About Us

Bio

Dr. Coleen Sabatini is dedicated to caring for children with musculoskeletal problems both domestically and abroad, and believes that all children should have access to high quality, safe, and affordable orthopaedic care. She is a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon based at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (BCHO) in Oakland, California. She serves as the Vice Chair of Health Equity and Academic Affairs for the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and co-Director of the UCSF Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA). Her global surgery work is primarily based in Uganda, where she has been working since 2013 and is based on collaborative work to strengthen musculoskeletal care through education and research.

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Fred currently works at the faculty of Health Sciences, Busitema University. He does research in Anesthesia and anesthetic techniques, anesthesia human resource and education and surgical outcomes research. His current projects include the Global Anesthesia Workforce Study. In 2017, with support from WFSA, Fred joined the UCSF team in San Francisco to complete training in medical education and simulation. Fred has led the creation of a simulation and skills lab at Busitema University, Mbale, Uganda.

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Dr. Josephine Czechowicz, MD is a Pediatric Otolaryngologist at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Her global health work is focused on hearing outcomes, education and health equity. She has collaborated with partners in Peru, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Chile and Equatorial Guinea, as well as locally in Oakland. She represents the Department of Otolaryngology for the UCSF Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia and is a Faculty Affiliate of the Institute for Global Health Sciences. She is the Otolaryngology representative on the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on International Child Health. She is also a member of the International Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Initiative.

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Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA is an assistant professor in the department of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his DO degree from Touro University of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, CA and completed neurosurgery residency at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA. He completed a research fellowship in minimally invasive spine surgery and a clinical fellowship in neurotrauma and neurocritical care, both at UCSF. His clinical interests include traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and minimally invasive spine surgery. During residency, he developed an interest in healthcare socioeconomics and policy, obtaining his master’s in Health Administration from LSU. He has served as a healthcare policy fellow in the US Senate and as a delegate to the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies representing California as well as a delegate to the California Medical Association representing San Francisco and Marin.

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Dr. Odi Ehie, MD is a pediatric anesthesiologist whose interests include Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Global Health, as well as Education. A UCSF Teachers Scholar, she started a diversity curriculum for the surgery and anesthesia residents, and has held a teaching position as a UCSF Bridges coach over the past four years for the School of Medicine. She is the co-lead of the CHESA Research Working Group, a member of the Society of Pediatric Anesthesia Women's Empowerment and Leadership Initiative and serves as site co-director in Vietnam for the Health Volunteer Overseas / Society of Education in Anesthesia (SEA) Travel Fellowship; Designee Chair of the SEA Global Health Outreach Committee; on the SEA Diversity Task Force; on the ASA Committee for Professional Diversity; as Chair for the California Society of Anesthesiologists Committee of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She was recently appointed Vice-Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Services.

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Dr. Phyllis Kisa was born and raised in Uganda. She completed medical school at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. She then worked as an intern doctor and as a medical officer (general doctor) in the surgical department at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor, Uganda. Following this, she got her MMED in General surgery from Makerere University and Fellowship in General Surgery of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa. Soon after, started a pediatric surgical fellowship training with the College of Surgeon of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA), a hybrid training with part in Uganda and 18 months (2014-mid-2015) at BC children’s hospital in Vancouver, Canada in pediatric general surgery and pediatric urology. She returned to BC Children’s hospital in 2018 to complete a formal clinical fellowship in pediatric urology becoming their first clinical fellow. She returned home to Uganda where she is working as a pediatric surgeon and the first fellowship-trained pediatric urologist. She is a lecturer in pediatric surgery at Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda. She has a strong interest in research, particularly research into perioperative nutrition, which was the focus of her M. Med thesis research (“Nutritional Status and Short-Term Outcome Among Children Presenting with Surgical Conditions to Mulago Hospital”) as well as other research to improve pediatric surgical care in Uganda. She organized a stakeholder meeting for Children’s Surgery and Anesthesia in Uganda, collaborating with local and international partners and programs to coordinate and improve research and surgical capacity in Uganda.

