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other
Programs & Partnerships
Capacity-building | Academic Partnerships | Clinical Rotation
Botswana
BWA
other
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Princess Ruhama Acheampong, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Lecturer, Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science of Technology (KNUST)
Public Health | Maternal Child Health | Non-communicable disease | Nutrition | Informal settlements | M-health
Ghana
GHA
BIO STATEMENT: Princess Ruhama Acheampong (PhD) is a Lecturer at the School of Public Health of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. She teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students in Health Promotion, Public Health Nutrition, Community Health and Social and Behavioural Change Communication courses. She was currently listed as an International Scholar of the Centre for Global Health (CGH), University of Pennsylvania.
Princess has been involved in research in malaria, Epidemiology, maternal and child health, public health nutrition, health interventions for disadvantaged communities, community mobilization, research uptake, health education and mHealth. Princess has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research.
Princess is interested in the use of theories and models in the design and implementation of health interventions. For her PhD, she developed a theory-based nutrition intervention to improve the nutritional status of children under-5 in rural communities. Her interest in the use of models and theories received a boost, having received training in Implementation Science from the Implementation Science Institute as part of her summer fellowship with CGH. She is currently an awardee of the KNUST early career seed grant. This study employs a mixed methods approach to the assessment of the feasibility of an implementation science tool in an urban slum, Kumasi.
Princess has coordinated several exchange programs in Ghana, including an exchange program between Penn Engineering and KNUST. She is interested in collaborative research and passionate about mentoring young women from disadvantaged populations
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Henrietta Audrey Ohenewaa Afari, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Fellow, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Global Cardiovascular Disease | Women's health
Ghana
GHA
BIO STATEMENT: I am a first year cardiology fellow at UPenn. Throughout my training I have spent time providing clinical care and conducting research in rural and urban settings in Ghana and Uganda. Recognizing the growing and often disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease especially among vulnerable populations in these settings, I hope to pursue a career in global women’s cardiovascular health, with a focus on heart disease in pregnant women. My goal is to use clinical research and implementation science to inform policy and help transform the face of cardiovascular care for women with heart disease in sub-saharan Africa.
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Nahreen H. Ahmed, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Technology in Low Resource Settings | Critical care | Radiology
Bangladesh | Colombia | Yemen | United States | Peru
BGD||COL||YEM||USA||PER
BIO STATEMENT: I am a second generation Bangladeshi-American, born in the US but with close ties in Dhaka, Bangladesh where I have paired with Dhaka Medical College and Hospital in a teaching endeavor in the area of Critical Care Ultrasound and curriculum development. My current role at HUP is not only in the area of clinical activities in Critical Care but also the role of faculty instructor in the area of Critical Care Ultrasound.
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Davis Elias Amani, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Research Fellow and Tutorial Assistant | Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences
Disease Surveillance | Cancer epidemiology | Outbreaks | Road Traffic Injuries
Tanzania, United Republic of
TZA
BIO STATEMENT: A low uptake of research for policy changes fuelled my interests in my new niche, dissemination research where I envision to promote stakeholders’ engagement and collaboration in addressing contemporary health challenges through generating and utilizing local evidence. In Tanzania and at MUHAS in particular, I have been engaged in overseeing capacity building courses and workshops on scientific writing, grants applications and management, and research dissemination. I have also been coordinating the dissemination of research and innovation through institutional and national symposia, conferences, and roundtable discussions that engage different stakeholders. Surveillance systems for road traffic injuries and cancers remain poorly developed in Tanzania as in most LMICs. As a growing epidemiologist, I am looking forward to exploring and securing collaborations and opportunities that I can leverage on to identify gaps and establish more effective and reliable surveillance systems.
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Marietta Ambrose, MD, MPH, MSEd
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Global Cardiovascular Disease
Haiti | Jamaica | Kenya
HTI||JAM||KEN
BIO STATEMENT: I am a cardiologist with additional training in advanced cardiovascular imaging and women’s health, and an interest in improving global cardiovascular health. I am the director of Penn Cardiology International (University of Pennsylvania Cardiology Division’s International Outreach Section), and I lead its effort to contribute to improving global cardiovascular health. We develop relationships with mutually aligned institutions, to create sustainable programs and infrastructure that are aimed at delivery of excellent cardiovascular care. Our active collaborations with our global community members occur through research, education, training and clinical activity.
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Tomas Andersen, MD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | University of Pennsylvania
Vision impairment | Eye care | Preventable Blindness
Botswana | United States
BWA||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Tomas Andersen is a medical intern at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. He pursued public health training during medical school to combine his long-standing interest in community engagement with his clinical interest in ophthalmology. For his MPH capstone project, he created a survey to screen for vision-related quality of life in homeless populations. Dr Andersen also spent two months in Botswana with the local leadership team of an eye health organization called Peek Vision, focusing on visual acuity screening for schoolchildren. He hopes to continue to work with organizations locally and internationally to develop interventions to address preventable blindness.
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Monika Arora, PhD, MSc
International Scholar
International Scholar
Vice President - Research | Public Health Foundation of India
Non-communicable disease | Adolescent health | Implementation Science | Patient Engagement
India | Nepal | Timor-Leste | Bhutan
IND||NPL||TLS||BTN
BIO STATEMENT: I am a public health scientist working in the area of preventing and managing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
through health promotion and health advocacy in India. I am Vice President (Research & Health Promotion) at PHFI and
also President -NCD Alliance. Served as an Advocacy Committee Member- World Heart Federation and Co-Chair of the
Global Research Network, Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Served as the Center for Advanced Study of India Spring 2023 Visiting Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Interested and experienced in Global Health and worked on multiple collaborative grants in NCD Prevention and Control, Community engagement, and Adolescent Health. mixed methods research, Policy Research, Implementation Science Research, and Impact Evaluation of Policies and Programs
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Tonya Arscott-Mills, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Research Director | Botswana-UPenn Partnership
HIV/AIDS | Tuberculosis | Pediatrics
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: I am a pediatric global health practitioner. Since 2008 I have been working in Botswana with the University of Pennsylvania. My roles have involved training health care workers on TB and HIV and pediatrics; assisting in Botswana health policy making in the areas of TB/HIV and providing clinical care for pediatrics, TB and HIV. Currently I am also the Botswana-UPenn Partnership Research Director and Penn CFAR International Core co-director. In this role support faculty interested and engaged in research in Botswana. I am also the CHOP pediatric lead for Botswana, supporting the CHOP partnership in Botswana.
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Sania Ashraf, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Research Scientist
Maternal Child Health | Infectious disease | Health Behavior
Bangladesh | India
BGD||IND
BIO STATEMENT: As a global health epidemiologist, Dr. Ashraf uses mixed research methods to design, test and evaluate the impact of context-specific interventions in low-income communities to improve health outcomes. Her research specializes in childhood diseases, and water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) focused studies. Currently, her research is using a community based randomized trial to investigate how social norms can be leveraged to improve sanitation practices in India. She has previously worked on global health studies focused on childhood infectious diseases including diarrhea, respiratory illness, malaria and rotavirus vaccines in Bangladesh, Kenya, Philippines and India.
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Stephen Avery, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology | University of Pennsylvania
Radiology | Quality Improvement
Tanzania, United Republic of | United States
TZA||USA
BIO STATEMENT: My goal is to develop a USA/Africa Radiation Oncology Core (ROC) dedicated to Research Education/training in Radiation oncology in Africa and providing desperately needed quality assurance tools for patient safety and research collaborations for cancer control. The establishment of such an ROC will significantly increase research/education capacity and ensure radiation/patient safety. International collaboration is necessary for such a Core to build research/education capacity and address an ongoing silent crises which is undoubtedly causing significant loss of life and disability in Africa. A successful launch of this Core program will provide a hub for Radiation Oncology research/education in east Africa.
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Sila Bal MD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Cornea and Refractive Surgery Fellow | Harvard
Vision impairment | Eye care
Ecuador | Jordan
ECU||JOR
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Sila Bal, MD, MPH is a cornea fellow at Harvard. She received her medical degree and Master's in Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania where she was awarded the United States Excellence in Public Health Award for her work on disparities in eye health both locally and globally. Her research interests include eye health disparities, the epidemiology of vision impairment, and the impact of social determinants on health outcomes.
Next year, Dr. Bal will be a global ophthalmology fellow and hopes to continue her work in health equity through community-based service delivery models, advocacy, and capacity building.
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Timothy Becker, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician
HIV/AIDS | Mental health | Immigrant health | Adolescent health | substance abuse
Botswana | Chile | Liberia
BWA||CHL||LBR
BIO STATEMENT: Tim Becker is a psychiatry resident in the global mental health track at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has longstanding interests in understanding social and cultural determinants of health and improving access to quality health services. During medical school at Penn, he spent two research blocks in Botswana, initially developing a head trauma database, and later qualitatively investigating explanatory models and stigma related to mental illness. In residency he has been involved with immigrant mental health evaluations, remote supervision of mental health nurses in Liberia, and numerous studies on cross-cultural stigma.
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Rinad Beidas, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Chair and Ralph Seal Paffenbarger Professor of Medical Social Science at Northwestern University
Implementation research | Evidence-based Practices
Mozambique | Zambia
MOZ||ZMB
BIO STATEMENT: Rinad S. Beidas, PhD, is Chair and Ralph Seal Paffenbarger Professor of Medical Social Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Previously, Dr. Beidas served as founding Director of the University of Pennsylvania Implementation Science Center at the Leonard Davis Institute (PISCE@LDI) from 2017-2022. Dr. Beidas’s research leverages insights from implementation science and behavioral economics to make it easier for clinicians, leaders, and organizations to use best practices to improve the quality and equity of care and enhance health outcomes. She works across areas including mental health, firearm safety promotion, cancer, HIV, and cardiovascular disease and collaborates closely with key stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, health system leaders, payers, and policymakers. As an international leader in implementation science, Rinad has published over 250 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as JAMA, NEJM Catalyst, and Implementation Science. She has led two NIH centers on behavioral economics and implementation science (P50 MH 113840, P50 CA 244690) and has a strong record of NIH-funded implementation research serving as MPI or PI of 11 NIH grants totaling approximately 31 million dollars. She is an associate editor for Implementation Science, the flagship journal for the field. Dr. Beidas holds a bachelor of arts in psychology from Colgate University and a doctorate of philosophy in psychology from Temple University. She is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies President’s New Researcher Award; the American Psychological Foundation Diane J. Willis Early Career Award; the Perelman School of Medicine Marjorie Bowman New Investigator Research Award; and the Acenda Institute Research Pioneer Award.
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Hannah Bergbower, MSN, MPH, CNM, WHNP-BC
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Adjunct Associate Professor | Tufts University School of Medicine
Maternal Child Health | Capacity-building | Neonatal and Maternal Mortality
Bangladesh | Malawi | New Zealand | Tanzania, United Republic of
BGD||MWI||NZL||TZA
BIO STATEMENT: Hannah Bergbower, MSN, MPH, CNM, WHNP-BC is a double-board certified Nurse Practitioner and Nurse-Midwife with a special focus on inequities and the social and behavioral determinants of public health. She currently provides full scope midwifery and women's health care services at Dekalb OB GYN Affiliates in Atlanta, Georgia.
She has spent most of the last decade focusing on programming and implementation of public health and clinical programs in vulnerable settings domestically and internationally. She has extensive on the ground international capacity building experience in countries throughout South East Asia, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. She has developed, implemented and led programs within humanitarian crisis and response settings, as well as stable host community contexts. Hannah has focused on interdisciplinary program development and gender equity, working with organizations such as WHO, UNFPA, IOM, ISCG, UNHCR, DOD, DTRA, other NGO and government organizations, and Ministries of Health. Her work has focused on bringing care access and quality programming to vulnerable and low-resource contexts with the greatest need, with a special focus on policy and the impacts of resource allocation on outcomes. She has extensive experience teaching and training and has held multiple academic appointments in and outside of the United States. Her current appointments include Tufts University School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Center for Global Health. Hannah is an active member of the American College of Nurse-Midwives National Government Affairs Committee and World Health Organization & Women in Global Health Gender Equity Hub. She also currently serves as a member of the March of Dimes National Volunteer Leadership Council and as a Subject Matter Expert on the March of Dimes National Advisory Committee for the Mom and Baby Action Network.
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Kevin Braat, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Physician | ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP
Clinical care
Guyana | Zambia
GUY||ZMB
BIO STATEMENT: Kevin Braat, MD, graduated from Bucknell University with a BA in Chemistry in 1994, the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in 1989 and completed his otolaryngology residency at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Kevin is currently a partner with ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP and practices general otolaryngology in Southampton, New York.
For more than 10 years, Kevin has been associated with several humanitarian groups providing health care in a variety of settings in Africa and South America. Kevin’s global health interests are now focused on supplementing local resources, providing surgical equipment and supplies, and physician training in Kitwe, Zambia and Guyana, South America. He is currently involved with training a Guyanese otolaryngologist in Georgetown, Guyana.
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Kent D. Bream, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine and Community Health | University of Pennsylvania
International Medical Education | Community health | Non-communicable disease | Health Disparities | Diabetes | Community Engagement
Guatemala
GTM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Bream is a family physician who works in collaborative research, education, and clinical projects locally and globally with particular attention to underserved communities. He is known for productive and trusting professional relationships with the political, organizational, and social leaders building bridges between academia and communities. His approach focuses on the inter-professional solutions and respect for dual autonomies in improving health. He leads the Guatemala Penn Partners program and started the Guatemala Health Initiative with students in 2004. Clinically he has focused on non-communicable diseases, especially diabetes, with great respect for the role of personal agency in changing outcomes.
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César Augusto Briceño, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology | University of Pennsylvania
Medical Education | Surgical Instruction
Brazil | Chile
BRA||CHL
Bio statement: Dr. Briceño has set up educational collaborations with universities and professional societies in Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Peru. He has helped to train multiple students, residents and fellows from Latin America and has facilitated the formation of research collaborations. He is primarily interested in surgical education, and has been invited to speak and perform live surgery throughout Latin America. Dr. Briceño sits on the board of the Pan American Association of Ophthalmology and is interested in establishing and further strengthening educational collaborations between Penn and Latin America.
