafamed-project.
In 2004 Dr. De Maeseneer received the "WONCA-award for excellence in health care: the Five-Star Doctor" at the 17th World Conference of Family Doctors in Orlando (USA).
Since 2006, Dr. J. De Maeseneer has been a member of the Knowledge Network "Health System" of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
- Maeseneer_Jan4.pdf (228 download)
Doctor Jennifer Dohrn
Doctor Jennifer Dohrn has been a faculty nursing educator at the Columbia University School of Nursing, New York (USA), since 1985, where she has served as Director of the Midwifery Program at the master’s level. She is a practicing nurse practitioner specializing in women’s health and midwifery at the Morris Heights Health Center, which she founded in 1988. The Center is a maternity center which provides health services to women across the lifespan who have historically had minimal access to care.
Dr. Dohrn is the co-investigator of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health ICAP’s Nurse Capacity Initiative. Funded by HRSA since 2009, this initiative currently works in South Africa, Swaziland, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, and Cote D’Ivoire (with new work starting in Lesotho and Kenya this year). Its goal is to increase the capacity of nurses in pre-service, in-service, and policy/regulatory issues. As program director, she is responsible for the Nurse Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI). NEPI has started its program in support of transformative nursing education models in Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho, with anticipated expansion to three new countries in 2011.
- Dohrn_Jennifer2.pdf (319 download)
Doctor Kimberly Coleman
Doctor Kimberly Coleman is the Policy Director for the US Department of Defense HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (DHAPP). She represents the Department as a member of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) and Global Health Initiative’s (GHI) United States government interagency teams. In her current role, she advances DoD’s global health mission as a member of the United Nation’s Uniformed Services Task Force as well as an invited speaker for security cooperation strategic planning meetings.
Dr. Coleman is a social scientist with particular expertise in HIV/AIDS, gender, and evidence-based behavior change intervention implementation. She has served on a number of Boards of Directors for U.S.-based AIDS Service Organizations. In addition, she is a member of the Behavioral and Social Scientists Volunteer Program.
- Coleman_Kimberly2.pdf (209 download)
Doctor Laura Cheever
Doctor Laura Cheever, MD, ScM is Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer of the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). There, she provides leadership and technical expertise in the administration of the Ryan White CARE Act and in HRSA’s global HIV/AIDS program. Prior to holding this position, she was the chief of the HIV Education Branch in the HIV/AIDS Bureau, serving as the national director of the AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) program.
Before joining HRSA, Dr Cheever was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where she developed a regional HIV program to provide on-site HIV primary and consultative care in health departments serving 18 Maryland counties. At Johns Hopkins, Dr Cheever has served as medical director of both a women's methadone program and a peer-based adherence program. Additionally, she directed provider training for the Johns Hopkins AIDS Service. She has experience working with the Ryan White CARE Act program, heading Title I, Title II, and AETC-funded programs, and has served on the Baltimore Eligible Metropolitan Area Title I Planning Council.
Dr Cheever is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and continues to see patients. Her primary interests are increasing access to and retention in HIV care and the integration of HIV prevention, Hepatitis C treatment, and substance abuse treatment into HIV primary care. She has trained at Johns Hopkins University, the University of California, San Francisco, and Brown University. Dr Cheever has extensive international experience, working primarily in Brazil, and is fluent in Portuguese.
- Cheever_Laura2.pdf (174 download)
Doctor Letitia Robinson
Doctor Letitia Robinson began her career after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Hampton University in 1993. After graduation she accepted a commission in the U.S. Navy where she worked in several areas of nursing to include psychiatry, specialty surgery, and labor and delivery, which she received and currently holds a specialty certification in Obstetrical Nursing. While in the Navy she completed her Master of Science in Nursing and also spent time in an overseas assignment in Europe.
In 2002, Dr. Robinson left the Navy for a commissioning with the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and would later begin working for the Health Resources and Services Administration, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Global HIV/AIDS Program as a Senior Public Health Analyst. In this role she provided oversight for federal funding in excess of over $200 million for HIV/AIDS care and treatment services to well over 486,000 persons in the following countries: Haiti, South Africa, Guyana, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, Botswana, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
In 2009, Dr. Robinson joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center as the International Program Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa. In this role she serves as the liaison for NIH activities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to this health diplomacy function, she is also the lead NIH Program Officer for the Medical Education Partnership Initiative.
In addition to her employment at the NIH, Dr. Robinson has also served as Adjunct Faculty where she has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Dr. Robinson has a graduate certification in Community Health Education and her Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences as an International Health Practitioner.
Doctor Michael Johnson
Doctor Michael Johnson is Deputy Director of the Fogarty International Center. Prior to his work at the Fogarty International Center, Dr. Johnson served in the Office of Global Health Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, where he was liaison to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In that position his responsibilities included policy, technical and budgetary aspects of HHS involvement in PEPFAR, which currently exceeds one billion dollars.
Prior to joining PEPFAR, Dr. Johnson was the Chief of Party for the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Caribbean Regional Office, co-located with the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre in Port of Spain, Trinidad. During his two-year assignment there, he played a leading role in the establishment of CDC Offices for PEPFAR in Haiti and Guyana and established partnerships with a number of Caribbean regional organizations.
Dr. Johnson has worked on US domestic HIV/AIDS as the Chief Medical Officer and the Director of the Division of Training and Technical Assistance for the Ryan White CARE Act in the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This work included oversight of the national AIDS Education and Training Centers, initiation of the first clinical quality improvement initiative in a national, publicly-funded clinical care program and the development of a variety of technical assistance interventions. He also provided agency representation and leadership in a White House initiative: the Congressional Black Caucus Initiative on AIDS.
As a faculty member in the Department of International Health of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, his work was focused in Haiti as in-country director for studies on short-course tuberculosis and chemoprophylaxis among HIV-infected persons. While at Hopkins, he received a Fogarty training grant. He applied many aspects of his work in Haiti to domestic programs in the resource-limited, minority neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Clark University (A.B. 1979), Tufts University School of Medicine (M.D. 1983) and Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (M.P.H. 1991), he is also Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.
Doctor Oathokwa Nkomazana
Doctor Oathokwa Nkomazana MBChB FCOphth MSc CEH, is Associate Dean of Education at the University of Botswana School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
She received her MBChB from the University of Glasgow in 1993 before interning in Surgery and then Medicine in Scotland. She then served as a Medical Officer in Internal Medicine, Accident and Emergency, and Opthalmology at Princess Marina Hospital in Gabarone, Botswana before becoming a Resident in Opthalmology in Cape Town and Bloemfontein South Africa from 1996 through 2000. In that year, she received her FCOphth from the College of Opthalmologists, RSA. She continued her education later, receiving an MSc CEH from the University of London in 2006.
From 2001 through 2006, Dr. Nkomazana worked as a Specialist, Consultant, and Senior Consultant in Opthalmology in Gaborone, becoming the Head of Opthalmology at the Princess Marina Hospital in 2002. From 2005 through 2006 she served as Hospital Superintendent at the same hospital.
Internationally, Dr. Nkomazana is a member of the ongoing WHO Guidelines Development group for the WHO/PEPFAR initiative on scaling up transformative medical nursing and midwifery education, as well as the International Consensus Group on AIDS-related CMV retinitis: developing guidelines on the management of CMV retinitis in resource limited settings. She was a member of the Princess Marina Hospitals Ethics Committee from 2007 through 2010. Within Botswana, she Chairs the Botswana Eye Care Providers Society and the Technical Committee on the Prevention of Blindness. She is the Chair of her institution’s Graduate Medical Education Committee, and of the undergraduate curriculum development committee.