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Paul Park is a fourth-year medical student at UCSF. He became interested in addressing health disparities as an undergraduate studying public health at UC Berkeley. His past experiences include working with the homeless population in the Bay Area, conducting a clean drinking water research project in Tanzania, and partaking in clinical research in TB, HIV and malaria. He became interested in surgery after his third-year clerkship at the San Francisco General Hospital and co-founded the GSSA chapter at UCSF as a way to incorporate his global health background into this new career interest. Since then, he has been working with the Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia at UCSF on local and global surgery projects and took a research gap year to work with a non-profit organization called KidsOR to help build data collection and research capacity at partner hospitals in low- and middle-income countries.

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Dr. Tonny Stone Luggya is currently working as a Associate Professor in the Department of Department of Anesthesia and critical care, Makerere University , Uganada. His research interests includes Anesthesia and critical care. He is serving as an editorial member and reviewer of several international reputed journals. Dr. Tonny Stone Luggya is the member of many international affiliations. He has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities. He has authored of many research articles/books related to Anesthesia and critical care.

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Dr. Sendagire is a Lecturer in the Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences. He is a Cardiac Anesthesiologist and Intensivist at the Uganda Heart Institute. He has a keen interest in anesthesia and critical care training, academia, and research. He has published work in critical care medicine, safety in perioperative medicine, and simulation medical education. During the COVID-19 outbreak in Uganda, he has provided leadership in training and coordination of critical care staff in response to the surge in Uganda. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Uganda’s Case Management Pillar and majorly contributed to the development of the national COVID-19 critical care guidelines.

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Patti Orozco is Deputy Director at CHESA. She brings more than 10 years of experience in international development supporting the strategic growth of programs and partnerships in over 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Prior to joining UCSF, Patti was Senior Business Development Specialist for Catholic Relief Services based in Lusaka, where she led resource mobilization and new program development for the Zambia and Mozambique portfolios spanning health, food security and humanitarian sectors. Previously, she served as a Peace Corps health volunteer in Mozambique. Patti holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Columbia University and MPA from the University of Washington.

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Zayna Tommalieh is a Program Coordinator at CHESA. She holds a BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and MS in Global Health from UCSF. As a graduate student, she supported the Department of Anesthesia and CHESA's implementation of the USAID OpenCriticalCare project. Zayna’s capstone project focused on researching policies in California incarceration centers aimed at preventing the spread of infectious disease at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Post-graduation, she worked for Color Health as a COVID-19 Testing Specialist and Vaccine Coordinator where she traveled across the state of California to support efforts to reduce vaccine hesitancy and barriers to health care access for rural and underserved populations.

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As a public health professional, Fekir worked in Southern Africa for several years leading research and implementation projects. She worked as a Strategic Information Fellow with CDC Mozambique analyzing programmatic data and supporting Implementing Partners develop data collection tools. Most recently, Fekir worked as the in-country lead for IGHS' portfolio of projects in Namibia conducting HIV research and launching national-level informatics projects. Fekir joined the CHESA team in 2022 is a Program Manager. In this role, she supports the Open Oximetry project (https://openoximetry.org), USAID-STAR COVID-19 Global Goods project (https://opencriticalcare.org) and the WHO Collaborating Center in Emergency, Critical and Operative Care.

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Lily Ortiz (she/her) is a recent graduate from the UCSF Global Health master's program. For her master's capstone project, she analyzed data from snakebite patients treated at private hospitals in Tamil Nadu, India to assess the accuracy of coagulation parameters in diagnosing venomous snakebites. During her time as a graduate student, Lily worked as the Administrative Assistant for CHESA and supported the OpenCriticalCare and OpenOximetry projects. Starting in August, she will be continuing her work with CHESA and joining the EquiOx Study and Hypoxia Lab as a Clinical Research Coordinator. In her new role, she will oversee data collection and data management for these studies as well as support the management of the Open Oximetry website.