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Merrian J. Brooks, DO, MS
Scholar
Scholar
Director of Pediatrics and Research at Botswana UPenn Partnership; Attending Physician of Adolescent Medicine Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Health Equity | Health Disparities | global adolescent health | global health equity | professional research development
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: 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 the 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. While living in Botswana, I have integrated my love of pediatrics and adolescent medicine with serving the underserved globally. I am a consultant in adolescent clinics, train/mentor UB MMed and medical students, and advise on policy about adolescent health needs. My research and scholarship focus on strengthening adolescent mental health services. I research the implementation of counseling and peer support interventions aiming to reduce anxiety and depression in adolescents living with HIV. I hope to support the development of academicians, build a support system with partners from Philadelphia, and support BUP research expansion and sub-specialty development in Botswana.
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Julianne E. Burns, MD, MSCE
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Attending Physician | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Epidemiology | Infectious disease | Pediatric Oncology | Vaccines
Dominican Republic | United States
DOM||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Julianne Burns, MD, MSCE is a Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at UC San Diego and conducted her residency in pediatrics at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. While an undergraduate, she interned at the Pan American Health Organization, where she analyzed global immunization policy-making. Dr. Burns is concurrently completing a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania through support from a NIH T32 training grant. Her thesis involves analysis of risk factors associated with infections in pediatric cancer patients in the Dominican Republic.
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Erwin H. Calgua Guerra, MD, MSCE
International Scholar
International Scholar
Director of Research | University of San Carlos’s School of Medicine
Epidemiology | HIV/AIDS | Malnutrition | Non-communicable disease | Medical ethics | Gender violence
Guatemala
GTM
BIO STATEMENT: Erwin’s collaborative research efforts cover a wide range of topics including non-communicable diseases (NCDs), violence, malnutrition, adolescent health, stem cells, HIV and medical ethics. He is a tenured research faculty member and Director of Research at the University of San Carlos’s School of Medicine (the largest Public University in Guatemala) and holds research management positions at Sanatorio El Pilar (the oldest Private Hospital in Guatamala) and Stem Care, a stem cell company in Guatemala.
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Ricardo Castillo-Neyra, PhD, DVM, MSPH
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor | University of Pennsylvania
Epidemiology | Public Health | Tropical diseases | OneHealth
Guatemala | Peru
GTM||PER
BIO STATEMENT:I am an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, & Informatics in Perelman School of Medicine, and the scientific director of the Zoonotic Disease Research Lab (Penn and Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia). I study the eco-epidemiology of tropical diseases and use canine rabies as a system model to understand how the social and spatial features of cities influence the emergence and persistence of infectious diseases.
Dog rabies threatens human health in the Americas and is expanding. Why can’t we get rid of the oldest known zoonotic disease? I conduct community-based studies in Peru to answer this question.
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Rosa Chemwey Ndiema, MB ChB, MMed
International Scholar
International Scholar
Physician | Kenyatta National Hospital
HIV/AIDS | Maternal Child Health | Reproductive health
Kenya
KEN
BIO STATEMENT: Maternal Health is my specialty and more specifically improving the quality of health care to women in Africa. Currently, as a chair of Reproductive Health Quality Assurance committee we regularly monitor both medical and non-medical processes that impact on quality maternal health and continuously brainstorm on ways to improve. Overall, this links with Global Health in an attempt to significantly reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in Kenya and Africa.
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Youhai Harry Chen, Ph.D., M.Sc., M.B
International Scholar
International Scholar
Emeritus Professor of Pathology | Shenzehen Institute of Advanced Technology
Medical Education | Pharmaceutical Education
China
CHN
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Chen received his M.B. and M.Sc. from Shandong University, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Manitoba, Canada. After a postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. He was a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine until 2020. In 2021, he became Chair Professor and Dean of School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen, China. He has authored more than 150 research articles, and chaired a number of academic and administrative committees at academic or pharmaceutical institutions.
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Kenechukwu Chudy Onwugaje MBBS, MPH, MS
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Gastroenterologist/Interventional Endoscopist | BJC Healthcare System
Health Systems Strengthening | Digestive Diseases | Global Endoscopy
Nigeria | Rwanda
NGA||RWA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Chudy-Onwugaje is a gastroenterologist currently pursuing advanced endoscopy training at HUP. His interests lie in the advancement of global digestive health equity and are particularly focused on expanding access to gastrointestinal endoscopy in sub-Saharan Africa. He is the co-investigator of a project supported by the University of Maryland President’s Global Impact Fund to strengthen gastroenterology training in Rwanda.
He completed an MPH degree with a concentration in Global Health and interned at the Global Health programme at Chatham House, London. During his gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Maryland, he was supported by a T32 grant from the NIH
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Ryan Close, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Medical Officer | Indian Health Service
Pediatrics | Iron deficiency | Immunization policy
Dominican Republic | United States
DOM||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Global Health is an interaction between poverty and morbidity. Particular diseases that afflict the disenfranchised vary geographically, but impoverished persons everywhere share high rates of morbidity and mortality, particularly from illness that is preventable in the “general public”. I focus on novel, sustainable means to address common morbidities in these communities – whether they live in the US or abroad. My interests are less about specific illnesses, and more about finding what impacts communities disproportionately. This led to work on pediatric iron-deficiency anemia in the DR, vaccine-preventable disease in humanitarian crises, and Group A Strep infections in American Indians.
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Susan Coffin, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Pediatrics | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Pediatrics | Infectious disease | Infection control | Pandemic influenza
Botswana | China | Egypt | Ghana | Greece | India | Vietnam | Zambia
BWA||CHN||EGY||GHA||GRC||IND||VNM||ZMB
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Coffin has served as an international consultant and trainer for infection prevention and control programs, including pandemic influenza preparedness, in various developing countries, including Egypt, China, Ghana, Greece, Botswana, and Vietnam. Dr. Coffin’s research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of healthcare-associated infections in international and domestic settings. Current international projects active in Greece, Zambia, Nigeria, and India.
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Jennifer Elizabeth Cohn, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Clinical Assistant Professor
HIV/AIDS | Tuberculosis | Viral Hepatitis | Innovation | Access to health products | Market dynamics
Cameroon | China | India | Kenya | Ethiopia | Nigeria | Philippines | Sri Lanka | Thailand | Uganda | Vietnam | Zimbabwe
CMR||CHN||IND||KEN||ETH||NGA||PHL||LKA||THA||UGA||VNM||ZWE
BIO STATEMENT - Dr. Jennifer Cohn is an infectious disease physician with a focus on improving access to and uptake of effective health products and models of care in low- and middle-income countries. She currently serves as the Global Access Leader for the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), and is a clinical associate professor of Infectious Diseases and Scholar at the Center for Global Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Before joining GARDP, Jennifer served as Senior Vice President for cardiovascular health at Resolve to Save Lives, Senior Director of Innovation at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and as the Medical Coordinator for the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Access Campaign. Jennifer has served on international advisory groups for TB, HIV, non-communicable diseases and viral hepatitis. She has published over 80 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals. Jennifer received her MD from University of Pennsylvania, is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and earned her Masters in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
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Corrado Cancedda MD, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Director | Botswana- Upenn Partnership
Capacity-building | Human Resources for Health | Health Systems Strengthening | Health Equity | Academic Partnerships | Sustainability | Antimicrobial Resistance
Botswana | Lesotho
BWA||LSO
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Corrado Cancedda is Director of the Botswana University of Pennsylvania Partnership and Strategic Advisor for Academic Partnerships at the Center for Global Health of the Perelman School of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his current position, he was Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr Cancedda has over twelve years of experience as a clinician, educator, researcher, implementer, and scholar in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Lesotho. His academic interest lies in the implementation and evaluation of large-scale and multi-disciplinary Global Health Initiatives.
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Kumarasen Cooper, MD, PhD.
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Teaching | Surgical Pathology
South Africa
ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: I have spent two months/year since 2016 at University of Botswana (under umbrella of UB-Penn Partnership) teaching and training residents at UB. Since April 2017, seven Penn Pathology residents, one medical student and one pathology assistant, have accompanied me and teaching UB residents. In addition i have performed clinical work (signed out surgical pathology cases with residents) on a regular basis. My Penn residents have taught a broad range of subjects in surgical pathology with much enthusiasm. In return we have brought two Botswana residents (month each) to spend an elective at Penn Pathology. A third cancelled May 2020.
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Torrey A. Creed, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry | University of Pennsylvania
Evidence-based Practices | Mental health | Health Equity | Sustainability | cognitive behavioral therapy | fidelity
Rwanda | Haiti
RWA||HTI
BIO STATEMENT: As founder of the Penn Collaborative for CBT & Implementation Science, I lead a team of experts in the development and evaluation of strategies to implement and sustain evidence-based mental health practices (particularly cognitive behavior therapy) in under-resourced communities. Domestically, we focus on Medicaid-funded community mental health systems. Globally, I serve as Health Policy Advisor to Partners in Health, leading the implementation of Cognitive Processing Therapy in Haiti and broadening access to CBT in Rwanda. I've also led briefer projects with providers in Canada (focused on Indigenous people) and Inner Mongolia / China (funded by the World Health Organization).
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Farouk Dako, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Radiology | University of Pennsylvania
Artifical Inteligence | Radiology Education | Enterprise Advancement | Imaging
Nigeria
NGA
BIO STATEMENT: I am a cardiothoracic radiologist and director of global and population health research in Radiology at Penn. I lead multiple community-engaged data-driven research projects in Philadelphia aimed at making health care delivery and cancer care more equitable. I led multiple research projects aimed at improving the understanding of cardiovascular disease and cancer manifestation in Africa. I am also the Nigeria Program Director and Board Member of RAD-AID International, a Radiology NGO. These roles have enabled my involvement in capacity building and education initiatives in Nigeria and other parts of Africa for almost a decade.
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Kassa Darge, MD, PhD,DTMP, FSAR, FESUR
Scholar
Scholar
Radiologist-in-Chief | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Pediatric Radiology
Brazil | Ethiopia | South Africa
BRA||ETH||ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: Since 1991, I have been involved in various international outreach activities. Initially, my focus was on tropical pediatrics, but later on I switched my work to pediatric radiology education. In 2008, I established the collaboration between the Departments of Radiology at CHOP and Addis Ababa University with the objective of supporting the radiology residency program in pediatric imaging education and conducting a pediatric radiology fellowship. In February 2017 the first 2 pediatric radiologists graduated from this 2-year fellowship program – the first ones in a country with a 100 million population with almost 60% in the pediatric age group.
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Bege Dauda, PhD, MPH, MSc
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Postdoctoral Fellow | Center for Global Genomics and Health Equity, University of Pennsylvania
Consent in research | Human heredity and health | Medical ethics
Nigeria
NGA
BIO STATEMENT: My interest in global health revolves around my involvement in global health research and development. I have been working on topics that are relevant to the improvement of global health, particularly in resource limited countries. As a scholar coming from a developing country (Nigeria), my research has been focused on how to improve research capacity in, improve ethical conduct in research and ensuring that researchers from developing countries have a voice in global health research platforms and collaboration. These interests are reflected in my research work on the ethical issues in the conduct of research developing countries, particularly in Africa.
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Maryann Delea, MPH, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Postdoctoral Fellow | Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University
Epidemiology | Tropical diseases | Environmental health | Global water | sanitation | & hygiene
Ethiopia | India | United States
ETH||IND||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Maryann is a social epidemiologist who combines theory with epidemiological methods to elucidate relationships between socio-structural factors and health and development outcomes. She is particularly interested in leveraging such evidence to design effective programming and policy solutions. She aims to: 1) improve health and contribute to development by investigating factors influencing the adoption of improved health behaviors; and 2) employ evidence-based strategies to ensure uptake of findings from evaluations into routine practice to maximize the quality and effectiveness of public health and development programming. Her work has largely focused on WASH, Guinea worm disease, trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths, influenza, and measles.
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Vanessa C. Denny, MD, MS
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Pediatric Critical Care Fellow | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Healthcare Access | Child Health | Implementation Science | Sepsis
Ghana
GHA
BIO STATEMENT: Vanessa Denny, MD MS is a pediatric critical care fellow at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is of Caribbean descent, first-generation Canadian. She has lived and worked on global health missions throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. As her mentored fellowship scholarly research project, she is studying the implementation of a novel “Hot key” simulation education intervention on pediatric septic-shock clinical outcomes in Kumasi, Ghana. This pilot work will set the stage for her mentored clinical-scientist K-Award application addressing innovations in Global Health Education and Implementation Science.
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Nicholas J. Diamond, JD, LLM, MBE
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Director and Global Health Practice Leader | Crowell & Moring International
Health and human rights | Law | Governance | Social determinants of health
United States
USA
BIO STATEMENT: Nicholas J. Diamond, J.D., LL.M., M.B.E. is an expert on global and U.S. health law, policy, and ethics. He currently works at Avalere Health, an advisory firm in Washington, DC, where his clients include biopharmaceutical companies, health insurers, advocacy organizations, and private equity firms.
Concurrently, Nick is also: an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Health Policy and Management at George Washington; and an Adjunct Fellow in Center for Public Health Initiatives and an Associate Scholar in the Center For Global Health, both within the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His research has appeared in law reviews, peer-reviewed journals, and popular media outlets. He has lectured in a variety of academic and non-academic settings, and appeared on a number of national news programs as an expert in public health law.
Before joining Avalere, Nick led market strategy in the healthcare and life sciences sectors at MarkLogic, a global technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley. Prior to MarkLogic, he held consulting roles at the MITRE Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton, where in both instances he advised the U.S. government on policy and regulatory matters related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Nick trained as a lawyer in U.S., and also holds advanced degrees in bioethics and global health law. He currently resides in Washington, DC.
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Brian Samuel Englander, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Chairman, Department of Radiology, Pennsylvania Hospital
Breast cancer | Women's health
Egypt | Haiti | Israel | Mongolia | Romania | Sri Lanka | Vietnam
EGY||HTI||ISR||MNG||ROU||LKA||VNM
BIO STATEMENT:I am a diagnostic radiologist, with sub-specialization in breast imaging and intervention. I have a particular interest in addressing women's health inequities regionally and globally. I am Chair of the Department of Radiology at Pennsylvania Hospital. As a 2018 Eisenhower Fellow (USA), I visited Mongolia and Israel to understand cultural, religious, and ethnic barriers to health care, in particular breast cancer. I have created an NGO, Benek Global Health Project. I have worked on devices that offer inexpensive pre-screening alternatives to mammography. I am actively engaged in projects in Mongolia, Israel, Haiti, Romania, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Egypt.
