2020 – 2024 Cohort
Raymond Akawire Abotigo, PhD, MPH, BA
Raymond Akawire Aborigo holds a PhD with focus in Global Public Health from MONASH University, Australia. He is a senior researcher and currently the head of Research Coordination and the head of the Social Science and Public Health Department at the Navrongo Health Research Centre. Aborigo has led the implementation of several research projects both in the biomedical and social and behavioural research fields. His current research which is supported by Teva pharmaceuticals and Resolve to Save Lives seeks to use a Nurse-led hypertension care model through HEARTS to integrate care for non-communicable diseases into primary health care in Ghana. He is also collaborating with Patience Afulani at the University of California, San Francisco to research into the drivers of poor person-centered care and to develop and validate tools for measuring the health construct across the pregnancy continuum. The collaboration implemented a facility-based quality improvement curriculum that uses simulation-based training for obstetric and neonatal emergency response in Ghana. The team has secured funding from the NIH to expand its work in the field for the next 5 years.
Aborigo has consulted for several nternational organisations including the INDEPTH Network, WHO, UNICEF, USAID, CRS and CDC-Atlanta. His services have centred on implementation research, evaluation of health interventions, training in research methods and the use of human centred designs. With over 20 years of experience in health research, Aborigo has mentored several young researchers and currently has over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He is an Academic Editor for the PLosOne journal and an Associate Editor for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.
Larry Akoko, MD
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences
Chair of Surgery 2015-2018 and recently completed a Fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the Tata Memorial Hospital in India. He is currently the President Elect of the Tanzania Surgical Association. He is strongly committed to Surgical Education, also organized a very effective program providing hydrocelectomy under local anesthesia to treat the complications of filiariasis in “surgical camps’ throughout Tanzania. He is one of the leaders of the current generation of surgeons in East Africa.
Maureen Akolo, PhD, MPH
Maureen Akolo, PhD, MPH is an assistant professor at the Aga Khan University-School of Nursing and Midwifery-Nairobi and a visiting lecturer at Catholic University of Eastern Africa, University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. She seats on several Committee of Experts at the National HIV program, several research Ethics committees and currently a member of ANAC nominating committee. She is the 2023 award winner of the Global HIV nurse- ANAC.
Akolo has 20 years’ experience as a scientist and a clinical manager for a HIV/STI research center in Nairobi Kenya. The research centre- Partners for Health and development in Africa is an affiliate of University of Manitoba/University of Nairobi. It offers HIV/STI prevention, care and treatment services to over 45,000 female sex workers, 4500 Men who have sex with men and approximately 1400 trans gender people.
She has a bachelor’s degree in Nursing, a master’s degree in Public health (Monitoring and Evaluation), a PhD in Public Health and a Fellowship in Higher Education and Learning (FHEA) from UK.
Mackfallen Anasel
Dr. Mackfallen Anasel has been a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Health Systems Management at Mzumbe University, Tanzania for more than fifteen (15) years. He holds a Diploma in Clinical Medicine from Mtwara Clinical Training Centre; a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration-Health Systems Management from Mzumbe University; a Master of Science in Population Studies from Groningen University, the Netherlands and a PhD in Demography – Family Planning Programme Implementation from Groningen University, the Netherlands. He teaches Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methodology for both Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in the areas of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E); Introduction to Biostatistics; Research Methods in Health Systems Management; Public Policy Research and Analysis; and M&E and Health Information Systems (including DHIS2, FFARS and HRHIS/TIIS). He is also one of the prominent facilitators in the Centre of Excellence’s short courses. in several short courses organized by the Centre of Excellence in Health Monitoring and Evaluation. His research interests included M&E, policy implementation and analysis, and reproductive and child health. He has authored and co-authored more than 20 articles in internationally accredited journals; his Google citation index. He has been the senior technical lead for the project that aims to provide Technical Assistance (TA) to the Government of Tanzania (GOT) and Public Health Institutions (PHIs) toward Sustained Health Systems Strengthening in Tanzania funded by CDC under PEPFAR. He served in the same position for the project that aimed at Supporting the Government of Tanzania to Strengthen the Leadership and Management System as a subgrantee from the Benjamin Mkapa Foundation. He was the Project Coordinator for the Data Use Partnership project – a collaboration under the Capacity Building Consortium (CBC). Currently, he is serving as Principal Investigator (PI) – for the five-year project called Making Women’s Options for HIV Prevention in Tanzania Accessible and Joining the Implementation Science Capacity Building (MWOTAJI). The is implemented by five institutions that include University; University of California, San Francisco; University of California Berkeley; Health for a Prosperous Nation and the National AIDS Control Program. The project is Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services – National Institutes of Health. He is also the Co-PI of the NISHATI project that aims at building capacities in water, renewable energy, and agriculture to enhance local resilience to climate change in Africa project, partnering with eight institutions, University of Rome, Mzumbe University, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Gulu University, Kabale University, University of Technology & Arts Byumba and Catholic University of Rwanda. The project is funded by the European Commission Erasmus+ Programme (ERASMUS+).