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Justine Broecker is from Atlanta GA. She completed medical school at Emory, general surgery residency at Mayo Clinic Florida and trauma/critical care fellowship at UTSW/Parkland. She is currently a HEAL fellow working at Gallup Indian Medical Center and with the HEAL/CHESA team in Uganda working with COSECSA surgery residents at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.

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John Baptist Ssenyondwa is a general surgeon from Uganda; trained at Makerere University College of Health Sciences. He is a CHESA fellow pursuing a career in global surgery with the aim of improving surgical services in Africa. A strong advocate for equity in health, surgical research, innovations and collaborations. He is interested in practicing surgery to improve life without any discriminations, training more surgeons to meet the surgical needs of Uganda and in conducting research to answer some of science's complex questions. He is particularly interested in surgical oncology. Current projects include developing a digital surgical training platform in Uganda, fostering collaborations between Uganda and international training institutions and a recent publication in the role of fibrinogen in traumatic brain injury. He currently works with the Children's surgical hospital in Uganda and is a member of the Association of Surgeons of Uganda.

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Dr. Baraka Mkome Musimu became a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 2014. He is an Otorhinolaryngology graduate of the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is an employee of the Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in the Mwanza region (Tanzania). He worked as a GP for 3 years at the emergency department and earned 3 honors (employee of the month twice and once as the annual employee at the department). He is a dedicated and passionate junior researcher with an interest in HNC and has actively participated in various research related to women infertility, Tracheostomy care, sinonasal cancer and currently working on the psycho-oncology (prevalence and predictive factors of depressive anxiety disorder among HNC patients) as a fellow in the Centre for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia (CHESA) and the Global Cancer Fellowships at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Notably, he is a recipient of the Non-Communicable (NCD) Research Grant Award at Muhas during residency (2020-2023). He was awarded the best oral presentation abstract for non-communicable diseases during the 11th MUHAS scientific conference in June 2023. Dr. Baraka is also currently doing Implementation research (IR), an online course run by the WHO Tropical Disease Research (TDR) website. In addition, Baraka is a member of the Tanzania ENT Society (TENTS).

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Dr. Utam is a specialist surgeon with 23 years of experience in medical practice, mainly in Nigeria and Liberia. He is currently based at Redemption Hospital as Head of the Surgical Unit. He completed his medical training at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and his residency training with the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons in general surgery. Terseer is also a member of the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons and a member and Head of the Surgical Outreach Committee of the West Africa College of Surgeons, Liberia Chapter.

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Alap Patel is an Integrated Plastic & Reconstructive Study Resident at UC San Francisco. He has interests in all aspects of Plastic Surgery, but is particularly interested in hand, aesthetic, and reconstructive surgery. He is currently completing a year-long research fellowship during which he is focusing on improving the care provided to unhoused patients in San Francisco who present with complex hand infections.

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Dr. Suleiman Abdulmajeed Olayinka (whose name preference is Yinka) is currently a Chief consultant ENT surgeon with special interest in prevention and treatment of ear diseases and hearing disability at Federal Teaching Hospital Katsina Nigeria where he is presently working from January 2008 – till date and pursuing his Fellowship in Health Equity is Surgery and Anesthesia at the CHESA Fellowship program at UCSF 2023-2024.

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Dr. Ronald Bisegerwa is a Pediatric Anesthesia fellow under the WFSA PATA project at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda. He is also the pioneer UCSF CHESA Lifebox joint fellow, working with the Open Oximetry team to enhance the safety and precision of pulse oximeters, particularly in people with darker skin tones. Dr. Bisegerwa is involved in redesigning the WFSA Anesthesia Capacity Assessment Tool with the support of a WFSA Grant. His passion for improving patient outcomes globally has driven him to enthusiastically engage in several collaborative research projects, adaptive leadership, and mentorship. Additionally, he is the Secretary-General elect for the Association of Anesthesiologists of Uganda.