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Tara Marie Friebel, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
PhD Candidate at the University of Pennsylvania
Epidemiology | Global Oncology
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: I received my MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and subsequently worked at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, I was involved with studies of genetics, risk factors, early detection and prevention efforts to reduce the morbidity and mortality of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer. Currently I am a PhD candidate in Epidemiology focusing my dissertation research on reducing the burden of cervical cancer in Botswana. I have previously been involved in a prostate cancer study in Senegal, and an international consortium of BRCA1/2 investigators, both which have ignited my passion for global oncology.
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Michael Glick, DMD
Scholar
Scholar
Executive Director for the Center for Integrative Global Oral Health
Oral Health
Israel
ISR
BIO STATEMENT: Michael Glick is Professor and Executive Director, Center for Integrative Global Oral Health, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Glick has authored more than 300 publications, including original research articles, editorials, and book chapters, and has written, edited and co-edited 10 textbooks.
Dr. Glick is the immediate past Dean, School of Dental Medicine, University at Buffalo, past-President of the American Board of Oral Medicine, served as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of the American Dental Association from 2005 to 2020 and was the primary author of FDI/World Dental Federation’s Vision 2020 and, most recently, Vision 2030.
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Robert Gross, MD, MSCE
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
HIV/AIDS | STIs | substance use | smoking cessation | Delivery of Care
Botswana
BWA
Bio statement: Director, International Core, Penn CFAR. HIV clinical investigation and clinical research training.
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Surbhi Grover, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology | Director of Global Radiation Oncology | Oncology Lead Botswana-UPenn Partnership | University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Global Oncology | HPV | Radiation oncology
Botswana | India | South Africa
BWA||IND||ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Grover 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 developing countries. Since 2011, she 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 at head of oncology at the Princess Marina Hospital, she is seeing cancer patients at the public hospital, conducting research and teaching. She is also leading the implementation of an ongoing U54-funded UPENN/UB study focused on cervical cancer. She is heavily involved with AORTIC, the African body on cancer research and education and leading educational efforts in Africa. She is also working closely with collaborators at TATA Memorial Cancer Center in India on various research projects and developing education initiatives for trainees in India and Africa.
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Elane M. Gutterman, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Rutgers Global Health Institute, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey
Healthcare Delivery | Health outcomes | Oncology
Rwanda | Uganda | Botswana
RWA||UGA||BWA
BIO STATEMENT: As a health researcher, I conducted epidemiologic and health outcomes studies in US settings from academia and then as a pharma consultant. I transitioned to global health when I founded/directed a small consulting company engaged in data-based retrospective studies and prospective quality assurance assessments in several Eastern European and Latin American countries. In 2017, I joined the Rutgers Global Health Institute as an adjunct assistant professor focused on oncology care in sub-Saharan Africa. My commitment to patient outcomes reflects my prior experiences with breast cancer. It's galvanizing to support the expansion of effective and patient-oriented cancer care in sub-Saharan African countries.
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Yoonhee Patricia Ha, MSc, MPhil
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
MD-PhD Candidate | University of Pennsylvania
Public Health | Technology in Low Resource Settings
Ghana | Botswana
GHA||BWA
BIO STATEMENT: Yoonhee P. Ha, MSc, MPhil, is an MD-PhD candidate in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics. She completed her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University and graduate studies at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research interests include public health in resource-limited settings, behavioral insights, and technology.
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Ha Minh Thuy, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Curriculum Development Manager | VinUniversity
Medical Education | health sciences | internal medicine | clinical medicine
Vietnam
VNM
BIO STATEMENT:Dr Ha Minh Thuy currently serves as Curriculum Development Manager for MD program in the College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity. After graduation in 2011, Dr Thuy had experiences working in the Oncology department in both local and international hospitals. Within this current position, Dr Thuy has considerable contribution in designing the curriculum for MD program including assessment needs, competency establishment, curriculum framework, teaching and learning materials development… Dr Thuy is the second Vietnamese to be accepted in the International Fellowship program at FAIMER Institute, Philadelphia, US with fully funded scholarship. This program is focusing on health professional education supported by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research a non – profit foundation of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).
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Denis Hadjiliadis, MD, MHS , PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Associate Professor of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
International Medical Education
Greece
GRC
BIO STATEMENT: My main interest comes from working with diseases and groups that are international in cystic fibrosis and lung transplantation. I have been pa t of global committees mostly as a clinician for these groups. I also have grown up, trained and worked in other countries, so have more interest in reaching out. Finally, I am a past president and still involved of a philanthropic organization, the Hellenic medical society of Philadelphia, which focuses on education, philanthropy and networking among Greeks across different countries.
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Muge Haseki, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Post Doc at Penn Law School
Technology in Low Resource Settings | Law | Telemedicine
United States | Nepal
USA||NPL
BIO-STATEMENT Müge Haseki is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition at Penn Law, and working on a project that partially focuses on the evaluation and assessment of technology-based health initiatives in LMICs in the Global South. She is particularly interested in the structural inequalities in accessing to and using of technology-based interventions including mobile health use among pregnant women in Nepal, mobile phone use in health clinics in rural Rwanda, and the use of telemedicine network in Vanuatu. She also worked on other projects funded by USAID, GSMA Connected Women, United Nations, and UNESCO
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Norrisa Adriana Haynes, MD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Assistant Professor | Yale Medicine
Non-communicable disease | Golbal Cardiovascular Health
Haiti
HTI
BIO ATTACHED: Norrisa Haynes MD, MPH is a third year cardiology fellow at UPenn. Dr. Haynes attended Yale for undergrad and Columbia University for medical school and internal medicine residency. She obtained her MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. Through Partners in Health (PIH), Dr. Haynes worked at Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais (HUM), in Haiti. She worked as a junior attending for 2 years at HUM while also working as a Harvard instructor and Brigham hospitalist. Dr. Haynes is interested in pursuing a career in global cardiovascular health and continues to provide pertinent cardiovascular educational content to physicians-in-training in Haiti.
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Ryan C. Henrici, MD, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Lecturer| University of Pennsylvania
Malaria | Capacity-building | Infectious disease | Sickle Cell Disease
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Uganda
GBR||UGA
BIO STATEMENT:Neglected diseases affect millions of people each year, inflicting enormous public health and economic cost to developing nations. In many cases, antimicrobial drug resistance and non-communicable comorbidities multiply these costs and complicate global efforts to improve child and adult health. I work at the intersections of biology, drug development, and clinical medicine with a special focus on malaria and Sickle Cell Disease. These diseases are pathophysiologically intertwined and disproportionately affect patients in tropical settings, causing considerable morbidity and mortality.
In particular, I map the cellular mechanisms of malarial development and drug resistance, track the evolution of drug resistance in the field, and study the consequences of malarial infection and outcomes of treatment in children with SCD. I also work closely with biopharmaceutical partners to build and test new drugs for the treatment of infections, including malaria, and sickle cell disease, with an emphasis on equitable drug development.
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Meredith Rose Hickson, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Pincus Global Health Fellow | Global Health Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Health Systems Strengthening | Implementation Science | Pediatric Hospital Medicine | Pediatric Critical Care
Botswana | Uganda | Senegal
BWA||UGA||SEN
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Hickson graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed a pediatrics residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She started working in global health as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal, where she supported rural health facilities and community health workers as a Preventative Health Educator. During medical school, Dr. Hickson was an NIH-Fogarty Fellow in Uganda. Her research there focused on the impact of severe malaria infection and placental malaria on children’s neurodevelopment. Dr. Hickson is currently a CHOP-Pincus Global Health Fellow in Botswana where she is engaged in both inpatient care of children and neonates at Botswana’s national referral hospital and implementation research on a new Pediatric Early Warning System to improve outcomes for hospitalized children. Her role also includes mentorship and education of medical students and residents at the University of Botswana. Dr. Hickson’s global focus is on strengthening tertiary care—referral systems, inpatient care, and escalation of care—for children in low-resource settings.
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Lisa M. Hilmi, MPH, BSN-RN
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Executive Director, CORE Group
Refugee health | Global Health Security | Community health | Disaster Preparedness
BIO STATEMENT: Lisa Hilmi is the Executive Director of CORE Group, based in Washington DC. CORE Group convenes the International Community Health Network, a community of practice fueled by more than 200+ member organizations and individual associates that are champions for community health. Lisa Hilmi has three decades of global health experience in over 25+ countries, addressing health disparities for women, children, adolescents and communities. She has worked in Peace Corps, WHO, non-profits, refugee, disaster, and conflict settings, as well as outbreaks and epidemics in multiple countries. As a nurse, Lisa has worked clinically in pediatric hospitals, community, academic, and crisis settings.
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Ari Ho-Foster, BSc, MSc
International Scholar
International Scholar
Assistant Programme Director | University of Botswana Faculty of Medicine - Research and Graduate Studies Office
HIV/AIDS | Tuberculosis | Healthcare Access | Mental health | Gender violence
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: My academic interests are in furthering the use epidemiological methods to improve the health of populations. This includes mentorship and practice in generating evidence to improve our understanding of risk factors for disease, access/linkage to diagnosis and care, program evaluation, and effective communication of evidence to improve program implementation. I have worked in 12 countries, supporting research on maternal child health, HIV prevention, TB-HIV diagnostics, cancer care, gender violence and mental health. I also managed a Data Acquisition Core team aimed at improving routine data collection for Non-Communicable Disease research, and served as Country Operations Officer for the Botswana-UPenn Partnership
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John Holmes, PhD, FACE, FACMI
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Medical Informatics in Epidemiology | University of Pennsylvania
Epidemiology | Capacity-building | Informatics | Injury Prevention | Disease Surveillance
Botswana | Italy | United States
BWA||ITA||USA
BIO STATEMENT: John H. Holmes, PhD, is Professor of Medical Informatics in Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics. He is Associate Director of the Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics and chairs the Doctoral Program in Epidemiology. He has mentored pre- and post-doctoral students at Penn, University of Botswana, and Universities of Pavia and Verona, Italy. Dr. Holmes is engaged with the Botswana-UPenn Partnership, assisting in building informatics and epidemiologic research capacity in Botswana. He is an elected Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, the American College of Epidemiology, and the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics.
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Joseph N Jarvis, MSc, MBBS, MRCP, PhD, DTM
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Tropical Medicine and International Medicine | London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Epidemiology | HIV/AIDS | Opportunistic Infections | Meningitis | Immunology | Clinical Trials | Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)
Botswana | France | Malawi | Tanzania, United Republic of | Uganda | Zimbabwe | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | South Africa
BWA||FRA||MWI||TZA||UGA||ZWE||GBR||ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: I am an infectious diseases physician and clinical researcher based full time in Botswana, where I have been working for the Botswana-Upenn Partnership since February 2014. My primary research interest is in HIV-related opportunistic infections, in particular those affecting the central nervous system (CNS). I have recently completed a phase II clinical trial exploring novel treatments for HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis, am running a cryptococcal meningitis screening and prevention trial, and have a series of studies describing the aetiology of CNS infections in this setting and utility of molecular diagnostics. I also provide clinical care in the local health service.
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Saurabh Jha, MBBS, MRCS, MS
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Radiology | University of Pennsylvania
Global Radiology | Artificial Intelligence | Access to Medical Imaging | Health Policy
Nepal
NPL
BIO STATEMENT: I'm a cardiothoracic radiologist. Formerly, I trained in surgery in Britain and worked in a remote outpost in Australia, before transitioning to radiology and moving to the US. I'm interested in creative writing, imaging adoption, artificial intelligence, and health policy. I have travelled extensively in the hills of India, Nepal, and Tibet. I work with private industry and NGOs to improve access to medical imaging in remote areas, particularly those at high altitudes. I also study the adoption of AI in LMICs
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Michelle J. Johnson, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor (PSOM) and Secondary Faculty Appointment - SEAS Bioengineering
Neurorehabilitation
Botswana | Costa Rica | Italy | Mexico | Jamaica
BWA||CRI||ITA||MEX||JAM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Johnson directs the Rehabilitation Robotic Research and Design Laboratory, which specializes in the design, development, and therapeutic use of novel, affordable, intelligent robotic assistants for rehabilitation in high and low-resource environments. The lab emphasizes the use of neuroscience, robotics and sensors to support functional recovery in adults and children with brain injury or at risk for brain injury. Active projects with clinicians and engineers is in Italy, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Botswana. A Fulbright Scholar for 2020-202, she will pursue technology-assisted rehabilitation in Botswana for people living with HIV and Stroke in collaboration with CFAR.
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Atul A. Kalanuria, MD, FACP, MHCI
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Anesthesia and Critical Care | University of Pennsylvania
Neurology | Brain and Spinal Diseases
India | United States
IND||USA
BIO STATEMENT: I am a neuro-intensivist at Penn, and I specialize in the management of acute brain and spine diseases. The outcome of acute neurological diseases such as stroke and traumatic brain and spine injuries depends heavily on the care given within the first few hours. The exploration of the scope of practice and ability of providers to care for such patients in resource scare environments is a matter of great importance and personal interest. Many of these injuries can be salvaged with meager resources and modification of existing practices. As a neurointensivist at Penn medicine, my role is to promote brain healing while identifying and treating injury. My training in innovation equips me with tools to improve healthcare.
Brought up in India, I am able to appreciate the technological, logistical and operational insufficiencies there. There is a growing need for acute neurological and neurosurgical care in most parts of India and my hope is that I will be able to accomplish my goal of forging partnerships in my home country.
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Vinay Kampalath, MD, DTMH
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor in Clinical Pediatrics | University of Pennsylvania
Humanitarian assistance | Refugee health | Emergency Care Delivery | Outbreak and Pandemic Response | Humanitarian Crises
Bangladesh | Botswana | India | Jordan | Greece | Sierra Leone | Poland
BGD||BWA||IND||JOR||GRC||SLE||POL
BIO STATEMENT: Vinay Kampalath is an Assistant Professor in Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and an emergency medicine physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Kampalath completed his clinical training at the CHOP, MD at Brown University, and a DTM&H at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Kampalath has worked with WHO, the Global Health Cluster, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the Syrian American Medical Society on improving systems of healthcare delivery globally. He has also worked and taught in ten countries, including several humanitarian settings, such as Bangladesh, Greece, Poland, Jordan, and Ukraine.