Doctor Paul Fife
Doctor Paul Fife is Director of the Global Health and AIDS Department at NORAD - the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. In that capacity he oversees NORAD’s policy and technical work including health systems development, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and global health research.
Prior to joining NORAD in 2004, Dr. Fife worked with UNICEF in Eritrea, Cambodia and at UNICEF’s headquarters in New York. His fields of expertise are health sector management, vaccines and immunization, and international public health. He trained as a medical doctor at the University of Oslo (Norway) and has a master’s degree in public policy and management from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (UK). Dr. Fife represents Norway on several Boards and Committees, including the Board of the GAVI Alliance.
- Fife_Paul2.pdf (276 download)
Doctor Quarraisha Abdool Karim
Doctor Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an infectious diseases epidemiologist whose main research interests are in understanding the evolving HIV epidemic in South Africa; factors influencing acquisition of HIV infection in adolescent girls; and sustainable strategies to introduce HAART in resource-constrained settings. In addition to being a member of the faculty at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, Dr. Abdool Karim is an associate professor in Public Health and Family Medicine at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Since 1998 she has played a central role in building the science base in southern Africa through the Columbia University - Southern African Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Programme and is also an associate scientific director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). Dr. Abdool Karim is currently co-chair of the HIV Prevention Trials Network, a large NIH funded network that sets and undertakes key HIV prevention research globally.
Doctor Regina James
Doctor Regina James M.D. is the Director of the Division of Special Populations at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, USA. In this capacity, Dr. James is responsible for informing the public about issues related to differences in maternal and child health outcomes and health equity; and developing initiatives that increase participation of diverse populations and developing nations in biomedical and behavioral research endeavors. She currently serves as the director of the Extramural Associates Program that provides training to both domestic and international colleges and universities to build research capacity.
Dr. James received her B.S. in psychology/biology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and her M.D. from UCLA. Dr. James completed a residency in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She completed a research fellowship in child psychiatry at the Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Prior to her appointment at the NICHD, Dr. James served as the chief of the Mood Disorders Program, Attention Disorders Program and Pediatric Eating Disorders Program at the NIMH.
Dr. James is a member of the American Psychiatric Association Workgroup on Disorders in Childhood & Adolescence, charged with revising the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Dr. James received the Norbet & Charlotte Rieger Award for Scientific Achievement from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Association for excellence in research, the 2009 NIH Director’s Award for contributions made to the first NIH Health Disparities Summit, the 2009 NIH Award of Merit for advancing health disparities initiatives at NICHD and the 2010 NIH Award of Merit for organizing the first NIH Infant Mortality Awareness Initiative (5K run).
Dr. James has conducted and published clinical research in the areas of health disparities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and pediatric bipolar disorder. She has been published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, and the Journal of Affective Disorders, among others.
Doctor Thomas Nyirenda
Doctor Thomas Nyirenda, of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), is a physician with experience in planning and implementing community disease control programs, operational research and clinical trials in Africa. He worked with the Ministry of Health in Malawi from 1993 to 2000 where he got experience in administration of district and national health delivery systems, and in health research. From 2000 to 2004 he worked for the World Health Organisation as a national and international technical advisor in control and research of TB and TB/HIV co-infection in Africa. He has published and contributed to a number of publications in this field including malaria. He joined EDCTP in 2004.
- Nyirenda_Thomas2.pdf (247 download)
Doctor Val Snewin International Activities Manager, The Wellcome Trust.- Snewin_Val2.pdf (270 download)
Edward King
Edward King is the Vice President, Editorial; and General Manager, Virology, for Clinical Care Options, LLC.
With over 20 years’ experience as a writer and editor of HIV medical education resources in online and print formats, Edward King is recognized as a leader in the creation of innovative, interactive, multimedia medical education models and portal technologies.
As a senior editor at NAM, for 6 years he edited the UK's most influential publications on HIV management, the HIV & AIDS Treatments Directory and the monthly newsletter AIDS Treatment Update. He joined Jeffrey L. Drezner, MD, PhD, in 1997 to manage the content of his premier US national live meeting and comprehensive Website for HIV healthcare professionals, Clinical Care Options for HIV. Following a merger with Medscape in 1998, he managed the HIV specialty content for four years.
In 2002, Dr. Drezner launched Clinical Care Options (CCO), for which he and Mr. King developed a unique series of interactive, online educational formats. As CCO’s Vice President of Editorial, Mr. King leads the team of 17 editors who develop the content for CCO's Web sites, live meetings, and publications.
CCO, a partner of the International AIDS Society, is recognized globally as the leader in the development of interactive medical education programs for healthcare professionals in the fields of HIV, hepatitis, and hematology/oncology. In 2009, CCO launched inPractice, a groundbreaking point-of-care resource designed to be used in the exam room, at bedside, or while on call to help clinicians with clinical decision making. inPractice is a continuously updated point-of-care digital textbook enhanced by five additional databases—an easy-to-use and fully searchable resource that can be accessed online and offline through mobile devices.
inPractice is already used by more than 31,500 healthcare professionals around the world to find rapid answers to management questions at the point of care and improve patient outcomes. CCO is now working to adapt the inPractice technology to build an entirely new interactive online and offline digital program designed to meet the specific information and education needs of HIV clinicians in resource-limited settings.
Dr. Drezner and Mr. King are both attending the MEPI Annual Symposium and look forward to demonstrating inPractice and discussing the planned CCO initiative and technology transfer opportunities with attendees.
Malik Jaffer
Malik Jaffer Senior Technical Advisor, Health Systems Strengthening Office of HIV/AIDS, US Agency for International Development, has served as a Senior Technical Advisor for USAID/Southern Africa since 2006, first in HIV Care and currently in Health Systems Strengthening. He provides leadership in institutional and organizational capacity building supporting the South African Government and civil society and is an advocate for community engagement in health. Mr. Jaffer’s work experience in nearly 50 countries includes positions within civil society, the private sector, the military and academia.
- Jaffer_Malik2.pdf (266 download)
Professor Abdel Karim Koumare
Professor Abdel Karim Koumare is a member of the MEPI African Coordinating Center Faculty and the founding General Director of the African Institute for Training in Pedagogy – Research and Evaluation in Health Sciences (IAFPRESS in French), an NGO located in Bamako, Mali. His Institute has been training 20 to 30 instructor-researchers every year for 10 years for the African and Malagasy Council for Graduate Education’s Competition (CAMES in French). Since 2002, he has been an associated member of the French Academy of Medicine, and since 2007 an associate member of the French Academy of Surgery. Prof. Koumare also serves as Co-Director of the Scientific Committee and member of the Committee of Experts in Pedagogy of the International Conference of Deans of French-speaking Faculties of Medicine. He has been a member of several assessment committees for Faculties of Medicine including those of Libreville in Gabon and Tours in France. Prof. Koumare has led several national and international scientific meetings. In November 2008, Prof. Koumare was appointed Vice President of the National Scientific Committee for the Organization of the Global Ministerial Forum for Research on Health, which was held in Bamako, Mali.
Prof. Koumaré is now the General President of the Jury for Medicine, Surgery, and Veterinary medicine competition (candidate’s assessment for gaining the grade of Professor with teaching and research duties) for the African and Malagasy Council for Graduate Education’s Competition and has been awarded the academic palms of the same Council. He has also been awarded several medals including Commander of the national Order of Mali (Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mali in French), Officer of the National Order of Mali (Officier de l’Ordre National du Mali); Chevalier of French Legion of Honour; Gold Medal of Surgery in France; Silver Star of the National Merit of Mali in effigy of the Standing Lion; Knight of the National Order (Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mali); and Honour Member of French-Speaking Association of Surgery.