Ian Shane Asiimwe, MD
Asiimwe Ian Shane is a consultant surgeon and Fistula surgeon, working with Arua regional referral hospital, Uganda, and also serves as a senior lecturer at Kampala International University. Before joining Arua hospital he worked as a specialist general surgeon and fistula surgeon at Hoima regional referral hospital.
He is a PhD student at Makerere University “concept on non-fistulous urine incontinence among women in Uganda”. His area of interest is female urology and has and published several papers on female urine incontinence and obstetric fistula.
He is a member national fistula technical working group (NFTWG), International society of Fistula Surgeons (ISOFS) and a FIGO fellow actively participating not just a fistula surgeon but in many activities that help women with urine and stool incontinence live rewarding lives without stigma.
He has conducted several trainings for nurses, doctors, women advocates to treat and help women with urine and stool incontinence.
Travis Bias, DO, MPH, DTM&H, FAAFP
Travis Bias, DO, MPH, DTM&H, FAAFP, is the Co-Director of the Comparative Health Systems course at the UCSF IGHS and Chief Medical Officer of Clinician Solutions at Solventum, formerly 3M Health Care. He is a board-certified Family Medicine physician, currently practicing telemedicine for SteadyMD. He has previously taught as Visiting Lecturer in Kabarak University’s Family Medicine residency program in Chogoria, Kenya and he has served as Lecturer in the Department of Medicine at Busitema University in Mbale, Uganda through a public-private partnership between the United States Peace Corps, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and Seed Global Health. From 2016 – 2019 he taught at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University as a Professorial Lecturer in courses on Global Health Diplomacy and Comparative Global Health Systems. He enjoys traveling and hiking with his partner, Ashley (QI Advisor at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals), and their new daughter.
Regina Duperval, MD
Kay Mackenson Clinic
Completed her pediatric residency at Hospital Saint Damien in Port-au- Prince in 2018. For the past two years, she has studied and trained extensively in Haiti and Canada to learn about complex management of pediatric chronic diseases and joined Kay Mackenson in January 2020.
Charlotte Feretti, MD
Throughout her career, Dr. Charlotte Ferretti has worked locally to address the needs of marginalized youth and collaborated globally to meet the health needs of low-income communities. In 1993, Dr. Ferretti, a professor of nursing at San Francisco State University (SFSU), established a licensed nurse-managed center at Mission High School to address the health needs of mostly immigrant youth and provide clinical experiences for graduate nursing students. In 1999, the UCSF nursing faculty approached Dr. Ferretti to collaborate on creating the Valencia Health Services in the Mission. The goal was to improve health services for children from low-income families and expand clinical pediatric opportunities for UCSF SON graduate nursing students. Both Pilar Bernal and I worked closely with Dr. Ferretti in this endeavor. Our collaboration at the Valencia Health Services was a successful joint venture and included engaging with local community services in child psychiatry, and social work to provide comprehensive care to children and their families, all of which was embedded in a health equity framework.