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Vinay M. Nadkarni, MD, MS
Scholar
Scholar
Professor, Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pediatrics | University of Pennsylvanian
Critical care | Emergency Medicine | Resuscitation Science
India
IND
BIO STATEMENT: Professor of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pediatrics; President Society of Critical Care Medicine 2023-2024; International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation; World Health Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies; Founding Director of CHOP Academy for Resuscitation of Children and Pediatric Global Resuscitation Alliance. Recognized with AAP Distinguished Lifetime Award and AHA International Impact Award.
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Jonathan Kantor, MD, MSCE, MA
Scholar
Scholar
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dermatology | University of Pennsylvania
Telemedicine | Medical Education | Artifical Inteligence
France | Haiti | South Africa | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | United States
FRA||HTI||ZAF||GBR||USA
BIO STATEMENT:Dr Jonathan Kantor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine. Jonathan is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology International, the author/ editor of four textbooks published by McGraw-Hill, and the author of over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters. Born in South Africa and educated in six countries on four continents, his scholarship is focused on utilization and access to skin and cancer care. He has a long-standing interest in international education, outreach, telemedicine, and AI, leveraging international expertise for the betterment of global health in dermatology.
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Daniel Kantor, MD, FAAN
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
President Emeritus, Florida Society of Neurology
Health economics | Neurology | Standardization of care across different health systems | Health outcomes | Patient advocacy
Nigeria
NGA
BIO STATEMENT: Daniel Kantor, MD, FAAN is President Emeritus of the Florida Society of Neurology. After studying Literary Theory and Computer Science & Engineering at Penn, he enrolled in the charter class of the Ben-Gurion University -- Columbia University Collaboration in Global Health & Medicine. After completing Neurology residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, he chose to remain in the US to use global health skills to help urban and rural populations as the Director of the Comprehensive MS Center, University of Florida in Jacksonville. Most recently, he served as Director of the Division of Neurology and then as Inaugural Neurology Residency Program Director at Florida Atlantic University.
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Debbie Kantor APRN, MSN
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Founder and CEO of Hero Medical | Co-Founder of Constant Connection
Mental health | Head Injury | Triage | Acute Care
Australia | Israel | Kenya
AUS||ISR||KEN
Debbie Kantor APRN, MSN is a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner trained at Penn, where she sat on the Clinical Faculty of the Penn School of Nursing from 1999-2005. She is the Founder and CEO of Hero Medical, a MedTech company tackling the prehospital care of head injuries and stroke. According to WHO, Traumatic Brain Injury is the leading cause of trauma-related death and disability around the world. Her company is creating an accessible and inexpensive platform to more rapidly bandage and monitor head-injured patients. She is also co-founder of Constant Connection, a startup creating a global platform for wellness and resources for caregivers.
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Megan Kassick, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology | University of Pennsylvania
Women's health | Implementation Science | Gynecologic Cancers | Cervical Cancer | Radiotherapy | Braachytherapy
Zambia
ZMB
BIO STATEMENT: Megan Kassick, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Perelman School of Medicine, with a dedicated focus in global oncology. She is a member of the Women's Health Service and primarily treats patients with gynecologic and breast malignancies, and specializes in brachytherapy. Her academic interests include addressing global disparities in cervical cancer treatment. She has collaborated with oncologists in Sub-Saharan Africa, and has completed an internship with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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Iliana V. Kohler, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Director | Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Mental health | Non-communicable disease | Health Systems Strengthening | Aging | Cognition
Burkina Faso | Malawi | United States
BFA||MWI||USA
BIO STATEMENT: I am social demographer interested in the demographic, health and social aspects of aging in low and middle income contexts. My approach to study global health, aging and mortality is based on the life-course perspective and in several projects and publications in collaboration with other researchers we have shown the long legacy of early childhood factors on health outcomes in late life in different contexts. I am leading a portfolio of research projects that critically evaluates social, demographic and epidemiological theories of aging outside the realm of the transitional aging studies that are focused on upper-middle-income and high-income contexts.
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Carrie L. Kovarik, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Dermatology | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Healthcare Access | Telemedicine | Informatics
Botswana | Guatemala | Malawi | Tanzania, United Republic of | Peru | Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
BWA||GTM||MWI||TZA||PER||VEN
BIO STATEMENT: I have an interest in access to health care, telemedicine, informatics, and HIV-related skin disease. I have created the Penn Dermatology Global Health program, through which I work to provide clinical care and education in underserved communities. I have implemented numerous innovative telemedicine programs in underserved communities in the US and globally using mobile phones, electronic medical records, open source technology, and accessory medical devices. I am now also focusing on developing, sustaining, and advocating for new models of quality health care that can increase access through telemedicine and other means.
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Shaon Lahiri, PhD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Postdoctoral Researcher, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Department | University of Pennsylvania
Family Planning | PrEP uptake | Sanitation behaviors | tobacco use | intimate partner violence
Kenya | India | China | Oman
KEN||IND||CHN||OMN
BIO STATEMENT: I am an interdisciplinary social and behavioral scientist working on several global health issues. I approach the field from the lens of the social determinants of health, health behavior theory, and a focus on understanding common social processes across multiple health outcomes related to sanitation, mental health, tobacco use, family planning use, intimate partner violence, and HIV risk reduction. My expertise is on the influence of social norms on behavior. I am currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the PPE program at Penn, and a PPE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Penn Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics.
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Priti Lal, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Director of GU Pathology, Associate Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Global Oncology | Medical Education | Prostate Cancer | Bladder and Kidney Cancer
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: As part of the CGH community, my primary interest is teaching and mentoring students from countries in Africa who have an interest in gaining a deeper understanding of the current diagnostic and molecular tools as applied to prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer. Dr. Lal is the Director of GU Pathology, Associate Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine | University of Pennsylvania. She is the lead pathologist in applying the latest technology of 3D visualization of prostate cancer, focusing on men of African descent. She is also the lead pathologist from the USA for the MADCAP consortium, a collaboration between Harvard, Moffit, Penn, and ten countries in Africa.
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Krzysztof Laudanski, MD, PhD, MA, FCCM
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Senior Consultant | Mayo Clinic
Brain drain | Protocol development | Telemedicine
Brazil | China | Croatia | South Africa | Tanzania, United Republic of | Vietnam
BRA||CHN||HRV||ZAF||TZA||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: I have been interested in global health for several years. I participated on several clinical, research and supportive appointments in Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam, People Republic of China, Tanzania and Croatia. My research focus on the mechanism preventing "brain drain" from the low-income countries. I specifically study mechanisms how the transfer of knowledge occur and what are the barriers. I worked with several organization but most recently I collaborate with the Health Volunteers Overseas.
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Linh Cu Le MD, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Vice Dean - College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity
Reproductive health | Injury Prevention | Cancer epidemiology | Adolescent health
China | India | Vietnam
CHN||IND||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr Linh worked almost 17 years at Hanoi University of Public Health and dedicatedly contributed to the delivery of the very first Master and Doctoral program of Public Health in Vietnam as well as capacity building and health sciences education reform at national scale. Dr Linh joined Vinmec – the leading private healthcare system in Vietnam in 2014, and played an instrumental role to establish VinUniversity and its College of Health Sciences in 2019. Both Vinmec and VinUniversity are not-for-profit members of Vingroup - the largest private corproration in Vietnam. Dr Linh’s research and policy advocacy focused on road traffic safety, injury prevention, adolescent and population health. As a scholar, he provided technical support to numerous projects for EU, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, etc. in Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and India.
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Joseph Leanza, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Global Emergency Medicine Fellow | Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Emergency Medicine | Medical Education | Humanitarian Response | Climate Change
Bangladesh | Pakistan | Iraq
BGD||PAK||IRQ
BIO STATEMENT: Joseph Leanza is an Emergency Medicine physician at the University of Pennsylvania with an interest in emergency medicine systems, disaster and humanitarian response, education, and environmental health. Within the NGO Global Response Management, he is the project lead for emergency medicine specialty and EMS systems development in Federal Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. He also works in research and education with the Certification Program in Emergency Medicine in Pakistan and Bangladesh and with the Penn Center for Global Health developing simulation curricula at Vin University in Vietnam. He has previously worked in a clinical and research capacity with Global Emergency Care in Masaka, Uganda.
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Shaun Wen Huey Lee
International Scholar
International Scholar
Associate Professor | Monash University School of Pharmacy
Tuberculosis | Quality Use of Medicine
Vietnam | Malaysia
VNM||MYS
BIO STATEMENT: Shaun Lee is a pharmacist by profession and is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy at Monash University Malaysia. His
research is highly interdisciplinary and uses methods from the social sciences, public health, clinical medicine, and epidemiology. His current
research focuses on population health, in relation to how public interventions can have an impact on health inequalities with particular
focus on non-communicable diseases; pharmacoepidemiology, and in particular on how to optimize medication and reducing inappropriate polypharmacy in vulnerable populations, such as in older adults, or those with a life-limiting illness.
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Thabo Lenneiye, MBA, MSc, MArch
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Managing Director, PennPraxis - Weitzman School of Design | University of Pennsylvania
Implementation research | Evidence-based Practices | Informal settlements | Urban Planning
Kenya | Zimbabwe
KEN||ZWE
BIO STATEMENT: Thabo Lenneiye is the managing director of PennPraxis, overseeing the operations, fundraising, business development, communications, and strategic planning of the organization.
Previously, she was an architect at Gensler, where she was instrumental in setting up their Africa practice and worked directly for the CEO as support staff on the Obama Administration’s Presidential Advisory Committee for Doing Business in Africa.
Thabo served as the inaugural secretary of the Board for the African Union Pan-African Diaspora Women’s Association, under the leadership of Ambassador (2017-2018). She has co-taught multi-disciplinary urban planning and design studios at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Michael Z. Levy, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Epidemiology in Biostatistics and Epidemiology | University of Pennsylvania
Chagas disease | Disease ecology
Peru
PER
I study the interface of insects, pathogens & people. I founded the UPenn/UPCH Zoonotic Disease Laboratory in Arequipa, Peru in 2004 and have led a number of studies on Chagas disease in that city. Recently I've begun studying bugs closer to home--bed bugs.
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Pranee Liamputtong, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Professor of Behavior Sciences | VinUniversity College of Health Sciences
HIV/AIDS | Mental health | Global Cardiovascular Disease | Breast cancer | Sexual Violence | Social aspects of the pandemic
Australia | Iraq | Jamaica | Japan | Malaysia | Thailand | United States | Vietnam
AUS||IRQ||JAM||JPN||MYS||THA||USA||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: I am a medical anthropologist and have interests in the health of women, children, immigrants, refugees, older people, and transgender individuals. I am interested in issues relating to motherhood, reproductive health, sexuality, sexual health, mental health, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and the global pandemic. I have undertaken many research projects with refugee and immigrant women in Australia and qualitative research with women living with HIV/AIDS and breast cancer in Thailand and Malaysia. I am a qualitative researcher and have written several textbooks on this approach. At VinUniversity, my focus will be on health behaviors and social determinants of health.
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Renyu Liu, MD, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, and Neurology, University of Pennsylvania | Co-Chair of the World Stroke Organization Taskforce for Prehospital Care (WSOTPC)
Stroke
China | United States
CHN||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Liu is a physician scientist in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Perelman School of Medicine. One of Dr Liu’s primary interests is to reduce prehospital delays for stroke victims world-wide by working with a global multi-disciplinary team. After successfully implementing his novel Stroke education strategy, Stroke 120 in China (https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/internal-newsletters/system-news/2017/february/it-s-as-easy-as-1-2-0), in conjunction with Dr. Jing Zhao, a neurologist at Fudan University in Shanghai, Dr. Liu and his multi-disciplinary team also created Stroke 112 for other non-English speaking countries and regions. These educational strategies, based on the English program, FAST (Face, Arm, Speech, Time), for rapid stroke recognition and action, are currently being implemented in several countries or regions where English is not the primary language. Dr. Liu was appointed as Director of the Stroke 120 Special Task Force by the Chinese Stroke Association in 2017. Dr Liu is a current China Research Engagement Fund ($100K) recipient to promote and study Stroke 120 in China. If you are interested in joining his multi-disciplinary team in reducing prehospital delays for stroke victims worldwide, please contact him at liur@uphs.upenn.edu.
Dr Liu has worked with Rosemary Polomano, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Joshua Atkins, MD, PhD, on a joint Penn Nursing and Medicine collaboration to improve post-surgical Pain management in China with funding support from the Penn Global.
Dr. Liu also has an active basic research lab, funded by an NIH-R01, studying novel compound(s) as opioid receptor ligands for clinical usage through an understanding of the structural-functional relationships of opioid and opioid receptors.
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Elizabeth Dawn Lowenthal, MD,MSCE
Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Epidemiology | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Pediatrics
Botswana | Dominican Republic
BWA||DOM
BIO STATEMENT: After living in Botswana from 2004-2008 and serving as the Clinic Director of the Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence at that time, I came to Penn for Epidemiology training and stayed here as faculty of the medical school. I am now Research Director for Global Health at CHOP and I have active research in Botswana and the Dominican Republic. I mentor numerous students, faculty and in-country partners whose work is focused on the health of children in resource-limited settings.
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Paul Lu, MD, MSEd
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Capacity-building | International Medical Education
Botswana | Vietnam
BWA||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Paul Lu’s clinical and research interests are focused on medical education and global health. Locally, he co-directs
the PSOM Global Health Pre-Departure Training Course for health professional students interested in global health
electives. Internationally, he supports the VinGroup-Penn Alliance and has helped develop both undergraduate and
graduate medical education curriculum for VinUniversity, College of Health Sciences in Hanoi, Vietnam. In addition, he
co-directs the Master Clinical Educator Academy (MCEA) faculty development training program at VinUniversity. Dr. Lu
has been involved in various medical-related projects in China, Vietnam, Mexico, Botswana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
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Kevin Sheng-Kai Ma, DDS
International Scholar
International Scholar
Lecturer and Research fellow
Epidemiology | Infectious disease | Environmental health | Adverse drug reactions
Taiwan, Province of China
TWN
BIO STATEMENT:Dr. Ma leads clinical studies at National Taiwan University, Taiwan using population-based cohort registry and multi-national intramural databases. His main research interests include infectious diseases and adverse drug reactions. As a previous scholar at Penn, he keeps close collaborations with faculty at Penn. Through integrating sociodemographics, lifestyle survey, environmental exposure, medical records, and genetic data provided from affiliated biobanks in these cohorts studies, results of these studies provide understanding towards the complicated interactions between clinical phenotypes/ disease prognosis, lifestyle/ environmental exposure, and genotypes, and could be applied to improve health equity worldwide.