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Dr. Abirami Muthumani is originally from Philadelphia, and now lives in New York City where she is a surgical research fellow in the Department of Abdominal Wall Surgery at Columbia University-New York Presbyterian Hospital. Her global surgery focus, under the mentorship of Dr. Russell Jennings and Dr. Doruk Ozgediz, concentrates on developing interventions aimed at reducing mortality rates and improving outcomes among pediatric surgical patients with congenital anomalies in low-resource settings globally. After graduating medical school, Abi obtained her MPH from The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She is a team member of the nonprofit KidsOR and is currently working with KidsOR and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health to improve access to pediatric surgical services in Somali region of Ethiopia. She also works with Dr. Bayne, at CHESA, on projects aimed at forming bilateral minimally invasive surgical training programs with the team at Mulago Hospital, Uganda. In addition, she is part of a newly established team at Columbia's Surgery Department, focused on enhancing surgical equity within the Washington Heights community in NYC. Her long-term goal is to become a pediatric surgeon and serve with Médecins Sans Frontières, with a mission to provide pediatric surgical care in humanitarian settings.

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Isam Khair Al-Deen Bsisu is a Jordanian anesthesiologist dedicated to the fields of medicine and medical ethics. With a wealth of experience, including his role as a resident physician at Jordan University Hospital, the academic teaching hospital of the University of Jordan, and his extensive educational background, Isam has made significant contributions to the medical field. He has recently finished his residency training in June, 2023. He is currently pursuing a Perioperative Health Equity Fellowship at the UCSF Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia. Isam's commitment to humanitarian work is evident through his volunteer service and publications, demonstrating his passion for improving healthcare worldwide.

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Gratien Tuyishimire, MD, MMEd is an Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgeon from Rwanda. He graduated from University of Rwanda in 2010 with his medical degree, then he completed MMed at the same university in 2015 and worked as surgeon and clinical lecturer at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali until September 2021. With interest in education he participated in many AO trainings in his country after completion of AOCMF fellowship in Austria in 2018. Currently he is the director general of the MBC Hospital and co-director of ENT course at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. With a large group of international Collaborators, via the global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Initiative’s research network, he is a pioneering educational leader, conducting national investigations into EHC disparities with an emphasis on community-based education solutions.

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Originally from Croatia, Alan earned his BS in biomedical engineering from Columbia University, as well as an MD and MHS (Master's of Health Sciences) from Duke University. At Columbia, he established the first biomedical engineering collaboration between Makerere (Kampala, Uganda) and Columbia Universities, resulting in a joint grant for students to develop sustainable medical devices for Ugandan hospitals. As an NIH T32-funded fellow of the National Clinician Scholars Program and the Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia at UCSF, he is developing surgical training programs and quantifying the burden of untreated end-stage kidney disease in low- and middle-income countries. His long-term goal is to develop the infrastructure for safe and ethical kidney transplantation in LMICs. Outside of the hospital, Alan mentors local high school students applying to college through the Buck Fellows Program. A competitive swimmer of 15 years, he believes that physical and mental health go hand-in-hand. He speaks Serbo-Croatian and Spanish.

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Dr Fiona Kabagenyi is a CHESA fellow 2023-2024 who graduated as an ENT from Makerere University Uganda in 2019. She completed subspecialty training as the 2nd Karl Storz Paediatric ENT fellow at University of Cape Town South Africa in 2020. She is the first Paediatric ENT in Uganda, and is a lecturer in Department of Ear Nose and Throat at Makerere University. She established the Paediatric ENT unit in the teaching hospital Mulago National Referral Hospital where she trains postgraduates. She also serves as the current General Secretary of the Otolaryngology Society of Uganda, is a member of PENTAFRICA and Global OHNs.