Prof. Koumare serves as Head of the Digestive Surgery Department at the University Hospital of Point G in Bamako. He is a consulting specialist in several health services management areas and health professionals’ training programs, from assessment to optimization and applied medical research for several international organizations such as the International Conference of Deans of French-Speaking Faculties of Medicine (ICDFFM); John Hopkins University (USAID/JHPIEGO); WHO/Geneva; WHO/AFRO; WHO/Bamako; French Cooperation; IDRC/Canada; World Bank/Chad; International Center for Childhood (ICC-France); and UNICEF/Bamako.
Prof. Koumare is a graduate of Poitiers Medical School in France; a holder of several specialized certificates in Surgery, Anatomy, and Organonogenesis; Surgery, Pedagogy of Health Sciences (specialty evaluation obtained in Canada), Morphological Anthropology, Aeronautical Medicine and X-ray (anatomy). He is a Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at the University of Bamako and a Senior Associate at the University of Rochester, New York.
Professor Abraham Haileamlak Mitike
Professor Abraham Haileamlak Mitike is a member of the MEPI African Coordinating Center Faculty and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health, a Pediatric Cardiologist at Jimma University in Ethiopia. He is a consultant pediatrician with twenty years’ experience in health care services in rural Ethiopia. For the last seven years, he has worked in the university’s teaching hospital, providing clinical services. He teaches undergraduate medical students as well as health officers and post graduate anesthesia and pediatrics residents. On top of his academic and clinical activities, Dr Haileamlak has been involved in the top leadership of Jimma University, the second biggest University in Ethiopia. He worked as Vice Director of the university’s hospital for two years and he was the Vice President the University from 2004 through 2010.
Nationally, he worked as external examiner of medical students in Addis Ababa and Gondar Universities. Internationally he has done research with Nottingham University, UK and short-term training in Ludwig Maximilian University, Germany.
He received his Doctor of Medicine (1991), Faculty of Medicine, and Certificate of Specialty in Paediatrics and Child Health (2000) from Addis Ababa University Medical School, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He also did fellowship in paediatric Cardiology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany (2006) and Wolfson Medical Center, Israel (2009-2010). He is member of the Ethiopian Society of Paediatrics, the Ethiopian Public Health Association, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute and he is the chairperson of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.
Professor Ali Habour
Professor Ali Habour is a MEPI Coordinating Center Counselor and Dean of the School of Medicine at Gezira University, Sudan. From 1993 through 2007, he was a Professor of child health and the Director General of Medani children teaching hospital. He led the Department of Pediatrics in1997; served as Deputy Dean of the faculty of medicine in 2003; and has been Dean of the faculty of medicine since 2007.
Prof. Habour completed his postgraduate training in pediatric and child health in the U.K. Since he joined the faculty at the University of Gezira in 1990 he has become very much interested in medical education and the training of health professionals. Gezira medical school is community-based and community oriented and has introduced many innovative ideas in medical education in Sudan and the region. This has had a great impact on medical education not only in Sudan but in neighboring countries.
- Habour_Ali5.pdf (197 download)
- Samkange_Chris2.pdf (255 download)
Honorable Professor David Mphande, Minister of Health, Malawi. 
Professor David Olufemi Olaleye Principal Investigator for the MEPI program, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.- Olaleye_David2.pdf (303 download)
Professor Diaa Eldin ElGaili Abubakr
Professor Diaa Eldin ElGaili Abubakr is a member of the MEPI African Coordinating Center Faculty. He is the Director of the Education Development and Research Centre (WHO Collaborating Centre), Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira, Sudan.
Prof. Diaa Eldin ElGaili is a professor of psychiatry; head of University of Gezira’s Department of Mental Health and is a member of the Scientific Committee of Psychiatry in the Arab Board of Medical Specializations. Prof. ElGaili has been selected as a WHO advisor (Bahrain meeting Dec. 2008) and has wide experience in health professions education. He is the vice president of the Scientific Comminute of the University of Gezira.
Prof. ElGaili’s research work focuses on mental health problems and health professions education.
The Education Development and Research Centre, of which Prof. ElGaili is director, works in curriculum development and review, program evaluation, staff development, and continuous professional development within the health profession. This is in addition to the work of the center addressing community problems, this being represented in the University of Gezira Initiatives for safe motherhood and child hood and for the prevention of blindness in the Gezira state, in the center of Sudan.
Professor Ellen Hamburger
Professor Ellen Hamburger leads the Medical Education Cluster of the MEPI Coordinating Center. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine and a practicing pediatrician who has been actively training residents and medical students since 1988. She received her MD from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed a pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center. She has served as Director of the Primary Care Track and Associate Program Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Children’s National Medical Center for much of that time. After participating in the first class of Master Teachers at George Washington University in 2003, she became more active in curriculum design and medical education innovation. Prof. Hamburger had a leadership role in the development of a new pediatric post-graduate training program in East Africa, and was a lead on site visits in the Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study in 2010. She has presented her work in medical education at regional, national, and international meetings.
Professor Elsie Kiguli-Malwadde
Professor Elsie Kiguli-Malwadde is the Director of the MEPI African Coordinating Center. She had until December 2010 been an associate professor and head of the department of Radiology at the College of Health Sciences, Makerere University. She worked with Makerere University for 14 years, rising through the ranks, and understands very well the challenges of Medical Education in sub-Saharan Africa. Apart from her radiology training she is a fellow of the Foundation for the Advancement of Medical Education and Research (FAIMER). She also holds a Masters in Health Professions Education from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She brings with her the experience of hands-on educator and special interest in innovative education.
Prof. Kiguli-Malwadde is a graduate of Makerere University where she received both her MBChB and Masters in Medicine in Radiology. She has been at the forefront of promoting and enhancing quality health professions education in Radiology, General Medicine, Medical Radiography and other health professions within Uganda and has over 14 years of experience directly supervising academic medical research at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has been involved in Faculty committees responsible for curriculum development, medical and research ethics development and developing ethical procedures for quality medical research in Radiology and other health professions education. She has worked extensively with Mulago Hospital and Makerere University College of Health Sciences as a key member of various Faculty project teams involved in enhancing professional health education in Uganda and assessing training needs within the medical profession. She has published 43 journal articles in Radiology and Imaging as well as in Medical Education and presented papers at many international workshops and conferences. She has been Global Faculty discussant and advisor for Foundation for the Advancement of Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Philadelphia USA. She has been a member of the Faculty for the South African FAIMER Institute.
She is also a founding member of many radiological Societies Including Association of Radiologists of Uganda, Uganda Society for Advancement of Radiology and Imaging, Uganda Association of Sonographers and Pan African Congress of Radiology and Imaging. She is also a member of other international Societies.
Professor Emilia Noormahommed
Professor Emilia Noormahommed is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM). She received her M.D. from UEM in 1993 and her Ph.D. from the University of Granada in 2002. She was trained in clinical medicine and has specialized in parasitology. She has substantial management expertise as a Dean of the UEM Faculty of Medicine from 2002 – 2006 during which time she led a major expansion of the medical school. As a Dean, she worked closely both with the Ministry of Health and the Maputo Central Hospital in coordinating clinical training for the 6-year curriculum. Prior to 2002 the average yearly class size was 21; at the end of her deanship in 2006 over 100 medical students graduated from UEM.
She grew up in Matola and served as a City Councilor for Health and Social Welfare for Matola from 1998 to 2000. As a City Councilor for Health and Social Welfare she, organized and led the primary health care units at Matola Municipality as well as the social care with special emphasis on community development activities particularly directed to vulnerable women and children. This position allowed her to gain wide knowledge of health, demographic, social, cultural and economic situation of the Matola area.
Prof. Noormahommed was a temporary adviser for WHO where she participated in the design action plan to develop human resources and national health systems in underdeveloped countries.
