Our Mission
The BUP believes that quality medicine should be available to populations in need. Through clinical care, research and medical education, the BUP is devoted to building capacity in sustainable and high quality healthcare in Botswana.
The Partnership
The Botswana-UPenn Partnership (BUP) is a collaboration between the Government of Botswana, the University of Botswana, and the University of Pennsylvania working to improve health and healthcare capacity in Botswana, and promote and conduct innovative research critical to better understanding the global nature of the HIV epidemic.
To learn more about BUP's vision and goals for the next five years, please review BUP's Strategic Plan 2022-2027
Botswana-based Faculty
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Read More about Corrado Cancedda, MD, PhD, EMPACorrado Cancedda, MD, PhD, EMPA
Director and Strategic Advisor for Academic Partnerships in Global Health
Corrado Cancedda, MD, PhD, EMPA
Director and Strategic Advisor for Academic Partnerships in Global Health
Dr. Cancedda assumed the role of BUP Director and Strategic Advisor for Academic Partnerships in Global Health on July 1, 2018. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School in the Departments of Medicine, and of Global Health and Social Medicine, and was Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Cancedda received his MD and PhD in Immunology from the University of Genoa, Italy. He also trained clinically in internal medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and in infectious diseases at the Washington University in St. Louis and is U.S. board certified. Lastly, Dr. Cancedda earned an Executive Master in Public Administration from the Fels Institute of Government of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Cancedda has an extensive background in global health leading teams throughout sub-Saharan Africa. He served for four years as Partners In Health's (PIH) Director of Training and Medical Education in Rwanda. In this role, he was one of the chief architects of the Human Resources for Health Program (HRH), an innovative health professional training initiative that successfully built the health workforce in Rwanda through coordination among 22 participating US academic institutions. Dr. Cancedda has also served as Executive Director of the PIH Ebola Response in Sierra Leone, and most recently as the principal investigator of the Resilient and Responsive Health System Initiative (RRHS) in Liberia. The RRHS seeks to support Liberian and US academic institutions during the implementation of the Health Workforce Program; a health professional training initiative inspired by the HRH Program in Rwanda. In support of these many activities, Dr. Cancedda has built an impressive record of securing grant funds as well as philanthropic contributions.
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Read More about Merrian Brooks, MDMerrian Brooks, MD
Research Director & Lead Pediatric Clinician
Merrian Brooks, MD
Research Director & Lead Pediatric Clinician
Dr. Brooks is a graduate of the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and holds a master in clinical sciences on comparative research and health disparities from University of Pittsburgh. She completed a residency in pediatrics from Cooper University Hospital and a clinical fellowship in adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. During her time in Botswana she has performed a multitude of critical tasks, such as working as a pediatrics specialist at Princess Marina Hospital, consulting in adolescent clinics, training and mentoring UB MMed and medical students, and advising on the health needs of adolescents in the policy making arena.
Additionally, Dr. Brooks has focused her research and scholarship on the development and evaluation of interventions that seek to reduce anxiety and depression in adolescents living with HIV through counseling and peer support. Since her arrival in Botswana, Dr. Brooks has proved herself to be an outstanding clinician and educator, a disciplined and creative investigator, a devoted advocate for her patients, and a loyal partner to her Batswana colleagues.
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Read More about Surbhi Grover, MDSurbhi Grover, MD
Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania; Lead Physician, Oncology Program, BUP
Surbhi Grover, MD
Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania; Lead Physician, Oncology Program, BUP
Dr. Surbhi Grover is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, Director of Global Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at University of Botswana. She is interested in addressing the growing global cancer burden by focusing on public health endeavors and cost-effective clinical initiatives to improve access to care and outcomes of care in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since 2011, Dr. Grover has been working with the Botswana-UPENN partnership, strengthening the oncology program in Botswana. She moved full-time to Botswana in 2014. In her current role, she is seeing cancer patients at the public hospital, conducting research and teaching. She led the implementation of a U54 NIH-funded study focused on cervical cancer and she is involved with mentoring several junior investigators at the University of Botswana through the mentoring core of U54. She has also completed a NIH-funded pilot prospective study studying the impact of HIV on cervical cancer. She has led the development of the first gynecological cancers multi-disciplinary tumor board to streamline patient treatment and follow up care in the country. She currently has a K08 with Dr. Robertson as her mentor looking at HPV viral load as a biomarker for treatment response and recurrence in locally advanced cervical cancer in Botswana, and a U01 focusing on timely treatment adoption for women with cervical cancer presenting to care at the gynecological multidisciplinary clinic in Botswana.
