Kelsey Johnson Ripp, MD
Associate Scholar
- Assistant Professor, Clinical Medicine & One Health | University of Global Health Equity
- Rwanda
- Health Equity | International Medical Education | Medical Education | One Health | Planetary Health | Point of Care Ultrasound
Languages: English
BIO STATEMENT
Dr. Kelsey 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 with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Alaska. At UGHE, she leads the One Health/Planetary Health integration in the MBBS curriculum, leads the Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum for medical students, co-directs the Internal Medicine clerkship, and teaches in the pediatrics clerkship.
She graduated from the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, followed by a 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. Her interests include rural healthcare, medical education focused on underserved areas, One Health and Planetary Health, and the integration of POCUS teaching in medical education.
Recent Global Health Projects
Point of Care Ultrasound curriculum at UGHE. This is an integrated 6.5 year curriculum that trains students at UGHE in Rwanda to be competent to use POCUS as general practitioners upon graduation.
Development and implementation of an integrated One Health curriculum for medical students at UGHE.
Selected Publications
Villaverde, C., Wong, T., Shimelash, N., McCall, N., & Ripp, K. (2026). Integrated point-of-care ultrasound training in a Rwandan medical school: curriculum development, implementation, and outcomes. BMC medical education, 10.1186/s12909-026-09624-7. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09624-7
Most recent accepted: Bayisenge U, Ripp K, Bekele A and Henley P. Why and How a University in Rwanda is Training its Medical Students in One Health. Nature Communications. Dec 2022. Accepted.
Most recent published: Hooft A, Ripp K, Ndenga B, Mutuku F, Vu D, Baltzell K, Masese LN, Vulule J, Mukoko D and LaBeaud AD. Principles, practices and knowledge of clinicians when assessing febrile children: a qualitative study in Kenya. Malar J. 2017. 16:381. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28931399/
Last Updated: 27 July 2026