Virtual Global Health Elective

Dr. Charles Chineme Nwobu is a Public Health Physician whose work spans Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive, Sexual and Child Health, in addition to disability rights advocacy, education and development in communities. He leads the Global Health Projects Committee of the Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital. He is the Director of the project known as “Rehabilitating Children With Disabilities In Accra: Community Engagement And Sensitisation and the DFSexEdS4WGDs Project (Disability-Friendly Sexual, Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Education and Services for Women and Girls with Disabilities), which runs in Central Region, Ghana, in partnership with other NGOs and stakeholders in disability interventions in Ghana. He currently consults and has experience working with various global institutions and international organisations, including the WHO/United Nations, where he served as a Senior MD in the UN COVID-19 Field Hospital in Accra during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a member of the CHIFA (Child Health Information For All) working group – Child Health And Rights International Organisation, in Oxford, U.K. In addition, he has over ten years of experience working in Ghana’s public and private sectors as a Family Practitioner and Public Health Physician. He is a member of the World Medical Association (WMA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (FRSPH), U.K., with an MSc in Public Health for Development from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of London, UK, as well as undergoing an MSc in Medical Education for Healthcare Practitioners from the University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. In addition, he trained in International Development at the Madingley Hall of the University of Cambridge, UK and has a Professional Diploma in Paediatrics from the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland (RCPI). Before his Postgraduate qualifications, he studied at the University in Ghana, where he achieved a BSc. in Medical Sciences and a medical degree (MBChB).

Dr. Anguyo is the Founder and Executive Director of CFHI’s local partner, a Ugandan non-profit organization that prides itself on the creation of an “Activated Community.” Dr. Anguyo has been practicing medicine for over twenty years in Uganda, working in government hospitals, private clinics and through non-profit healthcare delivery. His specialty is HIV/AIDS. Dr. Anguyo grew up in Northern Uganda. As a child, his family was displaced by political violence, fleeing to Congo DRC. These early experiences were formative, and today Dr. Anguyo remains committed to developing practical solutions to improving healthcare and livelihood in Uganda. Dr. Anguyo is currently working on his Doctorate in Public Health at Bath University in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Jessica Evert straddles international education and the medical profession. She served as CFHI Executive Director from 2013-2021 and is currently CFHI’s Global Medical Director. She oversees CFHI safety and risk management, thought leadership, publications, and advocacy. She has co-authored dozens of articles and texts focused on best practices for student and faculty engagement in global health. Dr. Evert is Faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where she instructs in Global Health and community-based underserved care and helped develop, as well as completed, the Global Health Clinical Scholars residency track. Dr. Evert is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and is a longtime advocate for health-related international education quality and ethical standards. She is author and editor of multiple chapters, articles and books in global health with a focus on education, ethics, and asset-based engagement, including the seminal texts, including Global Health Experiential Education: From Theory to Practice, Developing Global Health Programming: A Guidebook for Medical and Professional Schools, 2nd Ed, Global Health Training in Graduate Medical Education, 2nd Ed and Reflection in Global Health: An Anthology. She helped develop the Forum on Education Abroad’s Standards for Health-Related Undergraduate Programs. She has served on the Consortium of Universities for Global Health’s Education Committee, as well as multiple other leadership bodies over 2 decades. Dr. Evert is a recipient of the Global Health Education Consortium’s prestigious Christopher Krogh Award for her dedication to underserved populations at home and abroad. Dr. Evert’s research and advocacy areas of focus are the ethics of global educational engagement, competency-based international education, health disparities, asset-based programmatics and reflection. Dr. Evert is a practicing physician in the Western United States focusing on hospital medicine and palliative & supportive care.

Dr. White taught medical and public health ethics and global health for 25 years at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, retiring in 2020. Her global health experience includes teaching in medical schools and working with NGOs in Ethiopia and Uganda. Most of her global health publications to date address global health education and research ethics. She has participated in this virtual elective with CFHI since 2021. Ongoing interests include global palliative care, global health humanities and global health education.

Dr. Carlos A. Faerron Guzmán is a global health professional passionate about education and committed to health equity, addressing complexity, and emphasizing values in shaping a better world. As an educator, he fosters an environment of collaborative learning and knowledge exchange that empowers communities and individuals. He serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore Graduate School, Director of the InterAmerican Center for Global Health in Costa Rica, and Senior Advisor of the Planetary Health Alliance at  Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Faerron also holds adjunct positions at Northwestern University and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

Juliana Araya Amador is a dedicated global health passionate about advancing medical education and global health initiatives. Serving as the assistant to the Dean of the School of Medicine at UNIBE in Costa Rica and Practicum Coordinator at Child Family Health International, Juliana embodies a commitment to transformative medical education and ethical global health practices.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

She is a Pediatrician and Lecturer in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and Tamale Teaching Hospital, and the University for Development Studies, (UDS) Ghana. She has about 10 years of professional experience as a medical doctor who has worked in the northern part of Ghana most of these years.