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Dr John Bukuru, MD, MMED, OHNS, Lt Col, is the Head of Academic Department of Otorhinolaryngology/ENT/RMH at the Rwanda Military Hospital. There, he also serves as the Coordinator of Undergraduate Clinical Education. He holds a faculty member title and ENT specialist at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. Dr. Bukuru is a prominent member of the OHNS community, joining and becoming a research mentor within the Global OHNS RMP. Amongst his achievements, he was a course co-director with IRCAD France-Africa, and an aviation medical examiner with the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority. Dr. Bukuru has joined the CHESA Fellowship cohort in 2023, where is research looks into the feasibility of newborn hearing screening in Rwanda and an assessment of genetic patterns related to hearing loss.

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Dr. Liana Valeanu is a cardiac anaesthesiologist and intensive care specialist working in Bucharest, Romania. Her main clinical practice interests are related to perioperative care, echocardiography and circulatory assisting devices. Apart from this, she also has a special interest in education through simulation, promoting patient safety and is involved in residents’ training programmes.

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Eden Belay Tilahun, MD, is a senior pediatrics surgery resident at Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa Ethiopia, and a CHESA fellow. She has nine years of experience as a clinician, academician and leader in a university hospital. Dr. Tilahun is passionate about Global surgery & research, access to pediatrics surgical service, girls education & women empowerment and human rights.

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Emmanuel Bua is a registrar in surgery at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in eastern Uganda and an honorary lecturer in Surgery at Busitema Univeresity Faculty of Health Sciences. He undertook a Master’s degree in General Surgery from Mulago Hospital ( Makerere University). He is a board-certified member and fellow of the College of surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA), and a global heath leadership fellow under the UCSF HEAL program. He is a passionate mentor and advocate for child health. He has worked with the underserved and impoverished communities of Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Kenya where he has experienced first-hand the importance of the social determinants of health and the need for robust healthcare systems. He also had the opportunity to interact with patients in the USA and Netherlands which gave him a clear perspective of the healthcare systems in developed economies and the need for collaborations between local and international partners in addressing health care challenges in Africa. He is a strong advocate for global health equity.

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Felix Oyania MBChB, MMed, is a pediatric surgery fellow at the College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, GloCal-UCSF fellow, 2021-22 and Global Health Equity Fellow in the UCSF – CHESA under the mentorship of Doruk Ozgediz, MD, MSc, FAAP, FACS and Director of CHESA. His research involves improving and advocating for pediatric surgical treatment and outcome for children in Uganda focusing on pediatric colorectal surgery – anorectal malformations and Hirschsprung’s disease.

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Saad was born in Lahore, Pakistan and just a few months later his family started their decades long journey across continents for his father’s work assignments. Growing up in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Holland, and Canada, Saad moved to the United States as a sophomore in high school. During his time in America, he has lived in Boston, New York City, Detroit, and now Austin, TX. All of these moves, and each seemingly more than the last, have continued to shape Saad’s perspective on the world in which we live. Although he studied philosophy in college and later even had a brief stint in the fashion industry, it was a documentary film about the work of Doctors Without Borders that first inspired Saad to pursue a career in medicine. Since that initial screening, each chapter of his life has brought with it more insight into the world of global health. Over the last five years, while training as a general surgery resident, he grew to appreciate the role that surgeons can play in ensuring global health equity. Today, he is excited to embark on his own journey by committing to a career focused on safely delivering essential surgical care globally through the lens of design thinking.

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Ava Yap, MD, MHS, was born in Canada and spent her upbringing in Hong Kong before moving to the US for college. She previously had the privilege to work in a range of healthcare systems in Canada, Peru, Ecuador, Uganda and Malaysia, which fostered a dedicated interest in addressing the global health inequity witnessed during her travels. She completed her medical degree and her Master’s in Health Sciences at Yale School of Medicine. At the time, she partnered with local pediatric surgical teams in Kampala, Uganda and charity KidsOR to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) that demonstrated that implementation of a pediatric operating room in these limited-resource settings was very cost effective. She is now a general surgery resident at UCSF, conducting 2 years of dedicated research as a CHESA health equity fellow. She is currently mentored by the Director of the UCSF Center of Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia Dr. Doruk Ozgediz. She continues to collaborate with KidsOR and their partner sites to work towards narrowing the gap of unmet need in pediatric surgery in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. She hopes to bring her interest in economic impact analysis to these international partnerships, and inform the investment of pediatric surgical infrastructure and capital in low- and middle-income countries.