During her professional life Prof. Noormahomed took several national and international courses on infectious disease, medical education, leadership and management as well as participating in and organizing international meetings in the fields mentioned above.
From since 1994 she is actively involved in the training of medical doctors and since the creation of the higher Institute for Health Professionals (ISCISA) she is also involved in the training of other health professionals such as; general and pediatric nurses, laboratory technicians, surgery technicians as part of agreements and complementarity between the MOH (Ministerio de salud), the Faculty of Medicine and ISCISA, defined by special decrees and collaboration agreements.
Presently she is actively involved in training and research on infectious diseases such as, malaria HIV, opportunistic infections.
- Noormahomed_Emilia2.pdf (301 download)
Professor Eric Buch
Professor Eric Buch is a MEPI Coordinating Center Counselor. Prof. Buch was recently appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Pretoria, and remains Professor of Health Policy and Management in the School of Health Systems and Public Health at the University, a post he has held since 2000. He is transitioning out of his role as Health Adviser to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which he has held since 2002.
He was formerly (95-99) Deputy Director General for Health Care of Gauteng Province in South Africa, Director of Community Health and then Executive Director for Health, Housing and Urbanization of metropolitan Johannesburg (91-95) and Senior Lecturer in Community Health and a founder and Director of the Centre for Health Policy at the University of the Witwatersrand (87-91). Prior to this Eric co-initiated and worked for the Wits Rural Health Services Development Unit in the rural Bushbuckridge region of South Africa. He was active in anti-apartheid health organizations through the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, serving amongst others as General Secretary of the National Progressive Primary Health Care Network for nearly a decade.
Prof. Buch is a Board Member of the Global Health Workforce Alliance. He recently completed two terms as a Board member of the Health Systems Trust.
The focus of his career has been on South African and in the past decade, African health policy and systems; health services development and management; human resources for health and human capacity building; and AIDS and health services. Prof. Buch is a medical doctor and a registered specialist in Community Health. He served as the African lead partner for the survey undertaken by the Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study.
Professor Fitzhugh Mullan
Professor Fitzhugh Mullan is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI Coordinating Center at George Washington University in Washington DC (GW). Previously, he was the Principal Investigator of the Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study, a continent-wide landscaping study of medical education in the region. He serves as the Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at GW School of Public Health and Health Services and is a Professor of Pediatrics at The George Washington University School of Medicine.
Prof. Mullan graduated from Harvard University with a degree in history and from the University of Chicago Medical School. He trained in pediatrics at the Jacobi and Lincoln Hospitals in the Bronx, New York. In 1972 he was commissioned in the United States Public Health Service and practiced in New Mexico as one of the first physicians in the National Health Service Corps. He later served as Director of the National Health Service Corps, followed by tours as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute of Medicine, as a senior medical officer at the National Institutes of Health and as the Secretary of the Health and Environment Department for the state of New Mexico. He was appointed Director of the Bureau of Health Professions in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in 1990 and to the rank of Assistant Surgeon General (Rear Admiral) in 1991. In subsequent years, he served on both the President’s Task Force on Health Care Reform and the Council on Graduate Medical Education.
He has been a faculty member at George Washington University since 1998. Prof. Mullan is an expert on human resources for health with a long record of research and publication on the issues of U.S. and global health workforce. His recent work includes studies of the metrics of global physician migration, workforce retention strategies in Ghana, an inventory of mid-level providers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Indian physician emigration, and reverse flows of health professionals from developed to lesser developed settings.
Prof. Mullan has written widely for both professional and general audiences on medical and health policy topics. His books include Plagues and Politics: The Story of the United States Public Health Service and Healers Abroad: Americans Responding to Human Resource Crisis in the HIV/AIDS (editor.)
Prof. Mullan is the Founding President of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. He is the recipient of the American Cancer Society's 1988 Courage award, the Society for Surgical Oncology's 1989 James Ewing medal, as well as the Surgeon General's Medallion, and the United States Public Health Service's Distinguished Service Medal. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Mullan_Fitzhugh2.pdf (251 download)
Professor Francis Omaswa
Professor Francis Omaswa is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI African Coordinating Center. He is the Executive Director of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (CHEST), an initiative incorporated in Uganda and promoted by a network of African and International leaders in health and development. It is an independent “Think Tank and Network”. He is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI African Coordinating Center at ACHEST.
Until May 2008, Prof. Omaswa was the founding Executive Director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) a partnership dedicated to identifying and providing solutions to the global health workforce crisis. The secretariat is provided by WHO. This work culminated in the first ever global forum on human resources for health, organized by Prof. Omaswa, and the adoption of the “Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action” which now guides the global response on health workforce development.
Before joining GHWA, he was the Director General for Health Services in the Ministry of Health in Uganda during which time he was responsible for coordinating major reforms in the health sector, including the introduction of the Swaps, quality assurance and decentralization. He has a keen interest in cost-effective approaches for increasing access of the poor to quality health care and spent five years in a remote mission hospital testing various models and innovations for this between 1982 and 1987.
His academic career includes serving as Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya and founding Director of the Uganda Heart Institute at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. He was involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and mentored many professionals who are now leaders in the field in the region. He served in several University committees. He was also the founding President of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa which covers 12 countries in that region. He has published in the fields of surgery and health services management including human resources for health.
In the community, he has served on many boards in schools and universities, civil society and the private sector, in several cases as the Chair of these boards. For this, he has received multiple meritorious awards.
At the global level he is Senior Adviser to the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health (MLI), Co-Chair of the Global Advisory Policy Council on Health Workforce Migration, and is a member of several working groups and task forces. He has served as founding Chairman of the Global Stop TB Partnership Board, Chair of the Portfolio and Procurement Committee of the Global Fund Board, Chair of the GAVI Independent Review Committee and a member of the steering committee of the High Level Forum on health-related MDGs and has been an adviser to governments on health policy and strategy in developing and developed countries.
Prof. Omaswa is a graduate of Makerere Medical School, Uganda, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, founding President of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa and is a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has qualifications in health services management and education.
- Omaswa_Francis2.pdf (207 download)
Professor Gottleib L Monekosso
Professor Gottleib L Monekosso is a MEPI Coordinating Center Counselor. He served as the Former Minister of Public Health of Cameroon, and is Emeritus Director, WHO Africa Region and the Founding Dean of the University Centre for Health Sciences, Yaoundé. Prof. Monekosso is currently the President of the Global Health Dialogue Foundation.
A citizen of the Republic of Cameroon, Prof. Monekosso obtained his primary and secondary school education in Lagos, Nigeria and studied medicine at the Guy’s Hospital Medical School of the University of London, England (1948-53). He then went to the London School of Tropical Medicine (1956-57). After House appointments at Guy’s Hospital, he joined the new University College of Ibadan (1954-56) as Resident Physician in the Department of Medicine. He spent the academic year 1956-1957 securing postgraduate academic and specialist qualifications. Between 1957 and 1960 he worked successively as Senior Resident in Ibadan, Lecturer in Makerere University College, Uganda, and Research Fellow at the University College of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Returning to Africa in 1960, he was successively Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor of Medicine in Ibadan and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. In 1963 he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Head of Department of Medicine of Lagos College of Medicine. In 1968 he was professor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He returned to Cameroon in 1969 to head the newly created University Centre for Health Sciences (CUSS) throughout its first decade.