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Shannon Marquez, PhD, MEng
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Dean of Global Engagement & Professor | Columbia University
Maternal Child Health | Global water | sanitation & hygiene | gender equity and social inclusion | capacity building and health-systems strengthening | livelihood and resilience
BIO STATEMENT: My research and practice has been in the field of global environmental health; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); sustainable solutions to address the environmental burden of disease and health disparities in developing countries; and health systems strengthening and capacity-building in global health. Currently, I serve as the Director of the Dornsife Global Development Scholars Program, which leverages an exciting global health partnership with World Vision International to provide global health training, support faculty/student research, and trainee field experiences in 36 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. I teach courses in WASH, and MCH, including field courses in Cuba and West Africa.
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Yehoda Martei, MD, MSCE
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Global Oncology
Botswana | Ghana | Uganda
BWA||GHA||UGA
BIO STATEMENT: 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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Sergio N. Martinez, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Director of Clinical Education | Universidad Francisco Marrqouin
Global Surgery | Orthopedics | Trauma | Bioethics | Chronic Diseases
Guatemala
GTM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Sergio Martinez is an orthopedic surgeon and the Director of Clinical Education at the Universidad Francisco Marrqouin (UFM) in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Early in Medical school, he was exposed to professionals practicing in different health systems at a local and international level. A global health conscience quickly became part of his everyday thinking and throughout all stages of his medical practice. Living in a country where cultural diversity is broad, globalized interactions must be put in the equation when dealing with health care. Global health is gaining momentum in the current curriculum at UFM where Dr Martinez oversees the clinical education program.
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Yohana Mashalla, MD, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Professor of Biomedical Science | University of Botswana
Monitoring & Evaulation | Program management | Leadership
Angola | Botswana | Malawi | South Africa | Namibia | Tanzania, United Republic of | Zambia | Zimbabwe
AGO||BWA||MWI||ZAF||NAM||TZA||ZMB||ZWE
BIO STATEMENT: Currently I am the Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences involved in teaching, providing service and research and the Co-Director of the Afya Bora Consortium. The curricula for training of doctors, nurses and public health specialists in sub Saharan Africa are compact and do not prepare graduates to lead large global health programs in the region. We developed the Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship to strengthen health systems in the region as a strategy to bridge the leadership gap by training health professionals in leadership skills (communication, implementation science, budgeting and human resources management, program management, monitoring and evaluation, grant writing, etc). My major interests are program management and monitoring and evaluation.
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Audrey Naledi Masizana, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Senior Lecturer, Computer Science | University of Botswana
Data Science Training in Health Care
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: As a HOD Computer Science , I have successfully led research projects including Microsoft sponsored Digital Inclusion call of 2006 and 2008, a project in the Health sector that led to the establishment of the e-Health research unit in 2012. The unit continues to engage in Health Informatics research and has fostered wide-reaching collaboration within and beyond, NGO’s such as Botswana UPENN, Botswana Harvard Partnerships, CHOP and also with Government through the Ministry of Health I am also spearheading a number of health-related research projects providing digital solutions under themes of Data Warehousing, Mining, IOT's and Interoperability.
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Paul J. Mather, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Clinical Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine
Community Engagement | Medical Education
Botswana | Vietnam
BWA||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Physician Leader for Heart Failure Disease Management for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and the Director, Faculty Development, Division of Cardiology.
He received the American Heart Association Lynn Smaha Award fo Excellence in 2019 and was named the American Heart Association Physician of the Year in 2020. He also received the Edward S. Cooper Award from the Philadelphia AHA in 2023.
He has worked with Italian, British, Vietnamese and Botwanian Universities to help them expand their bandwidth of medical education
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Monica Matsumoto, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | University of Pennsylvania
Refugee health | Radiology Education | Interventional Radiology | Supply Chain Development
Jordan | Peru
JOR||PER
BIO STATEMENT: I am an interventional radiology resident and part of the Radiology Health Equity Track. I started working in international health as an undergraduate at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, followed by a Fulbright Fellowship in Jordan, and then decided to pursue medicine as a tool to make a positive impact on people around the world. I want to build upon my experiences working with refugee populations both in Chicago and Jordan, as well as collaborating with RAD-AID International, to foster the development of critical radiology services, education, and in under-resourced settings.
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Kabelo Leonard Mauco, PhD, MSc
International Scholar
International Scholar
Fulbright Fellow | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Global Health Security | Digital Epidemiology
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: I have a PhD in digital health. My current research interests are on digital epidemiology and global health security. I am a Fulbright visiting scholar currently hosted by CHOP for the next 5 months. As a digital health researcher, my research interests focused on creating evidence and policies to guide the sustainable implementation of digital health in developing countries. Reviewer for the following academic journals; Journal of Medical Internet Research, Digital Health (SAGE journals) AND Frontiers in Digital Health. Senior lecturer and research fellow, department of Health Information Management, Botho University, Gaborone Botswana.
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Ryan J. McAuley, MD, MPH, FACP, FAAP
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Humanitarian assistance | Refugee health | Disaster response | Health and human rights
Vietnam
VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Ryan's global health interests focus on vulnerable populations, refugee and migrant health, disaster response, and medical education in developing settings. From 2014-2018, Ryan completed several missions with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan and Egypt. From 2019-2021, Ryan was based in Hanoi, Vietnam as part of the Vingroup-Penn Partnership and served as the first Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at VinUniversity. Ryan works clinically as an adult Oncology Hospitalist and serves as the Director of Operations for Global Graduate Medical Education with the Penn Center for Global Health.
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Cramer A. McCullen, MD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Health Systems Strengthening | Health Equity
Guatemala | United States
GTM||USA
BIO STATEMENT: I believe that health and poverty are intertwined and that health is essential for the development of individuals, communities and countries. As such, I have spent significant time in Central America working on HIV surveillance, product development, and qualitative research to address health disparities for patients on the "borders", both physical and social, patients with intersectional identities like LGBT and Latinx subpopulations. I am seeking opportunities domestically and abroad to continue working with marginalized and under-resourced patient populations, aiming to eventually dedicate at least partial clinical time to improving healthcare delivery systems and developing health policy in a global context.
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Suyash Mohan, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Radiology & Neurosurgery | University of Pennsylvania
International Medical Education | Health Equity | Health Disparities | Diagnostic Imaging
South Africa
ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Mohan is a physician-scientist with a research focus on clinical and translational applications of advanced
neuroimaging techniques in the development of noninvasive imaging-based biomarkers for assessing brain
tumor metabolism and response to therapy. His current National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute
funded clinical trial (R01 CA262584-01) is utilizing synergy of advanced metabolic imaging, computational
modelling, with interdisciplinary collaborations and industrial partnership to transform the treatment of
patients with brain tumors.
Dr. Mohan is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has been the brand ambassador for societies
like the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and the American Society of
Neuroradiology (ASNR). He was awarded the 2018 Anne G. Osborn ASNR Outreach Professorship to South
Africa and was awarded the esteemed RSNA International Visiting Professorship (IVP) to Kazakhstan in 2022.
Dr. Mohan is a passionate educator and was the recipient of the Wallace T. Miller Teaching Award for
Teaching Excellence in 2013, and then the ‘2015 Teaching Award’, for ‘Excellence in Teaching’ at the
University of Pennsylvania. Most recently, he was awarded the Association of University Radiologists (AUR),
2019 Outstanding Teacher Award.
Dr. Mohan has made important scientific contributions and has published over 135 peer-reviewed articles,
numerous book chapters, 3 books, presented over 250 abstracts in national and international meetings, and has
delivered over 300 lectures locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Mohan has had a number of roles in
national organizations, American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) and the Radiological Society of North
America (RSNA), and has been recently been appointed as the Assistant Editor for Radiographics. He has
focused interest in advancing neuro-oncologic imaging and research, teaching and education, organizing
CMEs, academic mentoring of trainees and junior faculty, as well as in multidisciplinary collaborations..
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Mooketsi Molefi, MB ChB, MSCE
International Scholar
International Scholar
Lecturer | University of Botswana Faculty of Medicine
Epidemiology | Health Informatics | Biostatistics
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: As a young academician and researcher, I aspire to grow professionally. My area of focus has largely been around HIV/AIDS particularly Cryptococcal disease research at clinical trials level. I have done some TB work with colleagues. Through this opportunity I would like to expand my scope to morbidity measures such as quality of life assessment for patients living with HIV/AIDS, TB and cancer I am also interested in health economic evaluations for some of the medical interventions against HIV/AIDS,TB and cancer for resource limited settings like Botswana. Collaboration with nternational researchers in any of these areas would be key.
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Billy Morara Tsima, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Senior Lecturer and Family Physician | University of Botswana
HIV/AIDS | Mental health | Maternal Child Health | Basic Life Support/Resuscitation
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: As a family physician, my practice of medicine involves providing medical care to a wide variety of people. Serving in primary care settings provides a unique opportunity to interact with undifferentiated patients from different backgrounds. It became evident early in my exposure to this situation that equity in health is important and addressing it is an ongoing effort requiring a strong understanding of the context in which diseases occur as well as collaboration with others with different experiences.As a medical educator and researcher, my work brings me in contact with many others in the global health space.
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Sununguko Wata Mpoloka, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Associate Professor | University of Botswana, Department of Biological Sciences
Vaccines | Vaccine Research & Development
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Botswana, where I am involved in the teaching of both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as conducting research. My research is centered around Population Genetics, Vaccinology, and Molecular Genetics. I am currently the principal investigator in the H3Africa consortium under the auspices of CAfGEN (Collaborative African Genomics Network), which is an NIH-funded project looking at understanding the host genomic factors that determine the progression of HIV and TB in pediatrics.
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Emmanuel Abraham Mpolya, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Senior Lecturer | Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology
Epidemiology | HIV/AIDS | Environmental health | Nutrition | Biostatistics
Tanzania, United Republic of
TZA
BIO STATEMENT: I have a Bachelor's degree in Nursing (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), a Masters of Medical Sciences (Tohoku University,Japan) and a PhD in Theoretical Epidemiology (Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan). Right after my first degree I was employed by the UW PEPFAR-funded International Training and Education Center for Health - ITECH in Tanzania as a Curriculum Assistant, my first involvement in Global Health. Currently I am a Lecturer at the Department of Global Health at NM-AIST and I'm working with several partners in Global Health. I have also just completed a Fellowship in Global Health Leadership with AfyaBora.
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Victoria Mui, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology
Global Surgery | International Medical Education | Bioethics | Medical Education | Maternal Health
Vietnam | Uganda
VNM||UGA
BIO STATEMENT: Victoria Mui, MD is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her international experience includes midwifery collaborations in Guatemala, surgical projects in Guyana, and a year-long faculty appointment at Gulu University in northern Uganda. She is a former MGH Global Health Clinical Fellow through Seed Global Health-Peace Corps. She is currently the OB/GYN Curriculum Lead for the VinUni-UPenn partnership. She is interested in international projects that focus on medical education and advanced training in women's health and global surgery and excited to be a champion in the department.
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Maham N. Munawar, DO, MS
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Global Health Fellow - Penn Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship | University of Pennsylvania
Nutrition | Emergency Medicine | Women's health | capacity building and health-systems strengthening
Pakistan | Bangladesh | Iraq
PAK||BGD||IRQ
BIO STATEMENT: Maham is from Texas and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas in Austin and a Master of Science as well as her medical degree at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth. She completed her Emergency Medicine residency training at Southern Illinois University in Springfield, Illinois. Her academic interests include, but are not limited to, healthcare access and health policy as well as nutrition, women’s health, and education/EM program development abroad.
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Mohan S. Narasimhamurthy, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Pathology | Oncology | Training Laboratory Professionals
Botswana | India
BWA||IND
BIO STATEMENT: I practiced pathology for nine years in Botswana in various capacities, including assistant program director of the pathology residency program at the University of Botswana and the National Health Laboratory. I was involved in developing a pathology residency program, laboratory accreditation, scaling up diagnostic services with the introduction of immunohistochemistry, and setting up multidisciplinary tumor board meetings. I also initiated rapid on-site evaluation in FNA clinics, which received the Best Public Service Initiative from the Ministry of Health, Botswana, in 2017. I have taught medical students, pathology residents, laboratory scientists, full-bright scholars, and MPhil students. In addition, I participated in several projects, including HPV genotyping and breast cancer-related studies, and published several papers.
I was the informal technical committee member for WHO to develop a technical package on strengthening and scaling-up services for the management of invasive cervical cancer. I also contributed to drafting and reviewing the WHO Guide for establishing a pathology laboratory in the context of cancer control and WHO-IAEA Framework for Setting up a Comprehensive Cancer Centre, 2021.
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Jackline E. Ngowi, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Physician Scientist, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences
Tuberculosis | Non-communicable disease | Health economics | Sexual reproductive health
Tanzania, United Republic of
TZA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Jackline Ngowi, a researcher at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), has interests in implementation science and health economics in Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and NCDs. She received the 2022 Early Career Research grant from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine. Dr. Ngowi serves as the program manager for the GROWNUTII/EPRENUT consortium at MUHAS and coordinates collaborative studies, including Tuberculosis case-finding, intrauterine hormonal device feasibility, and COVID-19 seroprevalence in pregnant women. Jackline attended the summer visiting fellowship in 2023 and received training in the Implementation Science course at the Penn Implementation Science Institute.
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Nhung Thi Nguyen
International Scholar
International Scholar
Physiology Faculty | VinUniversity College of Health Sciences
Mitochondrial-related disease | Metabolic disease | Vascular Calcification | Phosphate toxicity
Vietnam
VNM
BIO STATEMENT: I am Dr. Nhung Thi Nguyen, currently I am a lecturer in Physiology of the College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity. I have spent for more than 5 years doing research in Physiology to discover the potential therapeutic target for several metabolic diseases. My research concentrates on the toxicity high serum phosphate, particularly in the development of vascular calcification in patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD). With the increasing number of CKD patients globally, I believe that my research highly contributes to curing a lot of complications found in these patients. In capstone project, he created a survey to screen for vision-related quality of life in homeless populations. Dr Andersen also spent two months in Botswana with the local leadership team of an eye health organization called Peek Vision, focusing on visual acuity screening for schoolchildren. He hopes to continue to work with organizations locally and internationally to develop interventions to address preventable blindness.
