Current Fellows

Mr. Abdeen will spend his fellowship year at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru under the mentorship of Patricia Garcia, MD, MPH, PhD, and Evelyn Hsieh, MD, PhD. His research will focus on risk factors and prevalence of hand osteoarthritis among patients with HIV. Mr. Abdeen is a third-year medical student at the Penn State College of Medicine. He aspires to become a holistic and culturally adept orthopedic surgeon that has the means to affect people in a multitude of ways. His faith, Islam, has been the main source of influence throughout his life. His career trajectory has been influenced by Drs. Fadia Kamal, John Elfar, and David Glazier.

Dr. Abubakar will spend his fellowship year at the University of Jos in Nigeria under the mentorship of Jonah Musa, MBBS, MSCI, PhD and Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD. His research will focus on factors influencing cervical cancer screening among women living with HIV in Nigeria using a case-control study design. Dr. Abubakar received his Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He aspires to become an independent researcher and expert in global health. He has over five years of experience working as a physician and as an incidence manager of the polio emergency operations center in Nigeria (IM-EOC), and he has assisted with health research.

Dr. Ali will spend her fellowship year at the National Cancer Institute in Jos, Nigeria under the mentorship of Jonah Musa, MBBS, MSCI, PhD, and Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD. Her research will focus on behavioral and microbiological determinants of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections among HIV positive adolescent girls and young women in Jos, Nigeria. Dr. Ali is a medical doctor at the University of Jos. She aims to become an independent investigator studying the epidemiology and prevention of HPV infection and cervical cancer among the Nigerian population. She has over six years of experience providing clinical services, conducting clinical research, training, and advocating for contemporary issues related to women and their reproductive health.

Ms. Block Ngaybe will spend her fellowship year at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda under the mentorship of Agnes Kiragga, PhD, Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD, John Ehiri, PhD, MPH, MSc, and Maia Ingram, MPH. Her research will focus on determinants of prospective uptake of a preventative HIV vaccine among the most at-risk populations in Uganda. Ms. Block Ngaybe is a PhD Candidate at the University of Arizona. She enjoys conducting research and teaching and would love to be a professor at a university at some point in her career. She also hopes to have a career practicing health promotion, perhaps within the university where she works, or with the US government or a non-governmental organization. Her main career and personal influences have been her parents, a doctor and nutritionist, who inspire her in their work helping serve a rural border town in Arizona. She has also been highly influenced by her mentor and advisor, Purnima Madhivanan, a leader in global health and health advocacy and justice.

Dr. Cifuentes will spend her fellowship year at Institute of Microbiology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador under the mentorship of Paúl A. Cárdenas MD, DIC, PhD, and Jay Graham, PhD, MBA, MPH. Her research will focus on evaluating the temporal shifts of pathogenic bacteria, mobile genetic elements, and the public health risk of resistance determinants in children's gut microbiota in peri-urban communities of Quito, Ecuador. Dr. Cifuentes is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. She plans to lead research on antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases using a metagenomic approach and to contribute to community health and development in Ecuador. During her training as a medical doctor and microbiologist, she had the opportunity to observe populations with poor access to safe water. This experience shaped her interest in developing solutions from a one-health and global health perspective to prevent infectious diseases and the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Mr. LeBoa will spend his fellowship year at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (iccdr,b) in Bangladesh under the mentorship of Nadia Rimi, MS, Layla Kwong, PhD, and Jay Graham, PhD, MBA, MPH. His research will focus on preventing airborne spillover of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Bangladeshi live poultry markets. Mr. LeBoa is a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. He hopes to work between government and non-government actors globally to implement interventions meant to reduce infectious disease spillover, especially in areas of migration and displacement. He believes that the way work happens and the relationships between people are as important as the goals of the research itself. He is influenced by scholars like Sibyl Diver and Emily Polk in their work organizing multidisciplinary teams. He will walk in the footsteps of Drs. Steve Luby and Jason Andrews who work between government and academics fluidly.

Dr. Mabuto will spend his fellowship year at the Aurum Institute in South Africa under the mentorship of Salome Charalambous, MBChB, PhD and Luke Davis, MD. His research will focus on evaluating the organizational culture of primary health clinics to support quality improvement efforts in South Africa's HIV programs. Dr. Mabuto is a Senior Scientist at the Aurum Institute. Following the completion of his doctorate studies, he decided to focus his career on implementation science research and program evaluations, as these are key areas that are relevant to transforming how HIV programs improve the outcomes of people living with HIV in underserved areas and among populations at risk of being left out of country responses. His overall goal is to conduct contextually-relevant and pragmatic research that improves the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of interventions into routine primary healthcare programs.

Dr. Macharia will spend his fellowship year at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya under the mentorship of Cyrus Mugo, MBChB, MPH, PhD and Christine Ngaruiya, MD, MSc, DTMH. His research will focus on a user-centered approach to designing a social media app to foster interaction, peer learning and HIV awareness among adolescents and young adults. Dr. Macharia is a Human-Centered Design Researcher at Kenyatta National Hospital. Guided by human-centered design approach, his research will focus on designing a social media app fostering interaction, peer learning and HIV awareness among adolescents and young adults in urban, peri-urban and rural settings in Kenya. As a computer scientist by training, he has spent the last 14 years leveraging digital health technologies to improve access and quality of healthcare in resource-limited settings.