In 1978-80 he was a resident consultant to the World Health Organization, carrying out missions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. From 1980-1985 he was WHO Representative to Jamaica with responsibility for the sub-region of the northern Commonwealth Caribbean countries. He was elected to the post of WHO Director for Africa, completing two five-year terms of office: 1985-1995. During this time he was a member of the WHO executive management in Geneva and had the privilege of giving technical advice to 46 countries in Africa and to the Organisation of African Unity and the UN Economic Commission for Africa. He returned home in 1995 to active retirement in the Littoral and South West Provinces. He finally had the great fortune to serve as Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health from 1997-2000. He currently runs a small foundation devoted to health and welfare of young people, with Headquarters in Buea and an operational office in Douala.
A lifetime devoted to health, professor Monekosso has been active in clinical, laboratory and field research on endemic diseases especially tropical neuropathy; the adaptation of teaching programs for medical, nursing and other health sciences students to community health needs; the organization of healthcare delivery in university centers, district hospitals, and at community level. He taught a couple of generation of health professionals active in Eastern, Western, and Central Africa. He has held several honorary positions – professional and academic – around the world and has published a number of books and over one hundred papers in the scientific and health literature.
Retired but not tired, he is publisher of a monthly newspaper Camsanté News, and supervises the activities of the Global Health Dialogue Foundation.
Professor Ian Couper Chair of Rural Health, University of the Witwatersrand.- Couper_Ian2.pdf (336 download)
Professor James Hakim
Professor James Hakim, MBChB, MMed, MMedSci, FRCP is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI program for the University of Zimbabwe. He is a Professor of Medicine at the Department of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, where his responsibilities include teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students, and clinical research. He served as chair of the department of medicine from 2001through 2006 and Director of the University’s Clinical Research Centre (UZCRC).
His main research interests are Antiretroviral Therapy, Opportunistic infections, and HIV prevention; especially issues pertinent to implementation in resource limited settings. He has been involved in multicentre studies with grants from the University of Zimbabwe, Rockefeller Foundation, NIH, MRC-UK and EDCTP. He conducted a national survey of human resources for health in Zimbabwe for the WHO in 2002; a national survey of non-communicable diseases in Zimbabwe for the MOH and WHO in 2004; and was Harare Site principal investigator for the Development of Antiretroviral therapy in Africa Trial (DART) completed in 2009. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in refereed journals, several chapters in books and manuals, and has presented on scientific and topical issues at national, regional and international meetings.
Dr. Hakim received his MBChB from Makerere University, Uganda in 1979; an MMed (Internal Medicine) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya in 1984; and his MMedSci (Clinical Epidemiology) from the University of Newcastle, Australia in 2000. He completed a post-doctorate in Cardiology in Aachen, Germany.
- Hakim_James2.pdf (414 download)
Professor James Scott
Professor James Scott MD, FACEP is a member of the MEPI Coordinating Center Faculty and a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He served as Dean of the School of Medicine and
Health Sciences (SMHS) from July of 2003 through December 2010.
Prof. Scott became a full professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine in 1998. Previously, he served as residency director, Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education, and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in SMHS.
Each spring the fourth year medical students select a clinical professor to receive the Golden Apple award for outstanding teaching. Prof. Scott has received this award 10 times between 1986 and 2003.
Prof. Scott’s research is primarily in the areas of graduate and post-graduate education including toxicology, communication with families of trauma patients, and international graduate medical education. He also has a background in violence prevention and telemedicine.
Prof. Scott received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1977 followed by serving in the Peace Corps. He received his medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1983. Prof. Scott completed his internal medicine internship at the University of Arizona and did his emergency medicine residency at The George Washington University.
Professor Jean Nachega
Professor Jean Nachega is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa. He is also an Associate Scientist in the Departments of International Health and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; and Former John L. Mc Goldrick Fellow as well as Visiting Scientist in the Department of Biostatistics, Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research (CBAR), at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
He is board-certified in Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine and is trained in Epidemiology, International Health and Tropical Medicine, and Public Health in Belgium, the UK, and the United States. Prof. Nachega has extensive clinical and research experience on HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis in Africa. He is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
Prof. Nachega has a long-term goal of optimizing clinical and public health outcomes in HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa. Prof. Nachega’s research, teaching, and professional activities include planning, design, monitoring and evaluation of clinical trials, cohort studies, and programs for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa. His work is primarily funded by the U.S. NIH/NIAID, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP) and the UK-based Wellcome Trust. Prof. Nachega has ongoing HIV and/or TB research or training collaborations with institutions in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
- Nachega_Jean3.pdf (286 download)
Professor Jehu Iputo
Professor Jehu Iputo is a member of the MEPI African Coordinating Center Faculty as well as the Director of the School of Medicine at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in South Africa where he has taught for over 20 years. Prior to taking up this post, he was a Professor of Physiology and Chairman of the Department of Physiology and Medical Biochemistry at the same institution. Prof. Iputo has played a pivotal role in the establishment of the problem-based and community-based medical training program (one of the leading innovative programs in the sub-Saharan Africa) at WSU. Over the years he has chaired the curriculum committee, the undergraduate medical education committee, and the quality assurance committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences at WSU.
Prof. Iputo is a member of The Network: Towards Unity for Health. He has published in medical education and serves on the Editorial Boards of several journals, including the South African Medical Journal. He has consulted for the WHO on medical education, and has been involved in medical and nursing curricular reform in South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda. He has been a panel member of the accreditation committee of the Medical and Dental Board of the Health Professions Council of South Africa since 2000. He was a member of the Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study Advisory Committee and co-author of that Study’s report. Dr. Iputo trained in human medicine at Makerere University and in Physiology at Trinity College Dublin.
- Iputo_Jehu2.pdf (232 download)
Professor Johnstone Kumwenda
Professor Johnstone Kumwenda is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program and an associate professor of internal medicine at the College of Medicine-University of Malawi. He was the academic dean for the college for four years until November 2010. As academic dean Prof. Kumwenda was responsible for development of academic programs and maintenance of academic excellence.
Prof. Kumwenda a well recognized HIV clinician and experienced researcher with extensive background in large clinical trials such as HPTN 024, HPTN 052, and PEPI-Malawi extended antiretroviral infant prophylaxis. He is a senior clinician overseeing the antiretroviral treatment clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital-the main teaching hospital for the College of Medicine. The clinic is the main resource for HIV related complications. As the PI of several antiretroviral studies supported by the Malawi CTU (HPTN 052, ACTG 5175, 5199, 5221, he is a member of the Performance Evaluation Committee of ACTG, previously was a member of the antiretroviral working group and co-chair of the A5199, 5221, 5274 and 5297 protocols.
- Kumwenda_Johnstone2.pdf (241 download)
Professor Maria Elena Bottazzi
Professor Maria Elena Bottazzi is leader of the Research Cluster of the MEPI Coordinating Center as well as Associate Professor and Vice-Chair for Administration of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine (MITM) at the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC. Prof. Bottazzi is the Director for Product Development of the Sabin Vaccine Development [the only vaccine Product Development Public-private Partnership (PD-PPP) embedded in a University]. Her major interest is translational research and vaccine development for neglected tropical diseases and the role of vaccines as control tools in international public health programs and initiatives. Prof. Bottazzi is Co-Director of the GWU Research Center for Neglected Infections of Poverty, which includes the Institute of Translational Research and Development, both housed in MITM. In addition, Prof. Bottazzi was recently appointed as Associate Co-Investigator at GWU for the new Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National Medical Center.
Prof. Bottazzi is an Associate Editor for the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Neglected Tropical Disease Journal and is the author or co-author of multiple scientific and technical papers in molecular and cellular biology, immunoparasitology, and vaccine development, and is the recipient of multiple extramural awards.
Prof. Bottazzi is native of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she obtained a B.S. in Microbiology and Clinical Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Honduras and her Ph.D. from the Molecular Pathology & Experimental Immunology Program at the University of Florida. After completing her post-doctoral training at University of Miami and University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Bottazzi relocated to GWU. She has been on the faculty since 2001 and with Professor and Chair, Prof. Peter Hotez, she has established and manages one of the newest and most successful academic departments devoted to infectious disease problems in developing countries.