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Read More about Yehoda Martei, MDYehoda Martei, MD
Attending Physician in the Division of Hematology-Oncology
Yehoda Martei, MD
Attending Physician in the Division of Hematology-Oncology
I am an attending physician in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Penn. My research focuses on evaluating and improving access to cancer medicines and treatment outcomes in breast cancer patients in sub Saharan Africa, and assessing the impact of access to essential medicines for cancer treatment in low- and middle-income countries, on clinical outcomes among cancer patients. I have also worked on the WHO Steering Committee/ Union for International Cancer Control Task Team for updating the Model List of Essential Medicines for Cancer and the Steering Committee for the Medicine Patent Policy: “Feasibility of expanding the Medicines Patent Pool’s scope to include all patented essential medicines.”
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Read More about Giacomo Paganotti, PhDGiacomo Paganotti, PhD
Research Associate, Lab Supervisor
Giacomo Paganotti, PhD
Research Associate, Lab Supervisor
Dr. Paganotti was born in Rome, Italy. He graduated in zoology at the Department of Biology of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, studying the relationship between the bilateral degree of wing asymmetry and the male mating success of two species of damselflies with a field and laboratory approach (both morphometry and genetics). In September 1997, he was awarded a doctoral fellowship from the University of Modena (Italy) to study the genetic variability in Plasmodium falciparum natural populations in Burkina Faso, West Africa, in different ethnic groups with different susceptibilities to malaria. In December 2002, he was awarded an Institute Pasteur – Cenci Bolognetti Foundation fellowship (2002-2004) to study P. falciparum gametocyte production in two different ethnic groups of Burkina Faso. He spent six months in West Africa during 2002 to carry out the survey in the villages and collect mosquitoes and blood samples for this project. In September 2005, he was awarded an Institute Pasteur – Cenci Bolognetti Foundation Return Fellowship to study P. falciparum multiplicity of infection and chloroquine resistance in subjects from Burkina Faso. During the last years, he started to develop the new hypothesis that human genetic variation in drug metabolising enzymes could influence the distribution of parasite drug resistance alleles.
In November 2013 he accepted a research associate position at the Botswana-UPenn Partnership in where he will continue his research and supervise the BUP Core lab at Univ. of Botswana and the BUP lab in the National Health lab in Gaborone. His main research focus will be to look at the possible interaction between ART and HIV drug resistance, both looking at human poor metaboliser and ultra-rapid metaboliser alleles and the associated risk of speeding virus drug resistance selection in Botswana. He is also interested in HHV-8’s modality of mother to child transmission through saliva applied on the child’s skin after the bites of blood feeding arthropods.
Dr. Paganotti has been published in Nature (2001), the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2004), Parasitology (2006), Malaria Journal (2008, 2012), Journal of Infectious Diseases (2011).
Botswana-Based Staff
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Read More about Phodiso TshireletsoPhodiso Tshireletso
Director, Finance and Human Resources
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Read More about Josephine ThankaneJosephine Thankane
Global Health and Program Coordinator
Josephine Thankane
Global Health and Program Coordinator
Ms. Josephine Thankane serves as the Global Health and Program Coordinator at The Botswana-UPenn Partnership (BUP). Her role is to ensure the effective logistic arrangement for the visitor, medical license application for the residents and medical doctors coming to do clinical work in Botswana Hospitals, and she achieves this through careful monitoring of rotation lists and accommodation schedule. She keeps close tabs on the internal control environment to promote effective and smooth running of the students/residents rotations with the follow ups/check ins with the relevant personnel at the local hospitals. Ms. Thankane earned her bachelor of tourism management from Limkokwing University and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration at University of Botswana. She is a self-driven professional with over 6 years of experience in global health field, including work as an executive assistant to the company Director. Ms. Thankane has been a member of the BUP team since 2016.