In 2000, Dr. Ferretti became Director of the Marian Wright Edelman Institute, and oversaw Head Start for the City and County of San Francisco, which included care for over 1,400 low-income children. Concurrently, she began collaborating with a SFSU colleague, Dr. Gary Selnow, Director of WiRED International, an NGO focused on global health. Since 1997, WiRED has engaged with local individuals and communities to provide cost-free medical and health education in low-resourced regions around the world. Drs. Ferretti and Selnow worked to support the establishment of Community Health Education Centers for HIV education and prevention, resulting in 25 sites in Kenya. WiRED develops and delivers evidence-based health training programs to doctors, nurses, and community members. Most of WiRED’s work is done by volunteer nurses, doctors, and community individuals locally and globally.
Early in 2003, before Zoom WiRED collaborated with Dr. Neal Cohen at UCSF IGHS, to initiate real-time video visits between doctors and nursing faculty at UCSF and SF State with doctors and nurses in Iraq who were unable to leave the hospitals due to unsafe conditions at the end of the war. Working with the State Department, WiRED later launched nine medical information centers in hospitals throughout Iraq to provide much-needed access to updated medical knowledge for physicians who had been denied internet access. In 2017, based on the WHO’s predicted shortage of healthcare professionals, WiRED launched a Community Health Worker training program, using information from WHO, CDC, and NIMH to train local individuals to respond to their community’s health needs. WiRED is currently working in Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Armenia, and Peru.
In summary, Dr. Ferretti is an exceptionally collaborative leader with whom to work. Her extensive knowledge of the San Francisco community needs as well as her ability to design and implement programs for low-resourced health settings, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa is impressive. Additionally, as a doctorally prepared nurse she would bring additional nursing expertise to the affiliate faculty at IGHS. I highly recommend her as an affiliate faculty member.
Agustin Ibáñez, Psy. Degree, PhD
Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez
Dr. AIbáñez is a graduate of the Global Brain Health Institute at UCSF. He continues to work with the Executive Director to establish opportunities in South America, and is in the early stages of establishing sister Institute of Brain Health Sciences in Santiago, Chile to deliver a Spanish language brain health protection program.
Sharlene Jarrett, MD
It is a pleasure to write in strong support of Dr. Sharlene Jarrett’s proposed appointment to the IGHS Global Affiliate Program. Dr. Jarrett is a public health scientist with over 20 years of experience in HIV research and program implementation. She currently serves in a non-faculty role as the Director of Epidemiology and Strategic Information for Jamaica programs in the Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice. She is stationed in Kingston, Jamaica, and has led GSI’s programs there since 2018 in a role that will end September 30, 2024. Under her leadership we have been able to expand the scope and complexity of the program and have earned public recognition for UCSF’s contributions from the Jamaican Ministry of Health. Dr. Jarrett provides technical and strategic leadership to improve data quality, availability, and use in decision-making for HIV prevention and treatment activities. Through her research, and capacity-building for healthcare providers, she increased access to HIV PrEP in Jamaica achieving 100% persistence among persons enrolled in PrEP at UCSF-supported sites. This achievement was highlighted by PEPFAR at the 2024 International AIDS Conference. Dr. Jarrett has been the UCSF faculty mentor for multiple Jamaican health care workers, public health professionals, and community leaders from marginalized communities throughout the country. Since 2019, over 90 Jamaican clinicians have participated in the annual Medical Management of HIV Conference hosted by the Division of HIV Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at UCSF. Further, she has led her UCSF in-country team in the design and delivery monthly online HIV management seminars for clinicians in Jamaica. She has mentored local public health leaders through the UCSF International Traineeships in AIDS Prevention Studies (ITAPS) Scientific Manuscript Writing Program and has co-facilitated 5 scientific writing workshops in Jamaica. Her mentees have included public health researchers from Jamaica’s national HIV/STI program, staff from local LGBTQ community organizations, and junior faculty at the University of the West Indies. Dr. Jarrett has recently completed the UCSF Implementation Science short course and is now focused on developing implementation science projects to promote HPV and cervical cancer screening among WLWH, and to promote HPV vaccination and PrEP use among young Jamaican MSM and transgender women. I am pleased to give her my highest recommendation.