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Huyen Thi Hoa Nguyen, PhD, RN
International Scholar
International Scholar
Associate Professor | VinUniversity College of Health Sciences, Nursing
Mental health | Chronic Diseases | Women's health
Australia | Vietnam
AUS||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Huyen Nguyen has more than 15 years teaching in nursing field. With her research interests in chronic diseases, mental health and women's health, she has joined a number of national and international research projects. Currently, Dr Huyen is working as a nurse researcher and lecturer at VinUniversity, Vietnam. While joining in teaching nursing students, Dr Huyen has obtained a couple of internal and external research grants to conduct projects about mental health status of women after birth and of nurses working at frontline against Covid-19.
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Edwin Nieblas-Bedolla MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
MD Candidate | University of Washington
Epidemiology | Medical anthropology | Immigrant health | Health Disparities | Medical Education | Neurological Surgery
Guatemala | Mexico
GTM||MEX
BIO STATEMENT: Edwin Nieblas-Bedolla is a medical student at the University of Washington. He is originally from Mexico. He completed undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona before pursuing graduate studies in public health at the University of Pennsylvania. He hopes to facilitate access to neurosurgical care for medically underserved communities and contribute to scientific scholarship aimed at improving overall patient care. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet, Nature Medicine, Neurosurgery, and others. His current academic interests include global neurosurgery, neuro-oncology, health disparities, and medical education.
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Abass M. Noor, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Director, of Global Radiology Outreach & Education, CHOP | Director, Health Equity Leadership Track Radiology Residency, University of Pennsylvania
International Medical Education | Health Equity | Health Disparities | Diagnostic Imaging | Medical Education
Botswana | Ethiopia | Nepal
BWA||ETH||NPL
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Noor is an attending physician in the Departments of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He completed his undergraduate education at Macalester College (St. Paul, MN) and received his medical degree from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University (Providence, RI). Given his experiences as a refugee from Somalia, Dr. Noor has long held a passion for working toward a more equitable future for low and middle income countries (LMICs). His current interests are primarily in medical education and in implementing sustainable radiology services in resource-limited areas of the world.
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Joseph Nwadiuko, MD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | University of Pennsylvania
Refugee health | Health Systems Strengthening
Mexico | South Africa | United States
MEX||ZAF||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Joseph Nwadiuko is a General Internal Medicine Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Having worked in 8 nations, his broad interest is in the intersection of global health systems, physician and patient migration, and behavioral economics. He has been published in JAMA, The Lancet, spoken at the State Department and USAID, and is an consultant for the World Bank Migration and Remittances Unit. His career goals involve academic service and health system strengthening in a LMIC context. He completed a MPH and his residency at Johns Hopkins, an MD at the University of Pittsburgh, and his BA at Amherst College.
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Obadia Venance Nyongole, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Instructor of Medicine - Infectious Disease | University of Pennsylvania
Health Systems Strengthening | Medical Education | Genitourinary Oncology
Tanzania, United Republic of
TZA
BIO STATEMENT: For the past fifteen years, my research focus has been on the delineation of dynamics of health systems, Medical education, surgical and urological conditions, developing evidence-based guidelines on improving quality of health services, prevention and control strategies. I have provided technical expertise and leadership roles in various programs/projects in Tanzania, and governance and implementation frameworks were fostered. I have worked and led teams to develop guidelines for clinical teaching. I have conducted a number of researches in health sciences.
Am the Acting Director of Quality Assurance at the University.
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Kevin Osterhoudt, MD, MSCE, FAAP, FAACT, FACMT
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Medical Director | The Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Pediatrics | Environmental health | International Medical Education
United States
USA
BIO STATEMENT: As one of only 21 medical toxicologists certified by the American Board of Pediatrics since 2001, and as a former member of the Executive Committee of the AAP Council on Environmental Health, Dr. Osterhoudt is deeply committed to the environmental health of children worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that 26% of pediatric deaths are attributable to modifiable environmental factors. Having been recognized with hospital, university, and national teaching awards, Dr. Osterhoudt is also engaged in international medical education and pediatric care systems development.
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Hansel J. Otero, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Director of International Pediatric Radiology Education and Outreach | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Pediatric Radiology | International Medical Education
Ethiopia | Botswana | Malawi | Argentina | Peru
ETH||BWA||MWI||ARG||PER
BIO STATEMENT:Currently, I serve as the director of global education of outreach for the radiology department at CHOP and the Outreach lead of the World Federation of Pediatric Imaging and coordinate additional educational projects and teleradiology services for partners throughout the world. As a pediatric radiologist, I have also participated in educational pediatric radiology projects in Haiti, Ghana and Ethiopia among others. In the past, I practiced medicine in Venezuela and later as an emergency response physician with Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Liberia, Sudan, Angola, Pakistan and Yemen from 2002 to 2009.
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Alex Oyengo Otieno, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice | Arcadia University
Health and human rights | Sustainability | Policy | Teaching | Peace and Conflict
Botswana | Kenya | South Africa | Nigeria | United States
BWA||KEN||ZAF||NGA||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Alex Oyengo Otieno is an Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Arcadia University. He is interested in global health policy with a focus on health and human rights, sustainable development and peace and security. He is particularly interested in the role of international higher education in contributing to public narrative on global health challenges and the role of storytelling and dialogue on peace-building and conflict transformation with a focus on Africa. His work also draws on and contributes to sustainable social transformation, the intersection of human rights and peace pedagogy and health promotion, intercultural and international communication, embodiment, and Pan-Africanism and regional integration.
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Michael Owens, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Emergency Physician | Naval Medical Center Portsmouth
Public Health | Disaster response | Infectious disease | Emergency Medicine | Medical Education
Angola | Vietnam | United States
AGO||VNM||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Owens is an Emergency Physician at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Director of the Navy’s Global Health Fellowship, and Assistant Professor at the USU and EVMS. He received his MPH from the University of Massachusetts and CEM from IAEM. His is the current Medical Director for the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Medical Response Team. Dr. Owens recent duties include directing multiple workshops and response activities throughout Central America, Pacific, and Africa with a focus on LMIC. He supported the 2014 Ebola epidemic as Medical Coordinator for an ETU in Liberia. His work include multiple publications associated with this work.
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Ellis Owusu-Dabo, MB ChB, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Professor | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Tuberculosis | Infectious disease | Diabetes
Ghana
GHA
BIO STATEMENT: As a scientist, public health consultant, and lecturer, Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo’s expertise is mainly in population genomics of type II diabetes and Tuberculosis in low-income settings. Over the last decade, he has gained extensive experience in teaching and research at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. He has successfully secured funding and led research into genetic and immunologic factors of pulmonary tuberculosis and type II diabetes in collaborative research. As the current Dean of the School of Public Health, Ellis’s passion is in training the next generation of scientist to develop solutions to solve Africa’s problems.
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Giacomo Maria Paganotti, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Malaria | HPV | Breast cancer | Pharmacogenetics
Botswana | Cameroon
BWA||CMR
BIO STATEMENT: My role in Botswana is to lead the Botswana-UPenn Partnership molecular laboratory (2014 to date). The main stakeholders are faculties and students from the local University of Botswana (Health Sciences, Biology, Medicine). In addition, we have collaborations with Penn, University of South Carolina, Duke University, McMaster University, the University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy) and many African institutions (in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Sudan, etc).
While by background I am a malariologist, because of the health issues here, I have expanded my interests on pharmacogenetics of anti-infective treatments but also breast cancer, HPV, and other related fields, including HIV.
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Alejandra Paniagua-Avila, MD, MPH
International Scholar
International Scholar
Adjunct Fellow | Center for Public Health Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania
Implementation research | Community health | Non-communicable disease
Guatemala
GTM
BIO STATEMENT: Alejandra is the Research Director and an investigator at FUNSALUD, an NGO focused on providing primary healthcare, conducting public health research and building local capacity for research. Alejandra is interested in identifying determinants across the life course to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases. She is passionate about implementing culturally-appropriate and evidence-based interventions that reach the most under-served communities of Central America. Alejandra received an MPH from the University of Pennsylvania as a Fogarty International Center Trainee and a Medical Degree from Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala.
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Brianna E. Parsons VMD, MSEd
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Lecturer in Sustainable Agriculture | School of Veterinary Medicine - New Bolton Center
Maternal and Child Nutrition | Environmental and Planetary Health | Social Entrepreneurship
Gambia | Botswana
GMB||BWA
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Jennifer Prah, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Health Equity, Economics, and Policy | University of Pennsylvania
Health and human rights | Healthcare Access | Governance | Social determinants of health | Healthcare Financing | Healthcare Policy
India | Ghana | Indonesia | Malawi | Morocco | United States | Korea, Republic of | South Africa | Vietnam | Senegal
IND||GHA||IDN||MWI||MAR||USA||KOR||ZAF||VNM||SEN
BIO STATEMENT: Jennifer Prah is a leading scholar of global and domestic health policy and public health. She conducts theoretical and empirical studies of health equity to reduce global and national health inequities with a focus on the most impoverished populations worldwide, especially women and children. Dr. Prah’s scholarship has scrutinized the existing global health architecture to identify more effective global health policy responses linking public policy and law to global health theory at global and national levels. Her research is conducted internationally and nationally, including in Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, South Korea, South Africa, United States and Vietnam.
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Madiha Raees, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Malaria | Pediatrics | Brain Injury | Neurocritical Care | Implementation Science
Malawi
MWI
BIO:Madiha Raees, MD joined the Division of Critical Care Medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as an attending physician and clinical instructor in summer 2021. Outside of her clinical work in pediatric intensive care unit, she has a deep interest in optimizing healthcare provision for children in variably resourced regions. She is currently studying proposed biomarkers of brain injury in the cerebral malaria population as potential surrogates for advanced imaging and predictors of neurological outcome. Her work is based in Blantyre, Malawi and she works closely with the Blantyre Malaria Project.
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Jesse M. Raiten, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Critical Care | University of Pennsylvania
Anesthesiology and Critical Care | Quality Improvement
Malaysia | Nepal | Rwanda
MYS||NPL||RWA
BIO STATEMENT: My work in global health focuses on educational development and capacity building in anesthesiology and critical care in Africa and Asia, most recently in Rwanda, Nepal and Malaysia. I strive to collaborate with local physicians and health care providers to improve quality of care and operational flow in the operating rooms and intensive care units, develop quality assurance programs, as well as assist with locally conducted clinical research.
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Aaron Richterman, MD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Instructor of Medicine - Infectious Disease | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Tuberculosis | Social protection | Poverty Reduction
Haiti
HTI
BIO STATEMENT: Aaron Richterman, MD, MPH is a physician-scientist specializing in infectious diseases, and an Instructor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and went on to complete the Howard Hiatt Residency in Global Health Equity and Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where his clinical and research focus was on HIV, tuberculosis, and cholera in rural Haiti. He is interested in the relationship between poverty, food security, individual and population outcomes for infectious diseases, and the use of the social safety nets to improve these outcomes.
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Kelsey Johnson Ripp, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Assistant Professor, Clinical Medicine & One Health | University of Global Health Equity
International Medical Education | Health Equity | Medical Education | One Health | Planetary Health | Point of Care Ultrasound
Rwanda
RWA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Ripp is an assistant professor in the Divisions of Clinical Medicine and One Health at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda, as well as a hospitalist in the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Alaska. At UGHE, she leads the One Health/Planetary Health integration in the MBBS curriculum, co-directs the Internal Medicine clerkship, and is developing an integrated POCUS curriculum. She graduated from the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, followed by Med-Peds residency at UPenn/CHOP. She continues to be engaged in teaching Penn residents and students and facilitating collaboration between Penn residents and medical students at UGHE related to global medical education.
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Michael N. Rubenstein, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology | University of Pennsylvania
Low-resource Settings | Medical Education | Neurology
Tanzania, United Republic of | United States
TZA||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Michael Rubenstein has traveled to Northern Tanzania twice annually for the last decade to provide neurological education to community caregivers at a rural clinic as well as to provide care to neurological patients in the district of Karatu, Tanzania. He has worked with the Foundation for African Medicine and Education (FAME), a non-profit, NGO that provides healthcare to this region of Northern Tanzania. He currently brings four residents and a medical student from Penn/CHOP for each trip of a month in the spring and fall.
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Megan Rybarczyk, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine
Education | Emergency Care Systems | Development
Pakistan | Bangladesh
PAK||BGD
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Megan Rybarczyk, MD, MPH is working to develop Global Emergency Medicine programming for residents, fellows, and faculty within the Department of Emergency Medicine at Penn Medicine, where she is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine. Throughout her career, her work in Global Emergency Medicine has involved research, education, clinical care, and/or disaster response in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Uganda. Her work is focused primarily on education and training as well as emergency care systems development.
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Felipe Salgado Gil, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
PhD Student & Ophthalmology Resident | University of Chile
Public Health | Implementation Science | Artificial Intelligence | Ophthalmology
Chile
CHL
BIO STATEMENT: Ph.D. in Medical Sciences student and Ophthalmology Resident at University of Chile. I was a student assistant in Surgery for 4 years under the tutorship of Dr. Stefan Danilla. Along with Dr. Marlene Vogel, I conducted studies on thyroid eye disease at University of Chile’s Clinical Hospital. Currently, I am a basic and clinical researcher at Laboratory of Ocular and Systemic Autoimmune Diseases, whose principal investigator is Dr. Cristhian Urzúa. In this laboratory, I have focused on uveitis biomarkers and artificial intelligence for AMD screening. I have presented this research at national and international high-impact congresses and journals.
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Julia R. Schiff, MD,MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Infectious disease | Environmental health | Medical Education | Humanitarian Emergencies
United States | Ghana | Pakistan
USA||GHA||PAK
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Julia Schiff is an Internal Medicine physician and current Emergency Medicine resident at the University of Pennsylvania and has an MPH in Global Health. Her interests include the intersections of complex humanitarian emergencies, climate change/natural disasters, and the impact on human health including infectious diseases and trauma burden. She has been involved in projects, clinical care, and educational endeavors related to refugee/immigrant health, HIV/TB/tropical medicine, wilderness, and culturally competent care strategies. She is additionally engaged in educational activities and the creation of materials related to the development of and training for global medical health systems.