She had medical education training at the University for Development Studies, Tamale. She completed her horsemanship and worked as a medical officer for 3 years at Tamale Teaching Hospital before completing her membership in Pediatrics with the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kumasi, Ghana. She also had an MPH at the GIMPA in Ghana.

She is a part-time PhD student in Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Her main research areas include Pediatric Infectious diseases, adolescent health, and climate impact on health. Currently, she serves as the vice president of the World Medical Women Association, Special Interest Group for Adolescent Health, the student liaison officer for the TB center at LSHTM, and associate editor for RSTMH International Health.

Leah Ratner MD MS DTM&H is an Internal Medicine and Pediatrics trained physician who focuses on care of the adolescent and young adult aging into adulthood with pediatric onset or rare disease. She is very passionate about care equity and rights-based system design, especially for diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and HIV. She has been learning and growing from and with her team in Ghana for over 15 years and looks forward to many more. She currently lives in DC but continues to work with the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. 

Dr. Hamza Alduraidi is the Vice Dean for Academic and Administrative Affairs at the University of Jordan, School of Nursing.

Dr. Alduraidi specializes in public/community health nursing. After graduating with Baccalaureate in Nursing from the University of Jordan in 2008, Dr. Alduraidi earned a Master’s degree in Public Health from the School of Medicine in the same University. After that, Dr. Alduraidi was granted a scholarship to University of California, San Francisco in the United States, where he earned a second Master’s degree in Advanced Practice Public Health Nursing in 2013, and a PhD in Public Health Nursing in 2016.

Dr. Alduraidi’s main research interest is health disparities among vulnerable groups; particularly, the health of refugees and displaced persons in Jordan and the Middle East. Dr. Alduraidi has about 30 published articles in peer-reviewed journals since 2017.

Yann A. Meunier, MD is a Global Health Expert based in Silicon Valley, CA.

He has a multifaceted background in healthcare having worked as a CMO, PCP, Director of International Corporate Affairs and Business Development, Professor, Researcher, and Healthcare Consultant worldwide. 

He is an Honorary Member of the Brazilian National Academy of Medicine, an Associate Member of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, a Fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, and a Member of the International Academy of Fellows and Associates, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Canada. 

He has published many books, articles, posts, blogs, conducted seminars and webinars on global health topics and created a podcast called “Reinventing Global Health.” He is passionate about improving health outcomes and reducing health disparities around the globe.

He offers a unique perspective on global health with specific insights. He thinks outside the box because he is out of the box.

Research Interest:

Primary health care, women’s health, maternal and child health, community engagement, infectious diseases, HIV, TB, non-communicable diseases, conflict and health, and health systems leadership.

Biography

Dr. Tesfay is an Associate Professor of public health at Mekelle University, Tigray Northern Ethiopia. He is also a joint staff in Tigray Health Research Institute. He obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences with an orientation to Public Health (2015) and Master in Public Health (2003) from Umea University, Sweden. He has a nursing background from Eritrea. He has also considerable experience in design, conduct, analysis and write up of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. He served as Dean for School of public health (2016-2018). Dr. Tesfay published more than 45 articles in International peer reviewed journals. He worked as a project director of the Mekelle University project funded by CDC/PEPFAR for 8 years (April 2010 to September 2018).

Dr. Suresh Rangarajan MD, MSc. is and Internist and Pediatrician (Med-Peds) trained physician with an extensive background in global health working with migrant farm communities, detainees, refugees, asylum seekers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and other vulnerable populations here in the United States as well as in Bolivia, Botswana, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand.  He has a passion for health and human rights and south-south capacity building.  In particular, he is interested in the widespread use of local implementation science to improve local health system performance and global health outcomes.  He is currently practicing in Oakland California.

Tania is a Final Year Medical Student at the University of Costa Rica. One of her main goals as a future health care professional is to get involved into addressing health disparities and reaching underserved populations while understanding the realities and determinants of health in both individuals and communities. She supports the CFHI Virtual Elective in various ways including orientation, holding office hours, reviewing student assignments and e-portfolios, organizing the seminars, and more.

As an alumni of the CFHI Virtual Global Health Elective and part of the CFHI Team, Tania expects to keep building an increasingly thoughtful perspective of global health, interculturality and health equity.