Francis Kakooza, PhD
Francis is a molecular microbiologist and global health leader currently serving as the Head of the Global Health Security Department, Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University. The GHS department key objective is to strengthen the capacities and capabilities of Ministries of Health in Africa to predict, prevent, detect, respond and recover to public health emergencies. As of April 2024, the GHS department had 136 staff, and 20 projects running in different parts of Africa from 14 different funders valued at approximately $32M in cooperative agreements. The scope includes antimicrobial resistance, laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, epidemic intelligence, disease surveillance & community health, case management, infection prevention and control, vaccines and medical countermeasures, planetary health, water, sanitation and hygiene and health security policy, advocacy and economics. Secondly, under the Africa Centers for Diseases Control led Saving Lives and Livelihoods continental Initiative, Francis is the director of the Implementation Science program that focuses on vaccine-related studies, safety surveillance, and capacity building of National Public Health Institutes in up to 25-member states towards disease outbreak readiness and containment. He is also an honorary lecturer at Makerere University, School of Health Sciences, delivering course modules on global health, pharmaceutical microbiology, and biotechnology, a senior technical member of the Sudan Ebola-Virus sequencing team at the Ministry of Health, Uganda, and a WHO expert for global guidelines development in STIs and antimicrobial resistance. In addition, Francis has over 25 peer-reviewed publications on different global health security themes and presented keynote addresses at the first Uganda National AMR Symposium and the Uganda Pharmaceutical Symposium 2023.
Emmanuel Katabaro, MD
Emmanuel Katabaro is a medical doctor with public health training and experience in HIV prevention and services utilization at Health for a Prosperous Nation (HPON) in Tanzania as a Project Director.
With over 8 years’ experience in the health research field, he has been able to undertake both HIV prevention and services utilization research studies employing behavioral studies to improve HIV care retention and viral suppression with a recent break through on the evidence of effects of short-term cash transfers at improving care retention and viral suppression in Tanzania (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3018(24)00149-8). He is also part of a multidisciplinary team working to explore the feasibility of providing HIV prevention (HIV self-testing and PrEP) and sexual reproductive health services under the public-private partnership of community drug shops and pharmacies in Tanzania for adolescent girls and young women facing higher rates of new HIV infections and poor reproductive health in Sub Saharan Africa.
He is a member of the Medical Council of Tanganyika and a fellow of the Global Health Equity Scholars of the Fogarty International Center 2024/2025 round at University of California, Berkeley focusing on HIV prevention among the mobile population.
Achilles Katamba, MB.ChB, DCH, MSc, PhD
Makerere University
Dr Katamba trained in medicine at Makerere, and earned a PhD in epidemiology and health economics at Case Western as a Fogarty scholar. He is the founder and local lead scientist for the Uganda Tuberculosis Implementation Research Consortium (U-TIRC), a collaboration between the Ugandan TB & Leprosy Program & scientists at Makerere, UCSF, Yale, Johns Hopkins, & LSHTM. Dr. Katamba teaches in the Epidemiology Unit & serves on Uganda’s COVID task force.
Address Malata, BSN, MSN, PhD
Kamuzu College of Nursing
Principal at Kamuzu College, Founding Vice Chancellor of Malawi University for Science and Technology, where she worked to integrate health education into the entire school curriculum. Dr Malat has partnered with UCSF since 2008.
Babuu Malik
With over ten years of experience in public health, I have held key managerial positions in HIV & AIDS intervention programs. I specialize in the management, design, and coordination of healthcare training for both healthcare workers and community teams. My work demonstrates strong engagement, collaboration, and dedication. I am well-versed in donor-funded projects from local and international organizations, consistently delivering top-tier performance.
Joel Manyahi, MD, PhD
Dr. Joel Manyahi is a medical doctor who graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He holds a Master of Medicine in Microbiology and Immunology from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. He also holds a PhD from the University of Bergen, Norway. He a senior lecturer at Muhimbili University and Allied Sciences and a clinical microbiologist at Muhimbili National Hospital.