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Enrique Schisterman, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics | University of Pennsylvania
Epidemiology | Public Health | Reproductive health | Clinical Trials | Low Cost Interventions | Screening
Chile
CHL
BIO STATEMENT: I am Chair of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania, and the editor in chief of the American Journal of Epidemiology. My focus is reproductive epidemiology and epidemiological methods working to improve study designs; to fuel new methods; and to solve analytical challenges in reproductive health. I am especially interested in the methodological components of exposure assessment, causal inference, and the etiologic study of reproduction. Previously I was the Senior Investigator and Epidemiology Branch Chief of the Division of Intramural Population Health Research National Institute of Child Health & Human Development at NIH.
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Heather Schofield, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor, Medical Ethics and Health Policy | University of Pennsylvania
Social determinants of health | Health economics | Nutrition | Sleep
India | Bangladesh
IND||BGD
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Schofield is an economist studying development, health, and behavioral economics. Two primary ongoing areas of research include the role of health human capital (nutrition, pain management, adequate sleep) in economic productivity, cognitive function, and decision-making and the role of financial and social incentives in promoting healthy behaviors. Dr. Schofield completed her Ph.D. in Business Economics, MS in Global Health and Population, and BA in Economics at Harvard University.
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Alex Shpenev, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Postdoctoral Fellow | Populations Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Social determinants of health | Non-communicable disease | Socioeconomic Inequality | Health Behavior | Social Networks
India | Russian Federation | United States
IND||RUS||USA
BIO STATEMENT: A demographer and sociologist with a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Statistics from the Wharton School, Dr. Shpenev teaches the MBDS elective Statistical Reasoning for Behavioral Science. Since coming to Penn, his interests have included understanding the educational gradient in health and mortality, specifically at the intersection with the sociology of the family and social networks. As a Postdoctoral Fellow in PennSoNG, Dr. Shpenev investigates how social norms and social networks are linked to latrine use and better sanitation practices in India.
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Lawrence Shulman, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
Global Oncology | Delivery infrastructure | Implementation research
Botswana | Greece | Haiti | Rwanda
BWA||GRC||HTI||RWA
BIO STATEMENT: I am Deputy Director for Clinical Services, and Director, Center for Global Cancer Medicine in the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn. I am a practicing medical oncologist with a specialization in breast cancer. I have worked with Paul Farmer's organization, Partners In Health, in Rwanda and Haiti since 2011, helping to lead the establishment of cancer programs at both sites. Since coming to Penn I have engaged in similar work in Botswana. I have also worked with WHO to update the Essential Medicines List for Cancer. I serve on the International Affairs Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
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Zarrin Seema Sididqui, MD, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
MD Program Director | College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity
Mental health | Women's health
Australia | Pakistan | Vietnam
AUS||PAK||VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Siddiqui is leading the MD Program at VinUniversity. She is a Psychiatrist with a PhD in Medical Education. Her career started as a medical educator at the WHO Collaborating Centre in the EMRO region followed by British Council and AusAID Fellowships. Before joining VinUniversity, she worked as assessment lead at the University of western Australia for 16 years. Dr. Siddiqui has received numerous awards/nominations for Excellence in teaching and supervision. Her two projects were shortlisted for Ronald Harden Innovation in Medical Education (RHIME) internationally. As a Board member of Multicultural services Centre of Western Australia and President of Pakistanis in Australia group, she has been working in the areas of migrant health and support. Her research focuses on planning, development and implementation of global health programs with a focus on mental health.
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Ian S. Soriano FACS, FASMBS, FPALES
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery | University of California San Francisco, ACS-NSQIP Surgeon Champion and APP Lead Physician at UCSF-Parnassus
Laparoscopic Surgery | Robotic Surgery
Philippines
PHL
BIO STATEMENT: I completed medical school in the Philippines and migrated to the US in 2000. After surgical residency and fellowship, I have collaborated with surgeons in the Philippines and Southeast Asia on education and training in laparoscopic and robotic surgery for the past 12 years. My joint appointment at the University of the Philippines since 2012 allowed me to participate in educational, clinical, and research projects at the university and affiliated Philippine General Hospital.
More recently, my advocacy for a partnership between UPenn and UP Manila resulted in a formal agreement that encompasses clinical, research and other scholarly activities.
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Juan Manuel Sotelo, MD, PhD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
PAHO/WHO Representative in Mexico.
Strategic Planning | Resource Mobilization | Universal Health | Multilateral and Bilateral Technical Cooperation
Argentina | Barbados | Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | Brazil | Chile | El Salvador | Guatemala | Honduras | Mexico | Tunisia
ARG||BRB||BOL||BRA||CHL||SLV||GTM||HND||MEX||TUN
BIO STATEMENT:Juan Manuel Sotelo is a senior international public health professional who has devoted his career to promoting equity, development, and universal health. An experienced director of national and cross-national programs throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean, he has overseen the political, technical, and managerial aspects of PAHO/WHO operations in Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. He held similar directorships for the Eastern Caribbean and recently completed an assignment to coordinate the PAHO/WHO eight-country Sub-Regional Program for Central America. He has been head of the Department of External Relations, Resource Mobilization, and Partnerships. He has an MD, Ph.D., MPH.
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David A. Spiegel, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Professor of Orthopedic Surgery | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Global Surgery | Orthopedics | Pediatrics
Iraq | Pakistan | Nepal
IRQ||PAK||NPL
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Spiegel has been active in surgical care in LMICs for > 20 years, mainly in Nepal at the Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children. He is also an honorary professor at the University of Basra In Basra, Iraq. He has served on national committees (POSNA, AAOS) concerning service/teaching in LMICs. He served as a consultant for WHO in Mongolia/Somalia, was on the steering committee for the WHO’s Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care, and has delivered more than 300 lectures including Nepal, Iran, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Tanzania, Mongolia and Somalia. He has also co-edited a textbook “Global Orthopaedics: Caring for Musculoskeletal Conditions and Injuries in Austere Settings”. He has been the recipient of five 5 national/international humanitarian awards.
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Lucía Isabel Stavig, PhD, MS, MA
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Latin American and Latin Studies | University of Pennsylvania
Women's health | Reproductive Justice | Indigenous Health
Peru
PER
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Lucía Isabel Stavig
Postdoctoral Fellow “Dispossessions in the America" in CLALS
I am broadly interested in Indigenous health, reproductive health policy, reproductive justice, and Indigenous futures. Currently, I am involved in the rehabilitation of Mosoq Pakari Sumac Kawsay/A New Dawn for Good Living, an Indigenous women-run healing center outside Cusco, Perú, that serves Quechua women who were forcibly sterilized in the 1990s. I am a member of three international research and legal teams supporting the efforts of sterilized Indigenous women in Peru, Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Indonesia to seek justice and reparations in health.
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Andrew P. Steenhoff, MBBCh, DCH
Scholar
Scholar
Medical Director, Global Health | Attending Physician, Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital | Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Tuberculosis | Pediatrics | Partnerships | Global Child Health'
Botswana | Dominican Republic | Cameroon | Ghana | South Africa
BWA||DOM||CMR||GHA||ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Andrew Steenhoff MBBCh, FAAP trained at the Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. After completing pediatric residencies at Chris-Hani Baragwanath Hospital & Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, he did Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), then was based in Botswana for 7.5 years as Associate Country Director & Research Director, Botswana-UPenn Partnership. In 7/2015, he was appointed Medical Director of CHOP’s Global Health Center. Andrew combines clinical, public health and research skills to improve pediatric outcomes in low and middle-income countries. His research focuses on pediatric infectious diseases with a particular interest in tuberculosis, HIV, pneumonia and gastroenteritis. Andrew is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. He teaches and mentors students, residents and fellows in Botswana, the Dominican Republic and Philadelphia. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UPenn, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Botswana, and a member of the American Board of Pediatrics Global Health Task Force.
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Boris Striepen, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Mark Whittier and Lila Griswold Allam Professor of Microbiology and Immunology | University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
Tropical diseases | OneHealth | Diarrheal disease | Malnutrition
United States
USA
BIO STATEMENT:Boris grew up in Ruhrort where the German rivers Rhine and Ruhr meet, an industrial area then dominated by coal and steel. He studied biology at the universities of Bonn and Marburg and conducted undergrad research on liver flukes in Bonn and Nagana in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Boris earned a PhD summa cum laude for work on parasite biochemistry with Ralph Schwarz, was a postdoc with David Roos studying parasite cell biology, prior to starting his laboratory at the Center for Tropical & Emerging Global Diseases at the University of Georgia in 2000, where he last was a Distinguished Research Professor. In 2017 he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Boris studies the cell and molecular biology of apicomplexan parasites. His current research focus is the parasite Cryptosporidium, a leading global cause of diarrhea and mortality in young children. His lab pioneered molecular genetics for this important infection and leads a range of interdisciplinary efforts to understand fundamental parasite biology and to advance translation towards drugs and vaccines. Boris is also engaged in education and training. He taught undergraduate and graduate classes, directed NIH training grant programs in parasitology, and served as faculty and director of the Biology of Parasitism summer research course at the Marine Biology Laboratories in Woods Hole, MA. Boris is married to a social worker with remarkable patience for scientists and has three children, two are scientists – all are awesome.
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Tausi Suedi, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Adjunct Professor of Global Health | Towson University
Maternal Child Health | Community health | Reproductive health | Adolescent health | Child Health
Rwanda | Somalia | Tanzania, United Republic of | Uganda
RWA||SOM||TZA||UGA
BIO STATEMENT: Ms. Tausi Suedi is a passionate, culturally diverse, multilingual, and experienced global public health leader with more than 15 years of global health experience. Her focus areas in global health are rooted in purposeful and collaborative efforts to improve and strengthen quality of health services, resources, and information provided and delivered to benefit women, newborns, children, adolescents/youth, and the elderly in marginalized communities. Professor Suedi launched and teaches global health at Towson University. She believes global health challenges can be resolved through social status elevation of women and girls, political will, practical leadership, and incorporating health in all policies.
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Rachel Laadi Sulla, MBChB
International Scholar
International Scholar
Medical Doctor, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Mental health | Infectious disease | Non-communicable disease | Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health
Ghana
GHA
BIO STATEMENT: Rachel Laadi Sulla, a Ghanaian medical doctor, has vast experience in both rural and urban healthcare settings. In October 2022, she led a team that screened and educated over 200 women for breast cancer in Ghana's Bono region. Rachel currently works at KNUST-IVI Collaborative Center on a multinational multi-center study focusing on the epidemiological and economic impact of typhoid in Africa. Rachel also attended the Implementation Science course hosted by the Penn Implementation Science Institute and will be using the skills acquired to conduct research that will contribute to improved health outcomes for individuals living with NCDs in LMICs.
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Bruno Fokas Sunguya, MD, MSc, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Consultancy
HIV/AIDS | Maternal Child Health | Non-communicable disease | Nutrition
Tanzania, United Republic of
TZA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Sunguya is an Associate Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Consultancy at MUHAS, Visiting Associate Professor (Kumamoto University Japan), and Honorary Senior Fellow (Oxford University). His research areas include Nutrition, Adolescent, Maternal and Child Health, and HIV/AIDS, conducted and disseminated widely in more than 100 papers, and book chapters. He serves as an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and BMC nutrition journal; a member of number of national committees; the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group-Subgroup on Diet and Health; and a contact person for research and consultancy for MUHAS
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JaBaris Demond Swain, MD, MPH
Scholar
Scholar
Clinical Associate Surgeon
Public Health | Global Surgery | Cardiothoracic Surgery
Haiti | Rwanda
HTI||RWA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Swain is a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon-scientist and global health scholar with a dedicated focus on humanitarian cardiac surgery, cardiology education and global public health. His work focuses exclusively on augmenting access to clinical education and care delivery for cardiovascular diseases within resource-limited settings such as Rwanda and Haiti. He has lived in these areas and provided support to a number of projects designed to strengthen health care infrastructures for critically vulnerable populations in resource constrained settings as well as participated in the provision of surgery and critical care to patients in these regions.
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Jordan W. Swanson, MD, MSc
Scholar
Scholar
Linton Whitaker Endowed Chair of Craniofacial Surgery | Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Global Surgery | Evidence-based Practices | Human-Centered Program Design
Guatemala | Honduras | Indonesia | Nicaragua | Madagascar | Jordan | Paraguay | Philippines
GTM||HND||IDN||NIC||MDG||JOR||PRY||PHL
BIO STATEMENT: My innovation and research initiatives are focused principally on how surgical care can be better adapted to low-resource settings, through design of clinical devices and techniques, locally-driven leadership and team capability strengthening, and reorienting care pathways appropriate to local contexts and resources. I previously worked and lived in Nicaragua, collaborating with Operation Smile and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health to build a joint Comprehensive Cleft and Craniofacial program, and am the primary investigator of the Cirugia Para el Pueblo (Surgery for the People) pilot program to advance the access to and impact of rural surgical care in Nicaragua.
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Jessica Taaffe, PhD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Global Health and Science Consultant
Public Health | OneHealth | HIV/AIDS | Malaria | Tuberculosis | Global Health Security | Capacity-building | global health diplomacy
Azerbaijan | Belarus | Georgia | Moldova, Republic of | Romania | South Africa
AZE||BLR||GEO||MDA||ROU||ZAF
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Jessica Taaffe is on a mission to advance global health through science. A microbiologist by training, her biomedical expertise is in infectious disease, with a focus on HIV and malaria immunopathogenesis in human and non-human primates. After earning her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and post-doctoral work at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Taaffe started her career at the intersect of science and global health. She works with researchers and policymakers alike to evaluate, interpret, communicate, and apply scientific evidence in global health programs and policy. She has done so on diverse projects and topics, including HIV implementation science, social protection programs, global health advocacy, and building research capacity. Her work has included projects in sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and with government, academia, and non-governmental and multilateral organizations such as WHO, UNAIDS, and World Bank. In 2016, Dr. Taaffe served as a Scientific Program Planning Committee Member for the 2016 International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.
Dr. Taaffe is also passionate about strengthening the scientific community’s voice on public platforms. She uses social media to share her opinions on science and global health and has been featured in podcasts like The Circus Life and Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria. She was a science correspondent and host of the YouTube show This Week in Global Health. Her opinion pieces have been published in leading science and health media outlets such as PLoS Blogs and Global Health Now. Dr. Taaffe has also given seminars and guest lectures on global health topics at local universities, including University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, and Virginia Tech. She was named among 100 Women Leaders in Global Health in 2014 by The Graduate Institute Geneva and is currently an IF/THEN Ambassador, serving as a Women in STEM role model for girls.