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Mignote Yilma is a general surgery resident in her dedicated research years at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She was selected to join the prestigious National Clinical Scholars Program (NCSP) at UCSF and is working towards a Master's in Clinical Research with a focus in implementation science. Mignote was also selected in the inaugural Health Equity Fellowship at Health Affairs. Mignote's current research focuses on assessing the early barriers to liver and kidney transplantation, assessing the impact of individual and community-level social determinants of health. She is using her findings to help develop a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Transplant Dashboard. She completed her BA in Human Biology at Stanford University, and her M.D. at Charles R. Drew/UCLA.

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Godfrey Sama Philipo MD., MPH is a Research and Patient Outcomes Coordinator at the College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) at the ECSA Health Community. He received his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Tanzania and a Master in Public Health from the Southern Medical University (SMU) in China. He is currently taking a Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC) degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the MUHAS-ORCI-UCSF Cancer Collaboration, leading a number of multidisciplinary international collaborative cancer research projects. With this team of cancer researchers and providers from UCSF (GCP and CHESA) and MUHAS, he is working to implement a Surgical Skills Lab at MUHAS. He was a Co-coordinator of the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) Global Surgery Small Working Group, and co-founded the International Students Surgical Network (InciSioN), a nonprofit organization currently representing over 5,000 students, trainees, and early career physicians around the world who are passionate about Global Surgery. He participated in number of global surgery research projects including the World Development Indicator (WDI) surgical data of 2016 on access to quality surgical care globally. He currently researches on Children Surgery in Tanzania with a team at Muhimbili National Hospital in collaboration with the Ministry of health and international partners. His interest is in Global Surgery research, training and advocacy, incorporating Participatory Approach and Implementation Science skills.

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Temesgen is currently practicing surgery in resource-limited areas, and is a witness to the wide service gap in meeting the surgical load. He is a surgeon hoping to improve the service delivery gap in LMICs. His training in global surgery and equity education will offer him the necessary knowledge and experience to implement these changes. Prior to the fellowship, he obtained his MD from Jimma University in Ethiopia and continued to complete a specialty certificate in general surgery from St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC). Temesgen is also an assistant professor and a general surgeon consultant.

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Richard received his degree from Busitema University School of Medicine in Uganda, and is currently training with the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA), while building new skills curriculum for interns. Through his work, Richard aims to improve surgical service delivery across Uganda. Additionally, Richard is a volunteer teacher, volunteer healthcare provider, and research assistant within Busitema University.

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Cecilia is an otolaryngologist and a lecturer at the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania. She is interested in health equity and global surgery training because she believes in gathering the skills and knowledge in research within global health to then share this information with colleagues and trainees to improve quality and patient care.

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Mary Fakunle is a 5th year urology resident at UCSF, in her dedicated research year. She received her MD from New Jersey Medical School. This year, she is working on a number projects focused on prostate cancer in African American men. She entered the CHESA fellowship to expand her views of access to urological care worldwide, and hopes to contribute to improving access to urology services by the end of the year.

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Alliance is a general surgeon, currently a pediatric surgery fellow at the Mercy James Center for Pediatric and Intensive care. He is from Burundi, East Africa. Alliance's past surgical practice and experience has mainly been based in rural Burundi. He is passionate about equity in access to safe surgical care for rural populations of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Burundi in particular. Alliance strives to be a global surgery advocate with specific interest in children's surgical care. Additionally, he is an International Surgical Representative for the Global Surgery, Anesthesia, and Obstetric Collaboration and an active member of the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA).

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Bolusefe is a 5th year surgical resident in the Division of Pediatric Surgery at National Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria. Her research interests include health care financing and she is focused on improving accessibility and affordability of surgical care to children and other vulnerable populations in her area.