For the past 10 years, I have been involved in research on the diagnosis of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, and infection prevention and control. His PhD is focused on antimicrobial resistance among HIV-infected patients in Tanzania. To date, he has more than 35 publications in peer-reviewed journals related to AMR and infectious diseases from low-middle income countries. Over the past seven years, I have been at the forefront of implementing one health antimicrobial resistance surveillance program in Tanzania and building the capacity of the healthcare workforce in Tanzania in diagnosis and prevention and control of infectious diseases. I am also a member of the Tanzania AMR surveillance and research technical working group and the chair of the national AMR Surveillance and research sub-TWG on human health.
Matilda Mlowe, MD
I am a Medical Doctor dedicated to advancing research and improving public health outcomes, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS. I have a strong foundation in clinical care, project coordination, and implementation research, I am passionate about leveraging evidence-based strategies to address gaps in HIV prevention, treatment, and care. I actively advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness and de-stigmatization, engaging with communities and stakeholders to drive positive global change.
Agatha Mnyippembe
Public health junior researcher with almost 10 years experience in contributing to various public health research projects. Particulary supervising Implemention of research projects concentrated on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, with a primary focus on people living with HIV, as well as the sexual and reproductive health of young women and adolescent girls.
Henry Molell, Professor
Henry Abraham Mollel, (PhD): is Associate Professor, Researcher and Consultant in the School of Public Administration and Management and Principal Mzumbe University Mbeya Campus Collage. Over the years Mollel has developed expertise through formal education, hands-on training trainings and specific assignment conducted in the areas of Health Systems Management, Health Monitoring and Evaluation, HIV and AIDS Response, Human Resources for Health, Development and Review of Policies and guidelines, and Local Governance. He has successfully managed two research projects in Tanzania as part of his postdoctoral studies, the monitoring and evaluation of the Pay for Performance (P4P) Pilot Initiative in Pwani Region and the Support, Train and Empowers Managers (STEM) project. Prof. Mollel is a Principal Investigator in five projects 1) Health Systems strengthening Project that focuses on providing “Technical Assistance to Government of Tanzania (GOT) and Public Health Institutions (PHIs) toward Sustained Health Systems Strengthening in Tanzania under PEPFAR”; 2) USAID Afya Endelevu Project that focuses on “Supporting the Tanzania’s Human Resources for Health (HRH) strategies and accelerating national response to HIV/AID, RMNCH and Health Services delivery; 3) RCE-VIHSCM project that focuses on “Assessment of the Use of Technologies and Innovations for VIHSCM and Its Effect on Access and Utilization of Vaccines and Immunization Services in Mainland Tanzania for Strengthening VIHSCM System through Integration and Translation into Policies and; 4) COVID-19 project that focuses on investigating the “Ongoing Adaptations to COVID-19 Containment in Africa: Lessons from Tanzania and; The Irish Research Council COALESCE Research Fund Scheme 2021/2022 to implement the project titled: Gendered Leadership Advancing Systems and Structures: Through Collective Leadership, Networks and Mentorship (GLASS)”. Prof. Mollel is also a technical expert for the “Partnership for Data Use Initiative for the Health Sector” Implemented by PATH in Collaboration with Mzumbe University through its Department of Health Systems Management in supporting the Government of Tanzania to realize the goal of digital health roadmap. He is a stand consultant for the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC) and President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG). Currently Prof Mollel is the Chairman of the Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group (TWG) of the National AIDS, STIs and Viral Hepatitis Control Program (NASHCoP) and a member of the Human Resources for Health Technical Working Group of the MoH.
Lawrencia Mushi, MD
Lawrencia Mushi (PhD) is a senior lecturer, researcher, and consultant in the Department of Health Systems Management and Head of Quality Assurance Unit at Mzumbe University. She has 18years of experience in teaching health related courses including Policy and Planning, health Systems Research, Social Science research Ethics for vulnerable population, Health Monitoring and Evaluation and Implementation Science Courses. She has conducted both Systematic and original research in the areas of Cost of Illness, Health Insurance, Vaccine, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management (VIHSCM), Essential Medicine and Medical Supplies, Implementation Science and Health Program Evaluation Research in poor resource settings. She has worked at the capacity of Director and Head of Quality Assurance at the Directorate/Quality assurance Unit providing technical support and guidance in Review and Development of Higher Learning Institution curriculum.