Doctor Milliard Derbew
Doctor Milliard Derbew is the Principal Investigator for Addis Ababa University’s MEPI program. He is currently acting as the Chief Executive Officer (with a rank of Vice President) for the College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University. The College of Health Sciences includes: Aklilu Lemma Institute of Patho-biology, School of Medicine, School of Pharmacy, School of Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine and Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (the Central Teaching and Referral Hospital in the country). Previously he has also served as Dean of the School of Medicine (2007-2009). He is an associate professor of pediatric surgery since 2009 and served as an assistant professor from 1998 through 2009.
In terms of training, Dr. Miliard received his MD (1987) and Specialty Certificate in Surgery (1993) from the School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University. He completed his fellowship in Pediatric Surgery (1998) at Tel Aviv University. He is also Fellow of the College of Surgeons East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA, 2002), the Office of International Surgery (University of Toronto, 2006) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS, 2007).
- Derbew_Milliard2.pdf (426 download)
Professor Miriam Were
Professor Miriam Were, a MEPI Coordinating Center Counselor, is Chair, National AIDS Control Council of Kenya. She is married to Humphreys Rapando Were and they are parents & grandparents.
Mama Miriam’s qualifications include an MPH (1976) and a Doctor of Public Health (1981) from the John Hopkins University, USA; the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (1973) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya; a Post graduate Diploma in Education (1966) University of East Africa, Makerere University College Uganda; a Bachelor’s degree with composite major in Biology, Chemistry and Physics (1964) from William Penn College, Iowa, USA. She was listed in 1964 among Who’s Who Among Students Graduating in American Colleges and Universities.
The Professor’s Career path has included Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Support Team Addis Ababa (UNFPA/CSTAA): May 1993 - 31st December, 2000. On retirement from the UN she had responsibilities for countries in Eastern, Central and Anglophone West Africa; WHO Representative and Chief of Mission, to Ethiopia in Addis Ababa: December 1990 - May 1993; UNICEF Chief Health and Nutrition in Ethiopia, September 1985 - November 990; McGill University, Montreal Canada Visiting Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Summer 1990; Faculty of Medicine, Department of Community Health, University of Nairobi 1974- 1985 and Head of Department 1982-85 during the establishment of the first Master of Public Health degree program in Kenya. From1973-1974, Mama Miriam was In Kenya’s Ministry of Health as Medical Officer, and during the period 1965 – 1968 she was in the Ministry of Education as a High School teacher of Biology, Chemistry and Physical Education.
Mama Miriam’s achievements have been celebrated in her country and internationally. Internationally she is one of the first two people to receive the prestigious Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize by Japan in May, 2008. In October, 2008, she received the honor of Knight in the Legion of Honour in the French National Order for distinguished service in health and development in Africa with particular emphasis on children, mothers and youth. In 2007, Prof. Were was awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Gold Medal in Public Health for Outstanding Contributions to International Public Health in the Commonwealth. Also in 2007, she received the World YWCA Trail Blazer Award in the category of Women Leading Change for lifelong commitment to improving the health of disadvantaged people. In 2006, she received the Medal of the Italian Cabinet by Pio Manzù Centre for work on improving life of the poor. In 2010 she received the AMREF Pioneering Public Health Award from AMREF USA.
In her home country of Kenya, Prof. Were has twice received National honors from the Head of State when H.E. the President awarded her the Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS) on National Day in 2005 for distinguished service rendered to the nation in the fields of Medical Education, in the practice of public health and leadership in the National Response in HIV/AIDS. On the 1st Heroes Day in Kenya on 20th October, 2010, H.E. the President recognized her among the six National Shujaa (Heroes) in Scholarship that have brought honor to their country through outstanding work in the country and beyond. On 8th December, 2010, at the First National Convention on Community Health Services she was awarded a Shield in “recognition of Continuous effort, Commitment and dedication towards empowering communities to improve their health and development in Kenya and beyond”.
- Were_Miriam2.pdf (254 download)
Professor Moshi Ntabaye Principal Investigator for the MEPI program and Executive Director, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Tanzania.- Derbew_Milliard2_1.pdf (850 download)
Doctor Mwapatsa Mipando
Doctor Mwapatsa Mipando is a member of the MEPI African Coordinating Center Faculty and the Dean of Faculty at the College of Medicine, University of Malawi. Dr. Mipando served as dean of student affairs and head of physiology before assuming the post of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He has been involved in the development and review of medical and allied health science curricula. He was a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study (SAMSS), and a co-author of its final report. He is currently a member of the WHO/PEPFAR reference group on transformative medical education and part of the Working group on Medical Education at The African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST).
He is the vice-chairman of the Malawi national steering committee on research in traditional medicine. Dr. Mipando got his academic training at University of Malawi, University of Liverpool, UK and University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He received several awards along his academic path. He is currently interested in the research and development of traditional medicine in Malawi, and he is also interested in cell adherence mechanisms between epithelial cells and microorganisms.
- Mipando_Mwapatsa2.pdf (180 download)
Professor Nelson Sewankambo
Professor Nelson Sewankambo, MBChB, MSc, M.MED, FRCP, Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI program and the Principal (Head) of Makerere University College of Health Sciences, a position he took up after serving as Dean of Makerere University Medical School for 11 years. He is the Vice President of the Accordia Global Health Foundation and Council member for Global Forum for Health Research. He trained at Makerere University as a medical doctor, went on to specialize in internal medicine and later graduated in Clinical Epidemiology at McMaster University in Canada. He was honored by the Royal College of Physicians in London and awarded a Fellowship of the College. He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster in Canada.
He has devoted his last 13 years of professional life to the advancement of medical education, research and capacity development. As Dean he was responsible for change from a teacher centred lecture-based medical curriculum to student centred education grounded in Problem-Based Learning and Community Based Education and Service. Some other innovations have included introduction of multi-disciplinary student education in teams, increasing the use of information technology in health professional education and joint doctoral degree programs between Makerere and Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and Bergen University (Norway).
He has led teams of academicians composed of experts in Europe, North America and Africa to develop and manage a successful model for strengthening a medical school in the developing world – the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere. Prof. Sewankambo also initiated a successful research capacity building consortium involving seven African institutions (4 universities and 3 research institutes) and two universities in the UK. He is providing leadership for an Africa-wide initiative for Strengthening Research Capacity in Africa (ISHReCA). He was Principal Investigator in Uganda for the Rakai Health Sciences Program (formerly Rakai Project) where he continues to be an active researcher/investigator and has contributed to a large volume of scientific publications in peer reviewed journals together with providing mentorship and development of many Ugandan junior and mid-level researchers.
Prof. Sewankambo steered the development of an East African effort that led to an internationally acclaimed institutional brokerage mechanism for linking research to policy and action “The REACH Policy Initiative” headquartered in Arusha under the East African Community.
Prof. Sewankambo has also contributed significantly to the international environment including the Global Forum for Health Research, Nuffield Council Working Party on Ethics of Health Care Related Research in Developing Countries, International Clinical Epidemiology Network, International Joint Learning Initiative on Human Resources for Health and Development, FAIMER and the African Initiative on the impact of climate change: mitigation and adaptation. As co-chair of the education/ production subcommittee of the initiative he contributed to the report entitled “Human Resources for Health, Overcoming the Crisis” which had a major influence on WHO and its 2006 report which focuses on the global crisis of health workers and the need for urgent action in order to enhance health of populations. He was a contributor to the chapter on how to build strong education and training systems of the Global Health Workforce Alliance Report 2008: Scaling up education and training for health workers.