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Caroline Q. Stephens, MD, MPH is a current general surgery resident at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She obtained her B.A. in international affairs, with a concentration in global health from George Washington University. During this time, she traveled to Madagascar to study the intersections between the traditional and allopathic healthcare systems and spent time in Geneva, Switzerland studying global public health policy. She then went on to complete a M.D. and M.P.H. in epidemiology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) focusing her master’s work on the disparities in access to pediatric trauma care for rural patients. Her current work focus on improving trauma care for vulnerable patients in low-resource areas both at home and abroad. Locally, she seeks to address gaps in pediatric readiness at trauma hospitals and identify methods for strengthening pediatric trauma systems. She is also working with Dr. Ozgediz and Ugandan partners Dr. Namugga and Dr. Muwanguzi to implement standardize processes for the treatment and triage of trauma patients in District Hospitals.

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Treasure Ibingira is trained as a general surgeon with a laparoscopic and endoscopic focus. He is passionate about research, trauma surgery, and colorectal surgery. Treasure believes every individual regardless of status is deserving of adequate and appropriate health care. Being a part of the global surgery network, he is equipped with knowledge and skills to help those that are less privileged within his setting. By adapting and tailoring creative solutions and ideas generated from the numerous networks the global surgery platform has to offer, he shares experiences/ideas that might be beneficial to other platforms. Inability to access quality health care and surgical services is a major problem in Uganda and other low income countries. Through research, he will identify pitfalls and create solutions that can bridge gaps in service delivery or access, for the benefit of all.

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Violet is a third year general surgery resident at Tenwek Hospital under the PanAfrican College of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) and College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) programs. Training in a resource-limited centre has helped her appreciate health equity in both access to the centre and availability of resources. One of the tools that has facilitated the percolation of both infrastructure and human resources for health has been the data generated showing the need and impact of these resources therein. Violet is encouraged to delve into matters health equity and global surgery as it is a core aspect of her training.

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Amandine Godier-Furnemont earned her undergraduate degree at Columbia University. She then completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University, during which she spent two years researching at the Georg-August University of Gottingen in Germany. Following completion of her PhD she attended Yale Medical School, where she was the recipient of the Downs International Research Fellowship supporting her work in Uganda, as well as the Samuel Jordan Graham Scholarship in Academic Surgery. At Yale, she also worked closely with the local refugee community to improve healthcare access. She has worked in several countries over the last seven years, and continues to work closely with partner surgeons internationally. As a CHESA fellow, her current work aims to strengthen ties between academia and humanitarian organizations, and focuses on quality improvement initiatives in surgical care delivery in low resource settings and areas in crisis.

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Hannah Decker is a general surgery resident at UCSF interested in understanding barriers in access to high-quality surgical care in vulnerable populations. She is currently exploring the ways that housing impacts surgical outcomes as a National Clinician Scholar, a two year fellowship in health services research.

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Martha is a general surgeon working with Mulago Hospital and a finalist student of urology fellowship with College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA). She has a special interest in global surgery as it is a means of improving surgical outcomes in LMICs, and a way of sharing knowledge between people working in different settings globally. Martha's contribution so far has been in the space of trauma management in Uganda. She has contributed to the development and instructing of a context appropriate trauma course in Uganda. Over 1000 health workers in Uganda have benefitted from this training.

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Dr. Samuel Negash is a general pediatric surgeon and assistant professor of surgery based in Ethiopia. He previously worked as a Lifebox fellow, engaging in different quality improvement projects on surgical safety. He has special interest in improving access to pediatric surgical service in low-income countries.