She has worked with both local, regional and international organizations at the capacity of PI, Co-PI and technical person. She has also been engaged in the development of Ministry of Health training programs such a Tanzania Field Epidemiology and laboratory Training Program (FELTP), FELTP strategic Plan 2021/2022- 2025/2026 and regional Strategic Plans including Shinyanga Regional Strategic Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (RSP-VAWC) 2019/2020-2023/2024. Currently She is working with MWOTAJI Project as Programme developer where she is engaged in the designing, accreditation, and Implementation of Implementation Science Programme. She is also a peer reviewer in the East African Journal of Applied Health Monitoring and Evaluation since 2018.
Daniel Mwendwa Maweu, BSN, RN, MSN
Daniel Maweu RN, MSN, serves as the co-director of Global Action In Nursing at Partners In Health, which is a global healthcare and social justice organization dedicated to improving the health of underprivileged and marginalized communities. Daniel is a nurse-midwife and reproductive healthcare educator with over ten years of cumulative professional experience in clinical midwifery, clinical mentorship, perioperative nursing, and midwifery education in both Kenya and Liberia.
In his current role, he supports nursing and midwifery workforce development initiatives in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Malawi through training, mentorship, and quality improvement empowerment initiatives. He specializes in midwifery education, curriculum development, coaching, and health system building. Daniel has a proven track record in developing and implementing resilient maternal health systems in midwifery education and mentorship programs. He is dedicated to providing respectful and dignified reproductive health services for all women and their families.
Daniel holds two master’s degrees, one in Nursing with specialization in Midwifery from Mount Kenya University, Kenya, and a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Stirling, Scotland. Additionally, he has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Kenyatta University and an advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Global Maternal and Child Health from James Lind Institute, Switzerland.
Bertha Mwinuka, MD
Bertha Mwinuka is a lecturer at the Department of Health Systems Management at Mzumbe University in Morogoro, Tanzania. With over eight years of experience at the university, she has taught a wide range of courses within the Health Systems Management department, with a particular focus on health financing. She has also supervised numerous research projects for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, guiding them in exploring critical areas related to health system performance and financial sustainability. Bertha’s research interests are deeply rooted in health financing, where she explores the financial mechanisms that impact the accessibility, efficiency, and equity of healthcare delivery. Her work delves into the design and implementation of health financing systems, aiming to improve resource allocation and financial risk protection, particularly in low- and middle-income settings like Tanzania. Additionally, her research encompasses Emergency and Disaster Management, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Public Health.
Louisa Ndunyu, MA, PhD
Dr. Louisa Ndunyu leads several Maseno University-UCSF-KEMRI programs including 1) the Sustainable Development for Improving HIV Health in Kenya (SD4H-K) as a multiple Principal Investigator (mPI). This postgraduate Fellowship Training program is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), alongside other subgrants. 2) The Future of Reproductive Health Research (FOR) Kenya also runs under her leadership as the co-PI. The FOR Training program in qualitative research, mentorship and support for young women is funded by the Hewlett Packard Foundation. 3) The Innovations for Choice and Autonomy (ICAN), a multicountry study project in which she is co-Investigator, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Louisa, a demographer and population health specialist, is Senior Lecturer and Chair, Department of Public Health at Maseno University, with special interest in reproductive research. Under her leadership, the Department of Public Health aims to be an excellent global leader in public health discovery, innovations, dissemination of knowledge, committed to community service in pursue of Universal Health Coverage for healthy populations. All with the ultimate aim of making a difference in public health training, research, policy and practice. Strengthened collaborations with the UCSF will help leverage resources and catapult the Department to greater heights of international excellence.