- Sewankambo_Nelson2.pdf (214 download)
Professor Paschalis Rugarabamu
Professor Paschalis Rugarabamu is a member of the African Coordinating Center Faculty and the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at The Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He has over 24 years of clinical dental service, university teaching, administration and research experience both in the public and private sectors.
In the public sector, where he worked as an academic for 13 years, he headed the department of Preventive and Community Dentistry at the Dental School, University of Dar es Salaam for seven years. When, in 1995, Tanzania liberalized the education sector, he was among the pioneers who joined founder Prof. Hubert Kairuki to set up the first private medical school (HKMU) in the country in 1997. He has grown with the institution, from 1999, working in different administrative capacities as Personal Assistant to the Vice Chancellor, Program Manager for the University’s Rolling Strategic Plan, and Acting Deputy VC for Administration to the current position. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Community Health at HKMU IN 2008. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of HKMU and Board of Directors of the teaching hospital.
Prof. Rugarabamu has publications in oral health, career choice, students’ attitudes towards professional courses and medical education. He has presented papers at local, national, regional, and international scientific conferences and workshops. Prof. Rugarabamu has a passion for logistics and computer applications especially in information management for health and education; he shares experiences with staff and students on computer uses and applications in health and education, as part of the communication skills course.
Nationally, he was a member of Tanzania Commission of Universities [TCU] Admissions Committee (2007-2010), a regulatory body for universities and has participated in a number of committees and task forces in relation to higher education and health. He was President of the Tanzania Dental Association for two terms and a Member of the International Association for Dental Research. Regionally, he coordinated the 1st AMANET African Malaria Research Leaders Workshop, held in Arusha, October 2002, under NIH/AMANET contract.
He has accumulated knowledge on the situation of Medical Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by participating in Sub-Saharan Medical School Study (SAMSS) as an Advisory Committee Member and site visitor to universities in Ethiopia (Jimma) and Sudan (Gezira). Socially, he has conducted numerous social and official functions as Master of Ceremonies since 1990, an activity he has now retired from.
Prof. Rugarabamu is a graduate of Muhimbili School of Dentistry, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He received his Master of Dentistry (Public Health) in 1990 from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and has a Certificate in Holistic Therapeutic Counseling from HKMU.
Professor Peter Donkor
Professor Peter Donkor is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He is a Professor of Maxillofacial Surgery and Pro Vice-Chancellor of KNUST in Kumasi, Ghana. He assists the Vice-Chancellor in the running of the university. He has been Provost of the College of Health Sciences, KNUST with oversight responsibility for the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, and Allied Health Sciences. He has served on committees and councils of several external organizations including the University of Michigan, USA; American Cleft Palate Association; OERAfrica; West African College of Surgeons; Medical and Dental Council of Ghana; Ghana Cleft Foundation; and the Ghana Medical Association. He has served as President of the Ghana Surgical Research Society, and the Pan-African Association for Cleft Lip and Palate. He co-founded specialist clinics for Cleft Palate and Head and Neck Oncology at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana. His research interests include human resources in health, open educational resources, head and neck malignancy, temporo-mandibular joint disorders, cleft lip and palate and facial reconstructive surgery, and emergency and trauma care. He is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI-linked grant on Emergency Medicine.
- Donkor_Peter2.pdf (341 download)
Professor Sarah Baird
Professor Sarah Baird, leader of the Monitoring and Evaluation Cluster of the MEPI Coordinating Center, is an Assistant Professor of Global Health and Economics at George Washington University. Prof. Baird is a development economist whose work focuses on program evaluation, particularly in relation to health and education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prof. Baird has worked on areas as diverse as the schooling and health of young women in Malawi, community-driven development in Tanzania, deworming in Kenya, and global infant mortality. She teaches courses on quantitative data collection and analysis at both the masters and doctoral level, as well as a master’s level health economics course.
Prof. Baird finished her Ph.D. in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley in 2007 and spent 2007 through 2008 as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at The University of California at San Diego before arriving at the George Washington University. Prof. Baird leads the Monitoring and Evaluation Cluster for the MEPI Coordinating Center.
Professor Seble Frehywot
Professor Seble Frehywot is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI Coordinating Center at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She is an Associate Research Professor in the Departments of Health Policy and Global Health at the George Washington University (GW). She has worked in Asia, Africa, and the United States, and brings in-depth knowledge of medicine, health systems and health policy to the challenges of building the health workforce and improving care to mothers and children. Her areas of interest are health workforce and health systems development in low-resource countries.
Prof. Seble was Co-Principal Investigator for the Gates Foundation-Sub-Saharan African Medical Schools Study (SAMSS) Project, an in-depth site visit and survey study regarding the 169 medical schools in SSA on issues of capacity building, retention, and innovative practices. Recently she was the Principal Investigator for WHO-Commissioned Study on the Effect of Compulsory Service on Retention of Health Workforce in Rural and Remote areas as well as the Principle Investigator (one of three) for the WHO commissioned policy analysis study on “Maximizing Positive Synergies between Health System Strengthening and Global Health Initiatives” and the Director of Research at the GW University, for the WHO-commissioned study regarding developing a regulatory framework for “task-shifting”. She has served and still serve as a WHO technical core group member in the development of global guidelines/guidance namely the “Task-shifting Global Recommendation and Guidelines”; the “Increasing Access to Health Workers in Remote and Rural Areas through Improved Retention.” and the upcoming one on “Transformative Scaling-up of Medical and Nursing and Midwifery Education as well as serve as technical advisor on the” Optimizing the Delivery of Key Interventions to attain MDG 4 and 5”. She was also a Co-Principle Investigator on a Rockefeller Foundation study regarding developing a global framework for enumerating public health workforce and for inventorying public health training institutions.
Prior to her current position, Prof. Seble was the Senior Policy Associate at Partnership for Prevention where she conducted research and policy analyses on developmental delay disorders for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDD). As a physician, she has worked especially in treating and managing childhood and adult communicable diseases in India. Prof. Seble has conducted health policy analysis works regarding Malaria epidemics and decreasing Maternal Mortality in the developing world.
Her passion is in interlinking her health workforce research to address the bottleneck issues associated with decreasing the Maternal Mortality in many low-resource countries. . She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Sabin Vaccine Institute. She has published a number of papers regarding health workforce and health systems issues. She teaches at The GW University Global Comparative Health Systems course.
- Frehywot_Seble2.pdf (211 download)
Professor Tetanye Ekoe
Professor Tetanye Ekoe is a MEPI Coordinating Center Counselor. He was born in Ebolowa, Cameroon in 1948. In 1968, after his primary and secondary schools in Cameroon, Prof. Ekoe went to Belgium for basic medical education in the Faculty of medicine of the Université Libre de Bruxelles where he earned the degree of medical doctor in 1975. In 1976 he underwent a tropical medicine and public health course in the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical medicine, and from 1976 to 1980 completed residency training in pediatrics at the University of Louvain where he graduated as specialist in pediatrics.
In 1980, Prof. Ekoe returned to Cameroon and was recruited as a public medical consultant. Since that time, he has involved himself in developing skills and expertise as well as with teaching at the Faculty of Medicine, Yaunde, in teaching hospitals and as consultant to international organizations such as WHO (member of the Control of Diarrheoal Diseases Programme), and BASICS/USAID. In the field of research, the professor acquired experience from many research programmes studying diarrheoa, childhood meningitis, sickle-cell disease, and malignant diseases. As a teacher, he is involved in regional and international French speaking associations such CIDMEF or CAMES responsible for promoting models of excellence in medical education among the French speaking medical schools of sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2006, Prof. Ekoe has served as Dean of the Faculty of medicine and biomedical sciences, the largest and oldest medical school in Cameroon, with 1800 students. The Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (FMBS) is a bilingual school with a long tradition of community-based medical education which could be a good bridge between French and English speaking sub-Saharan African medical schools.