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Nathan Brand M.D MSc is currently a general surgery resident at UCSF. He obtained his B.A at Colorado College where he majored in philosophy. Following his graduation he worked for the NIH as a Cancer Research Training Award Fellow in the Laboratory for Translation Genomics. He then traveled to Malawi and Uganda where he spent a year volunteering in a rural clinic and working for the University of Minnesota researching pediatric severe malaria. Dr. Brand attended medical school at Columbia University where he obtained both a M.D and a MSc in global health. During this time he also worked for the Center for Global Health at the US National Cancer Institute and spent a year working as the Cancer Control Consultant to Kenya. During his time at UCSF, Dr. Brand has focused his research on both global health and surgical oncology. He is currently in the lab working for Dr. David Jablons on identifying novel therapeutics for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. His work is supported by both the Surgical Oncology T32 and the Thoracic Surgery Society's Resident Research Award.

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Gregory Leeb (MBBS, FANZCA) is an Australian-trained Anesthesiologist with a strong interest in global health equity and pediatric anesthesia. He has recently completed a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia at the Red Cross Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently completing a Master’s of Public Health to better understand the broader issues affecting access to equitable health care globally. He has assisted in developing community clinics and ongoing nurse education in Sierra Leone, and worked as a Medical Aero-Retrievalist in rural and remote Australia with Australia’s First Nations communities. Greg entered the CHESA fellowship so he may continue to develop his understanding of global surgery and health equity, and further contribute to this field in a meaningful way.

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Anne Mbiya, Mmed is a graduate of Makerere University Anesthesia and Critical Care Training Program and a member of the Association of Anesthesiologists of Uganda. She has interests in surgical site infection research, maternal and pediatric anesthesia. Dr. Mbiya currently works at Nakasero Hospital (Kampala, Uganda) where she is focused on building infrastructure, quality improvement projects and pathways for improving patient safety.

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Erica complete anesthesia residency at UCSF and her MPH at Columbia University before completing her CHESA Fellowship in 2021-22. Her research interests include disparities in opioid prescribing patterns and disparities in organ transplantation. After fellowship, Erica joined faculty at UCSF where she remains active in CHESA and currently has NIH funding for her ongoing research.

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Bunmi Okunlola is a Clinical Instructor of Anesthesia at NYU and member of the UCSF Hypoxia Lab research team. After completing her medical training and anesthesia residency at Mount Sinai in New York, Bunmi joined the CHESA team in 2020 as a Global Health Equity Fellow. During her Fellowship year she was based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and her projects included development of a Health Equity Curriculum for residents in multiple perioperative departments. Bunmi also led a research project focusing on equity in pulse oximetry.

Bio

Beti is an Ethiopian-American anesthesiologist who completed anesthesia training at UC Davis as well as a Masters in Pharmacology prior to completing a CHESA Fellowship in 2019-20. Beti is passionate about mentorship, recruitment and retention of under-represented individuals in medicine. She is the founder of MuluMentor, a virtual mentorship platform for pre-medical students from under-represented and underprivileged background. She is also actively engaged in global efforts in merging education gaps in anesthesia and works with the World Federation Society of Anesthesia on 1. designing an international post anesthesia guideline 2. delivering safe anesthesia teaching to remote areas in East Africa. After completion of her Fellowship, Beti joined faculty at UCLA where she is leading creation of a global health equity program in the Department of Anesthesiology.

Bio

Elliot completed anesthesiology training in Australia and an MPH at Columbia University before coming to UCSF for a global health equity fellowship. During his Fellowship year, Elliot completed projects on the global capnography gap as well as advocacy for and development of health equity curricula for anesthesia and surgery trainees. Elliot remains active in CHESA project collaboration and teaching with current trainees.

Bio

Tyler Law joined the Department of Anesthesia as the first Global Health Anesthesia Fellow and as part of the HEAL Initiative Global Health Fellowship. Tyler completed a five-year residency in Anesthesiology at the University of Toronto, and holds an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Finance from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is interested in the interface between the surgical system and the rest of the health system, and how these interactions can be optimized. His experience in global health is an outgrowth of this interest, and he has published on knowledge translation in developing countries, as well as completed an internship at WHO in Geneva. During his Health Equity Fellowship he conducted workforce research to better understand factors driving workforce incentives. After CHESA Fellowship Tyler completed a Critical Care Fellowship and remains on faculty at UCSF.