Nelson Njau
As the Head of the Department of Pharmacy at Muhimbili National Hospital with vast experience in pharmaceutical business, regulation, design and implementing various public health interventions programs through pharmacies in Tanzania, I am well equipped to serve as the lead pharmacist and Co-Investigator in collaboration with MPIs Dr. Chiu and Dr. Sheria and collaborators Maisha Meds on the proposed study, Leveraging novel community pharmacy network data to address unmet needs in HIV service delivery. The goal of this proposal is to expand public health infrastructure for HIV services by establishing sustainable private pharmacy distribution channels that effectively reach underserved key and vulnerable populations (KVPs). With expertise in Supply Chain and Health Economics, I’m well set to analyze shopkeepers’ sales and pricing behavior in the context of experimentally variation in monetary and non-monetary incentives and interpret results through microeconomic theory. I participated in the designing and analyzing for a similar study in 2022 that was assessing the financial and non–financial motivators that promote retention and performance of health care workers at Council levels in Tanzania. In summary, I have far-reaching familiarity working with private sector pharmacy practice in Tanzania and am well equipped to be part of the proposed study given my thoughtful of the context which is required to appropriately interpret the multifaceted analytical outputs of this analysis.
Nokuthula Gloria Nkosi, PhD
Nokuthula Gloria Nkosi is a mental health nurse specialist. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in the Nursing Education Department. She lectures undergraduate nursing students and supervises PhD and MSc students. She coordinated innovation and research in the nursing department. Dr Nkosi’s niche area is mental health promotion using psychosocial interventions. She presented and published her research nationally and internationally and co-authored book chapters. Her research project is currently aimed at standardizing psychosocial interventions for vulnerable populations in poor-resourced communities. She has a private practice that aims at promoting the mental well-being of women during pregnancy. Outside her working time, she is a radio DJ on a health and wellness show.
Saber Perdes, MD, MPH
Saber Perdes, MD, MPH is currently advisor for the grants and contributions division at the Global Affairs Canada and founder of Nezarat Consulting Ltd. Previously, Perdes was advisor to the Afghanistan Minister of Public Health and a part time lecturer of Health Management at Moraa Educational Complex, Kabul Afghanistan.
He is a confident, resourceful, and innovative public health professional with extensive experience in health and development in post-conflict and disaster-affected communities. He has more than 15 years of professional experience in public health, research, management, and leadership in government and Non-Government Organizations. In a voluntary capacity, Perdes has served as a mentor of the ITAPS program, vice president and board member of the Afghanistan Cancer Foundation and International Relations Coordinator at the Afghanistan National Public Health Association.
Perdes holds a Medical Doctorate (MD) from Shaikh Zayed University, Afghanistan, and a Master’s of Public Health from Saint Louis University, United States. He was awarded a United National Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Fellowship in 2008 and a Fulbright Scholarship in 2009. He is fluent in English, Dari, Pashtu and Hindi.
Tony Raj, MBB, MD
St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences
Dean of the SJRI, professor of physiology, head & founder of the division of Medical Informatics. Dr Raj has built capacity and strengthened the institute’s digital health platforms to meet international standards and support health information, e-learning systems and e- data capture systems. Our collaborative adherence study greatly benefitted from his expertise during the development of “Tel-me-box” -a pill box that signals our server when opened. Training the next generation of global health researchers is a priority, through fellowships such as GloCal and MHIRT and informally with students from UCSF and Berkeley. SJRI-UCSF collaboration has resulted in the establishment of a solid joint research and training infrastructure.
Said Iftekhar Sadaat, MD, MPH
Mili Institute of Higher Education
Said Iftekhar Sadaat MD, MPH is currently the deputy head of health programs at the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and lecturer of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Mili Institute of Higher Education in Afghanistan. He has an MD degree in General Medicine from Nangarhar Medical University in Afghanistan, and also has a Master of Public Health from Kaplan University, USA with one-year epidemiology and biostatistics taught program from Saint Louis University, Missouri, USA. Formerly, he was the director of research and evaluation in the Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan. He has worked in health research, monitoring, and evaluation, and health information systems for 15 years.
Mohammad Sediq, MD, MPH
Mohammad Sediq Hazratzai, MD, MPH – Public Health Institute (PHI) – is a qualified Principal Investigator affiliated with the Public Health Institute (PHI). He has played a key role in promoting health equity and addressing disparities in the health of immigrant and refugee populations. With over a decade of experience in public health research and humanitarian health programs, Sediq currently serves as a visiting professor at the University of California Davis where he teaches refugee health and comparative health systems. He has collaborated with non-profit organizations, IOM (UN Migration Agency), and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health on various projects aimed at improving the health of vulnerable populations, such as refugees, migrants, Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), and HIV high-risk groups. Sediq is also the founding director of Sehat Initiative (SI), a PHI project dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of refugees from Afghanistan.