As a researcher he has been working on different topics such as diarrheoal diseases, sickle-cell disease, malnutrition in children, and many other topics.
Professor Thomas Massaro
Professor Thomas Massaro, MD Ph.D is the Principal Investigator of the MEPI program and the Founding Dean of the new School of Medicine at the University of Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana.
He is also the Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law, Emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia. He has also held appointments in the UVa School of Law, the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and the Department of Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine. He held several senior administrative positions, serving as Chief of Staff of the Health System and Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs from 1997 to 2002. He was Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education from 2001 to 2006. He was formerly division chief of the Pediatric Critical Care and the Emergency Medical Transport Services. He has served as an attending physician in the UVa PICU, SICU and NICU.
Prof. Massaro received his M.D. from the University of Wisconsin, his business degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and engineering degrees from MIT, Cornell, and the University of California, Berkeley. His residency and fellowship training were completed at the University of Colorado in Denver. He received board certification in Pediatrics, Neonatology, and Critical Care Medicine.
In addition to clinical teaching, Prof. Massaro taught courses on Law and Medicine, Children’s Health Care, Health Care Management, Health Policy, Management of Non-profit Organizations, International Health Policy and the Legal Implications of Biomedical Technology. He lectures extensively on health care policy, health reform strategy, and hospital change management. He has served as an advisor to governments, consulting firms, and major health care corporations worldwide.
Prof. Massaro’s early research contributions were in biomedical engineering but recently his focus has been on international health care strategy and reform. He was active in the health insurance reform process in the Czech Republic. He reviewed the medical savings account system in the Republic of Singapore and interprets that approach for the American and other national health systems. He served as a consultant for the New Zealand Ministries of Finance and Health as they introduced business and free market principles into their health care system. His publications in medical informatics addressing the social and cultural constraints on the introduction of computer technology into the medical setting are well known. His book, The Business of Critical Care, describes the management skills necessary to direct high technology patient care teams in the contemporary environment. He has served on the editorial board of the AAMC journal Academic Medicine. In the past, his research has been supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, the Colorado Heart Association, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Whittaker Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and a number of private firms.
- Massara_Thomas2.pdf (232 download)
Professor Umesh Lalloo
Professor Umesh Lalloo is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program as well as a professor, Chief Specialist, and Head of the Respiratory and Critical Care Unit at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa. There, he is a member of the academic promotions and strategic planning committees, and has served as a member of the postgraduate and executive committees. He is also principal investigator of the International Clinical Trials Unit of the US Division of AIDS Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group, and executive director of the KZN Enhancing Care Initiative and the KZN Global Fund HIV/AIDS Training Program.
Prof. Lalloo received his MBChB from the University of Natal, South African in 1980, FCP from the College of Physicians, South Africa in 1984, and MD from the University of Natal in 1993. He served as a medical officer and a registrar at the King Edward VIII Hospital, in pediatrics, surgery and medicine from 1981 through 1998, and was appointed specialist lecturer in the Department of Medicine there and at the University of Natal in 1986 before being promoted to senior specialist/lecturer and the head of the respiratory unit. He is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and the Royal College of Physicians London.
His published works include Guidelines for the management of chronic asthma in adolescents and adults, Managing tuberculosis and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and TB presenting as community-acquired pneumonia in a setting of high TB incidence and high HIV prevalence among many others.
- Lalloo_Umesh2.pdf (558 download)
Professor Yakub Mulla
Professor Yakub Mulla is the Principal Investigator for the MEPI program at the University of Zambia. He qualified first as a General surgeon as one of the first candidates on the MMed program in Zambia, and then went on to train as an Orthopedic surgeon in London and subsequently Liverpool, UK. between 1989 and 1992. After he returned to Zambia he started his own MMed Orthopedic program in 1993.
Prof. Mulla became assistant Dean of postgraduate studies in 1996, a post that he held for eight years. He was elected as Dean in 2004 and has served as Dean for six years. He has continued to actively practice Orthopedic Surgery during that period. During this period the school increased the number of undergraduate program offered from one to six and postgraduate programs from six to fourteen. The University has worked actively to improve the quality and breadth of health focused Education in Zambia and has made strides in many areas in the School of Medicine.
As member of the Medical Council of Zambia (the statutory regulatory body in Zambia) Prof. Mulla was elected as Chair in 2005. Over the last five years the Council has strengthened the regulations in regards to supervision, registration, accreditation etc. As Chair Prof. Mulla oversaw transition of the Medical Council into the Health Professions Council of Zambia which was completed last year.
The Professor has served as Chair of the Examinations Council of Health Sciences which oversees diploma qualifications for several of Zambia’s Colleges and underwrites certificates. He has also been Chair of the Medical Licentiate Training Program at Chainama Hospital, which trains clinical officers and upgrades them into Medical licentiates, a cadre that provides medical and surgical care in areas where there are no doctors.
- Mulla_Yakub2.pdf (564 download)
Professor Yianna Vovides
Professor Yianna Vovides is the leader of the Communications Cluster at the MEPI Coordinating Center. She is Director for Instructional Design at the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, The George Washington University. She has earned her doctorate in Instructional Design and Technology from the College of Education at The University of Iowa. Prof. Vovides has over ten years of experience in online teaching and learning. She has presented at major national and international conferences such as EDUCAUSE and ED-MEDIA, has authored publications in educational journals such as Educational Review and Computers in Human Behaviour, and has co-authored a book.
Her research interests are centered around the following:
• The role of metacognition and motivation in relation to learner-content interaction
• Digital literacy, international development, and education
• Technology acceptance and its roles in instructional design & technology applications
Prof. Vovides teaches two courses on educational technology in the International Education program of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University
Rhea Hubbard
Rhea Hubbard joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2008 as an Administrative Fellow, Grants Management Specialist for the Fogarty International Center. She is currently the Grants Management Specialist for several Fogarty programs including the Global Health Research Initiative Program for New Foreign Investigators (GRIP), the AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) and the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI). She enjoys working with foreign investigators and administrators to strengthen their research administration capacity and assist them as they navigate the complexities associated with the receipt of U.S. Government awards. As an NIH Administrative Fellow, Rhea completed a rotation with the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, giving her an opportunity to further her understanding of NIH versus HHS grants management policy. Prior to joining NIH, Rhea earned a Master of Public Policy with a concentration in public financial management from American University and interned at the U.S. Department of Treasury. Rhea has earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Missouri – Columbia and worked in social services prior to moving to Washington, D.C.
- Hubbard_Rhea.pdf (264 download)
Doctor Steven Buchsbaum
Doctor Steven Buchsbaum received a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego and a Master of Pacific International Affairs from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Dr. Buchsbaum has held positions at the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography; the Institute for Nonlinear Science at University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Santa Cruz; the Center for Material Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory; the Science Applications International Corporation; Bermuda Associates; and Draper Laboratory.
He has served in the U.S. State Department as the Science and Technology Officer for South Asia and as a Program Manager in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Dr. Buchsbaum was the Founding Director of the Office of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive Defense in the Homeland Security Advance Research Projects Agency of the Department of Homeland Security.
Dr. Buchsbaum was selected and served as a Science and Diplomacy Fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science; was selected as an American Physical Society Congressional Fellow, and has been registered into the U.S. Foreign Service. Dr. Buchsbaum is currently the Deputy Director of the Global Health Discovery program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Acknowledgements
The Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is a coordinated effort led by the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