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Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology | VinUniversity College of Health Sciences
Epidemiology | Malaria | Infectious disease | Immunology | Dengue | Antimicrobial Resistance | Infection Control & Prevention | Arboviruses | mosquito-transmitted diseases
Australia | Bangladesh | Ethiopia | India | Indonesia | Iraq | Nepal | Malaysia | Nigeria | Pakistan | Philippines | Sri Lanka | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Vietnam
AUS||BGD||ETH||IND||IDN||IRQ||NPL||MYS||NGA||PAK||PHL||LKA||GBR||VNM
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Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Non-communicable disease | Health economics | Nutrition
India | Kenya | Uganda | Zimbabwe
IND||KEN||UGA||ZWE
BIO STATEMENT: Professor Thirumurthy’s interests lie at the intersection of economics and public health. His research seeks to design and evaluate interventions to promote health behaviors in low-income settings, particularly eastern and southern Africa. His work has focused on medication adherence, HIV prevention and treatment, and behaviors related to maternal and child health. He has led several randomized trials of interventions to promote takeup and use of health services and technologies. His research has also assessed impacts of large-scale health initiatives such as PEPFAR and the President’s Malaria Initiative. Currently he is leading projects in India, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
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Agin G. Thomas, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | University of Pennsylvania
Mental health | Wellness Programs
United States
USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Agin Thomas is currently a fourth year chief resident in the Penn Department of Psychiatry. He is interested in exploring global mental health initiatives and establishing programs that would allow other trainees to address the global mental health crisis. Dr Thomas has a strong interest in wellness, as well. He is the co-founder of Penn’s Psychiatry Residency Wellness Committee, co-facilitator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course at Penn CAPS for Penn undergraduate and graduate students, and a certified yoga instructor. Dr Thomas is a captain in the United States Air Force and will be an active duty psychiatrist in July 2020.
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Duong Thi Bich Thuan
International Scholar
International Scholar
Senior Lecturer, Biochemistry | VinUniversity College of Health Sciences
Global Cardiovascular Disease | Cancer epidemiology | Oxidative Stress | Herbal Medicine
Vietnam
VNM
BIO STATEMENT: Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Biochemistry, College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Hanoi Vietnam
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Sarah A. Tishkoff, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Director, Center for Global Genomics and Health | David and Lyn Silfen University Professor
Genomics | Population Genetics
Ethiopia | Kenya | Tanzania, United Republic of | Botswana | Cameroon
ETH||KEN||TZA||BWA||CMR
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Uamunovandu Tjinjeka, MD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Lecturer | University of Botswana, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery
craniosynostosis | Pediatric Plastic Surgery | Cleft Palate & Lip
Botswana
BWA
Bio:A cleft lip and palate programme doesn't exist in Botswana. Children born with these conditions go untreated or rely on humanitarian surgeons for help, which is often discontinuous and insufficient. As Botswana's first plastic and reconstructive surgeon, I'm compelled to start a comprehensive cleft unit. Given the magnitude of this problem, it is an issue I cannot address alone. Therefore, I wish to collaborate with well-established programs. Through the Penn CGH, I can connect and learn from global surgery experts as I work toward setting up a cleft care unit for children in Botswana and the rest of Africa.
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Maurizio Trevisan MD, MS
International Scholar
International Scholar
Dean of Health Sciences | VinUniversity
Epidemiology | Chronic Diseases | Disease Prevention
Vietnam | United States
VNM||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr Maurizio Trevisan is the Dean of Health Sciences at VinUniversity. He is a cardiovascular disease epidemiologist interested in ways to prevent CVD through changes in life style habits. He has been engaged in a number of international epidemiological collaborative studies. In his current position in Vietnam, he is focused on Chronic Disease prevention in a country in transition with a significant shift in the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. As a researcher, he has authored more than 250 publications, which have appeared in such high-impact journals as the "Journal of the American Medical Association," "Annals of Internal Medicine" and "The New England Journal of Medicine." He has extensive experience directing and conducting multi-center and international collaborative studies, as well.
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Cesar Ugarte-Gil, MD, MSc, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Assistant Professor | Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
HIV/AIDS | Tuberculosis | Tropical Medicine | COVID-19
Peru
PER
BIO STATEMENT: In the last 15 years, after finishing medical school at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), I worked in Tuberculosis (TB) research, participating at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Alexander von Humboldt (IMTAvH) at the UPCH in several TB diagnostic and epidemiological studies. I hold a MSc in Epidemiology from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Global Diseases Epidemiology and Control from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. My main research interests in Tuberculosis are non-communicable comorbidities (including diabetes mellitus and depression) and diagnostic trials. Other research interests include HIV/AIDS, tropical diseases and COVID-19.
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Amelia Van Pelt, PhD, MPH
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Postdoctoral Fellow in Implementation Science | Northwestern University
Epidemiology | Infectious disease | Vaccines | Low-resource Settings
United States | Nigeria | Zambia
USA||NGA||ZMB
BIO STATEMENT: Amelia E. Van Pelt, Ph.D., MPH, is a postdoctoral fellow in Implementation Science at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. She holds additional appointments as an Associate Scholar in the Penn Center for Global Health and at the Center for Public Health Initiatives.
Dr. Van Pelt holds a BA in Spanish & Global Health, Culture, and Society, a certificate in Leadership, and an MPH in Global Health from Emory University as well as a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.
She has experience in research and applied work in Latin America and Africa, as well as surveillance on a global scale. Her skills extend from laboratory sciences to statistical analyses, and she has collaborated with interdisciplinary teams in academic, government, and not-for-profit organizations. Her research interests include global health, infectious diseases, and outbreak response. She is building a research program at the intersection of epidemiology and implementation science in resource-limited settings. Specifically, she aims to collaborate with stakeholders to increase the uptake of evidence-based practices for infectious diseases in humanitarian emergencies.
Amelia was selected as the 2021 recipient of the Penn GGEB Tom TenHave Student Leadership Award. Amelia was recognized for her exceptional contributions to the leadership of the graduate program and the local and international community. Amelia was one of five trainees awarded The Distinguished Research Trainee Award
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Laura Vanderbloemen, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Assistant Professor | VinUniversity College of Health Sciences
Refugee health | Mental health | Child Health | Healthy and Active Ageingg
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | United States
GBR||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Dr Laura Vanderbloemen is Assistant Professor in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) at VinUniversity in Vietnam. She is co-PI for the VinCohort Study, in partnership with Vinmec Healthcare. She leads the Epidemiology and Research Methods courses for the CHS.
Before joining the Faculty she led Imperial College London’s Research Design team via a collaborative project led by King’s College
London, in partnership with Imperial, UCL and Queen Mary University of London, providing study design guidance to National Health Service (NHS) staff, scientists, and health technology companies focused on improving patient and public health through applied health research
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Angel Velarde Lopez, MD, MSCE
International Scholar
International Scholar
Department Director of Research | Liga Nacional Contra el Cáncer
Epidemiology | Global Oncology
Guatemala
GTM
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Velarde’s medical expertise areas include epidemiology, statistics, pneumonia, and vitamin D. He received his medical degree from University of San Carlos School of Medicine. Through a scholarship from the NIH, he received a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania where he was mentored by Dr. Brian L. Strom. He has worked for AbbVie and assisted in presenting the AbbVie’s pipeline drugs protocols for phase 1- 3 studies. He also working with infectious diseases and cancer, and is the Department Director of Research at Liga Nacional Contra el Cáncer in Guatemala.
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Rohit Verma, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Provost | VinUniversity
Quality Improvement | Healthcare Delivery | Patient Experience | Wellness Programs
Vietnam | United States
VNM||USA
BIO STATEMENT: Professor Rohit Verma is the Provost of VinUniversity and Dean of External Relations and Singapore Tourism Board Distinguished Professor at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University. Throughout his career, Professor Verma has led several major research centers and programs, including serving as the Founding Executive Director, Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures; and Executive Director, Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. In addition to Cornell University, Professor Verma has taught at major universities around the world including University of Sydney, Norwegian School of Logistics, Korea University, Indian School of Business, University of Utah and DePaul University.
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Aasith Villavicencio Paz, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Infectious Disease Fellow | University of Pennsylvania
Refugee health | Immigrant health | Women's health | Vaccine-preventable disease
Peru
PER
BIO STATEMENT: Aasith Villavicencio, MD, is a first-year Infectious Disease fellow at UPenn. Dr. Villavicencio attended Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) in Peru for undergrad and medical school including rotations at the Alexander von Humboldt Tropical Medicine Institute. She later became a postdoctoral research fellow at UPCH. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Miami. She was selected for the Global Health Pathway residency track and completed the Minnesota-based Global Health course, including ASTMH CTropMed® coursework. Dr. Villavicencio is interested in pursuing a career in global health with a focus on vaccine-preventable diseases, women’s health, and immigrant health care.
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Dillan Villavisanis, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Resident | University of Pennsylvania
Cleft Palate & Lip | Craniofacial Surgery
Botswana
BWA
BIO STATEMENT: Dillan is a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery resident at Penn and Co-Chair of the Young Leadership Board at Smile Train. His previous work has focused on cleft and craniofacial surgery epidemiology in Botswana supported by a grant from the Center for Human Appearance; development of a sustainable ambulatory surgery center in Jinja, Uganda; and cleft community engagement in Mexico City. Dillan completed his MD at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with a Distinction in Global Health and BA at Johns Hopkins University.
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Debra Sevinea Whorms, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Diagnostic Radiology Resident (PGY 5, 2023) | University of Pennsylvania
Health Equity | Medical Education | Oncology | Global Radiology
Rwanda
RWA
BIO STATEMENT: I am a resident in Diagnostic Radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, with focus in Abdominal Imaging. I have long interest in health equity and sustainable health care delivery in low-resource settings, stemming from my upbringing in rural Jamaica.
I hope to build a career in global radiology focused on education outreach and sustainable capacity building in developing countries.
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Douglas J. Wiebe, PhD
Scholar
Scholar
Director, Injury Prevention Center | University of Michigan
Epidemiology | Healthcare Access | Trauma | Emergency Medicine | Injury Prevention
Botswana | Kenya | Poland | Tanzania, United Republic of | Zambia
BWA||KEN||POL||TZA||ZMB
BIO STATEMENT: Dr. Wiebe is a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine within the Medical School, as well as the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. He holds positions on the Executive Committee of the Concussion Center and serves as a lead for the Data and Methods Core within the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention (IFIP).
Dr. Wiebe’s injury prevention research focuses on conducting studies of how places, policies, and locations where people spend time have implications for injury risks and health. His interests include environmental risk factors for injury; methodologic challenges of activity pattern measurement and exposure measurement; and, the impact of daily routines on health-related behavior. He has applied this expertise across a range of injury prevention areas, most notably firearm and concussion injury prevention. Dr. Wiebe also directs a D43 training program funded by the Fogarty International Center to build capacity for trauma epidemiology and injury prevention in Botswana, leads the Ivy League – Big Ten Epidemiology of Concussion Study, and directs the Data Coordinating Center for an NINDS-funded U54 multi-site study of TBI-related neurodegenerative disease. In addition, Dr. Wiebe is a member of the American College of Epidemiology and a past president of SAVIR (Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research), is on the editorial board of Injury Epidemiology, and serves on study sections for the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH, the National Science Foundation, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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Victoria Leigh Williams, MD
Scholar
Scholar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Dermatology | University of Pennsylvania
HIV/AIDS | Healthcare Access | Technology in Low Resource Settings | International Medical Education | Telemedicine | Albinism
Botswana | Tanzania, United Republic of | Nepal | South Africa | Congo, Democratic Republic of the
BWA||TZA||NPL||ZAF||COD
BIO STATEMENT:Dr. Williams is a dermatologist with a broad interest in public health, HIV, neglected tropical diseases, albinism, healthcare access, medical education, and eHealth. She has worked in a variety of global health settings in Central/South America, Africa and Asia since 2008. She worked full-time in Botswana from 2016 – 2018 as the Site Director for Botswana UPenn Partnership’s Dermatology Program and Head of Dermatology at Princess Marina Hospital. From 2018 – 2020 she was an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, Co-Director of the Penn Dermatology Global Health Track and Director of the Botswana UPenn Parnership’s Dermatology Program. Her desire to make a long-term impact on public health has lead to her current position as a Director in Global Regulatory Affairs for Vaccines and Infectious Disease at Merck, where she works on the development of HIV and small molecule antiviral therapeutics. Dr. Williams continues her global health work through clinical, research and educational collaborations and global health organizational roles including Co-Directing the American Academy of Dermatology’s Resident International Grant Program.
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Matthew Winterton, MD
Associate Scholar
Associate Scholar
Resident Physician | University of Pennsylvania
Global Surgery | Healthcare Access | Technology in Low Resource Settings | Orthopedics
Madagascar
MDG
BIO STATEMENT: I am a faculty member as a Lecturer in Foreign Languages at the Penn Language Center, where I founded and have taught Malagasy, the indigenous language of Madagascar, for the past 5 years. Our program has grown to 2 faculty members and about 70 students across 5 classes, spanning Beginning through Advanced Malagasy; we recently had 3 Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellows named from our students. Additionally, I am a resident in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery here at Penn. I am working to bridge the global surgery/orthopedics gap mainly in Africa through technology.
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Jing Zhao, MD, PhD
International Scholar
International Scholar
Chief Attending and Professor, Department of Neurology| Minhang Hospital of Fudan University
Stroke
China
CHN
BIO STATEMENT: I am a neurologist at the Minhang Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University. I am mainly engaged in the acute treatment of stroke. Stroke is still the leading cause of death and disability in China. Ischemic stroke consists of about 80% of the all the stroke victims. While tPA and thromboectomy are available for ischemic stroke, however, thrombolytic therapy rate remains very low, one of the major causes is pre-hospital delay. Such pre-hospital delay is largely due to poor awareness and poor usage of emergency medical system. Because of the language barrier, it is difficult for the Chinese to master FAST, the most commonly used in the United States. To address this, I am working with closely with PSOM's Dr. Renyu Liu, MD, PhD, an outstanding physician scientist to create novel strategies to deal with this global medical problem.
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