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Read More about Lindiwe MaidiLindiwe Maidi
Human Resources Coordinator
Lindiwe Maidi
Human Resources Coordinator
Ms. Lindiwe Maidi serves as the Human Resources Coordinator at The Botswana-UPenn Partnership (BUP). Her role is to serve as a vital link between staff members and upper management by mediating problems at work, ensuring compliance with employment rules and regulations, and collaborating with executives on long-term strategic planning. She retains top personnel and maintains a solid business culture as technology has developed and the workforce has become more diverse. Ms. Lindiwe earned her bachelor degree in Human Resource management from ABM University College, and aims to pursue her masters in Human Resource from University. She is a self-driven professional with 5 years of experience in human resources management. Ms. Lindiwe has been a member of the BUP team since 2016. In her free time, she enjoys cleaning, reading and traveling.
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Read More about Oratile PapadiOratile Papadi
IT Administrator
Oratile Papadi
IT Administrator
Mr. Oratile Edwin Papadi joined Botswana-Upenn Partnership (BUP) 6 years ago (October 2016) as an Information Technology intern. A year later he was hired as an IT Clerk where he served in the post for a few years until 2022 when he was promoted to be the IT Administrator, the post he is currently serving under. His role is to make sure the organization is connected to the world 24/7, smooth communication locally and internationally and effective day to day office operations. He graduated in 2014 at Botho University with Bachelor of Science in Computing with specialization in Network & Infrastructure Management. Mr. Papadi carries various certifications under his belt; cisco certified, Microsoft & ITIL just to mention a few. For the past 6 years he has been making sure there is smooth transition, conducive work environment and the organization is up to date technology-wise. During his free time, he either plays or watch soccer and spending time with friends and family.
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Read More about Mogametsi SetswamoragoMogametsi Setswamorago
Finance Officer
Mogametsi Setswamorago
Finance Officer
Ms Mogametsi Setswamorago joined Botswana Upenn Partnership (BUP) in June’2014 as the Finance Assistant. She was later promoted to Finance Officer in November 2019. Her duties Includes BUP’s financial management and reporting, maintenance and management of payroll and associated taxes and remittance to the tax authority. She oversees petty cash management, Value Added Tax compilations refunds from the tax office, fuel account, supplies account, issuance and processing of the purchase orders. She ensures timely financial reporting and compliance in accordance with the Accounting Standards.
Mogametsi holds Diploma in Accounting and Business Studies, Bachelor of Accountancy, Post Graduate Certificate in Enterprise Risk Management and she is currently reading for Masters of Business Administration with the University of Botswana. Prior to joining BUP Mogametsi worked as Contract Estimator and Sales Executive.
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Read More about Relebogile ThipeRelebogile Thipe
IRB Coordinator
Relebogile Thipe
IRB Coordinator
Relebogile Thipe is the Research/Compliance Coordinator for Botswana Upenn Partnership, the role she held since July 2015.She joined BUP in September 2011 as a Nurse Practitioner/Quality Assurance Officer in the Woman’s health Programme. She graduated with Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health in 2014 with the University of South Africa, Bachelor of Arts in Nursing Sciences (Community Health and Health Services Management) in 2003 with University of South Africa and Diploma in General Nursing at Institute of Health Sciences, Gaborone in 2000. Before joining BUP, she worked for Botswana-USA partnership (BOTUSA) as a Research Nurse and for the Government of Botswana where she held different positions.
She is a highly competent and enthusiastic individual with good communication and interpersonal skills, multiskilled and self-motivated with the ability to achieve set targets by being a good team leader. She coordinates research activities in the BUP organization and works as a coach to the Investigators. Her major role is to assure compliance to Research Regulations.
She attended short courses on patient care, ethics and project management. She sits with stakeholders like Ministry of Health Research Unit, University of Botswana Office of Research and Development and Ethics committees to ensure good relations in improving research promotion and Compliance.
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Read More about O L KhunongO L Khunong
Operations Officer
O L Khunong
Operations Officer
Mr OL Khunong joined Botswana UPenn Partnership in 2005 as a messenger. His role was to pick and drop off BUP visitors to and from the airport as well as checking the company mail and distributing it accordingly. In 2007 he was the promoted to the position of Operations Assistant. In this role he is assigned to do preparations of documents for shipment of goods coming in Botswana with Botswana Unified Revenue Services, maintenance of BUP properties, Fleet management and overlooking of the company security. In 2022 he was promoted to Operations Officer, serving as chief oversight and management of BUP properties and vehicle fleet.
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Read More about David Montlane
David Montlane
Driver
U.S. Based Faculty and Staff at the Center for Global Health
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Read More about Glen Gaulton, PhD
Glen Gaulton, PhD
Vice Dean and Faculty Director, Center for Global Health
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