Fred Semitala, MMed, MPH, ImS
Makerere University
Dr. Semitala trained in medicine at Makerere, completed an MPH at Berkeley and the Implementation Science Certificate at UCSF. He is the Medical Director of the Mulago HIV/AIDS Clinic the Director of Implementation Research at Makerere’s Joint AIDS Program. He is a co-investigator for a NIH D43 to build capacity in Implementation Science at Makerere. He has been the focal person in studies to streamline TB diagnosis, care & prevention among people living with HIV, as well as improving retention in care.
Hamid Sharifi, PhD, DVM
Hamid Sharifi, PhD is a professor of Epidemiology at Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Iran. He is also the director of the HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, which is a WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, located at KMU. Sharifi obtained his veterinary medicine degree from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in 2002 and completed his Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the University of Tehran in 2011.
Sharifi’s research interests focus on drug use and addiction, sexual health, and the epidemiology of infectious diseases, with a special emphasis on HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and Hepatitis among key populations. He has undertaken numerous projects throughout his career, taking on roles as a Principal Investigator (PI), Co-PI, or Project Manager in countries such as Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
In addition to his research work, Sharifi has also played a mentorship role in guiding and supervising numerous students in the fields of Epidemiology and Public Health, including 15 Ph.D. and 27 Master’s students. He has also taught various courses for Ph.D. and Master’s programs, covering topics such as Principles and Approaches of Epidemiology, Causal Inferences, Cohort Studies, Clinical Trial Studies, Research Methodology, and Infectious Diseases Epidemiology. Sharifi has organized several short courses and workshops related to HIV and hidden populations both in Iran and abroad, covering areas such as population size estimation, cascade analysis, mapping, size estimation, sampling methods of hidden populations, and scientific writing.
Additionally, Sharifi has developed various training materials for the courses he conducted. He participated as a mentee in the Institute’s International Traineeships in AIDS Prevention Studies (ITAPS) at UCSF, where he was mentored by Ali Mirzazadeh and Willi McFarland in 2016. Subsequently, he served as a mentor in the program in 2017 and 2021.
Ali Sié, MD, PhD
Nouna Health Research Centre / National Institute of Public Health
Ali Sié is director, clinical epidemiologist and team leader on “Disease Control” at the Nouna Health Research Centre (CRSN), one of the major research institutions of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) at the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso. He is strongly committed to infectious disease research with more emphasis on child survival and also has a growing interest on health system and environment research. He is leading the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) established since 1992 and member of the INDEPTH network. He is one of the leaders of the current generation of public health research in West Africa.
Krishnamachari Srinivasan, MD
St. John’s Medical College
Head, Div of Mental Health and Neurosciences. Dr. Srini is building a pipeline of global mental health researchers, particularly in the context of stigma and access to care. Beyond his support of trainees at St John’s, he has served as international mentor within MHRIT, Harvard Global Institute, & GloCal. Dr. Srini collaborated on an influential paper describing implementation of an innovative mental health care service delivery called the Collaborative Care Model in India and Nepal, leading to a panel presentation at the NIMH annual conference on Global Mental Health research in 2019, and our current submission of an RO1.
Rachel Thompson, PhD
Rachel Thompson is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Ghana and the Director of Africa Interdisciplinary Research Institute. Her research is situated in the field of ethnography of communication, specifically in the areas of digital media interactions, health communication, and political discourse. She is also interested in understanding the linguistic practices of healthcare professionals on social media platforms in relation to maternal and child healthcare, HIV prevention, treatment and care as well as the discourse surrounding mental health in the Ghanaian culture. She is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and conducts her research projects with this in mind. Rachel is interested in capacity building for undergraduate students, graduate students, and early career researchers. Rachel has a deep-seated passion for helping the youth and making a difference in their lives. She is one of the founding directors of the Africa Interdisciplinary Health Conference. Rachel holds a PhD from Griffith University, Australia. She obtained her MPhil and bachelor’s degrees from University of Ghana and University of Cape Coast, respectively.