Dr. Maghini will spend her fellowship year at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa under the mentorship of Scott Hazelhurst, PhD and Ami Bhatt, MD, PhD. Her research will focus on determining risk factors for HIV-associated comorbidity development in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Maghini is a researcher at Stanford University. She aims to lead a research team that leverages equitable partnerships to study human genomics in a global health context and to inform and advocate for local and international policy changes. Her research experiences in genomics led her to more broadly consider the applications of -omics research in addressing pressing issues in global health. Her graduate studies in data science components of global health shaped her appreciation for the importance of community-engaged and equitable global research.

Dr. Matifary will spend her fellowship year at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, under the mentorship of Dr. John Kinuthia, MBChB, MMed OB/GYN, MPH Dr. Christine Ngaruiya, MD, MSc, DTMH, and Dr. Irene Inwani, MBChB, MMed, MPH. Her research will focus on assessing the feasibility of implementing a trauma registry at the emergency department of a national hospital in Kenya. Dr. Matifary is a family physician at the African Leadership University. Her career goals are to improve her quantitative and qualitative research skills and grant writing, and to improve the management of trauma patients in the ED.

Elise grew up in Columbia, MO before moving to the East coast to attend Vassar College where she majored in biochemistry and political science. She then attended The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine where she received an MSc in Control of Infectious Disease. She did her master’a theses in Zambia. She then worked at The Brookings Institution doing research on health policy. She attended medical school at Brown University where she also received a ScM in Population Health. For her master’s thesis she worked with Syrian refugees living in Jordan.

Dr. Qin will spend her fellowship year at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia under the mentorship of Adeeba Kamarulzaman, MD, MBBS, FRACP, FASc, Frederick Altice, MD, MA, and Sheela Shenoi, MD, MPH. Her research will focus on mobile health technology and linkage to HIV care for individuals transitioning from prison to community in Malaysia, looking at implications for HIV and addiction treatment programs. Dr. Qin is a physician at Yale University. She is interested in developing her career as a global health researcher. Her experience working as a primary care physician using telemedicine has inspired her to investigate this technology as a tool to increase access to healthcare services. Her prior opportunities as a Fulbright-Fogarty fellow from 2014-2015 in China solidified her interest in pursuing global health research. She continues to be interested in working with marginalized populations and finding creative ways to increase access to healthcare.

Dr. Sultana will spend her fellowship year at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b) in Bangladesh under the mentorship of Dr. Firdausi Qadri, PhD and Dr. Layla Kwong, MS, PhD. Her research will focus on assessing the willingness-to-pay of consumers of poultry in the live bird markets of Dhaka city to understand the determinants for improved poultry-handling practices to advance biosecurity. Dr. Sultana is an Associate Scientist at icddr,b. She is a Cultural Epidemiologist with 22 years of experience in social and public health research and development, training and program implementation on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (e.g., Nipah, avian influenza, Japanese encephalitis, COVID-19), water and sanitation (e.g., hepatitis-E, diarrheal diseases), maternal and child health, and gender and development in Bangladesh. In addition, she has 17 years of extensive experience in public health research that includes anthropological research, quantitative survey administration, program monitoring and evaluation, policy focused research, economic burden studies, implementation of community-based preventive interventions, and outbreak investigation of diseases. She aims to continue her career as a public health researcher with a particular focus on infectious and emerging infectious diseases.

Dr. Sanchez Rodriguez will spend her fellowship year at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Hospital in Lima, Peru under the mentorship of Patricia Garcia, MD, MPH, PhD, Evelyn Hsieh, MD, PhD, and Eleanor Reid MD, MSc, PhD. Her research will focus on assessing the needs and barriers to palliative care services in emergency department settings in Lima, Perú. Dr. Sanchez Rodriguez is an Emergency Medicine Physician at Yale University. She aspires to evaluate and implement strategies to improve palliative and end of life care in Emergency Medicine units in Latin America. Her largest influence stems from her experience as an Emergency Medicine Resident in her home, Puerto Rico. Limited resources and organization often hindered physician ability to provide comprehensive and sensible care to patients nearing their end of life.

Dr. Turimumahoro will spend her fellowship year at Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda under the mentorship of Achilles Katamba, MBChB, MSC, PHD and Luke Davis, MD, MAS. Her research will focus on the uptake of tuberculosis preventive therapy in resource limited settings. Dr. Turimumahoro is a medical doctor at Makerere University College of Health Sciences. She is an early career researcher with interests in the economics of population health and she has four years of experience doing implementation research to optimize community-based active case finding strategies. She aspires to become an independent researcher optimizing primary care strategies of public health importance. She was born and educated in Uganda, which is a resource-limited setting, and as a teenager she was a caregiver attending to her late father, who was being managed for chronic kidney failure. These personal experiences and the opportunity to work with passionate researchers such as Dr. Davis at Yale University and Dr. Katamba at Makerere University have shaped her decisions to participate, advocate and promote research that leads to incremental gains that can shape a more sustainable and equitable healthcare system.

Dr. Wandji will spend his fellowship year at the Atutur General Hospital located in Kumi District, Uganda, under the mentorship of Isaac Ssinabulya, MBChB, MMed and Jeremy Schwartz, MD, MPH. His research will focus on mental illness among caregivers of young children with sickle cell disease in rural Uganda. Dr. Wandji is a RN. His long-term goal is to become an independent global health scientist committed to developing and testing culturally-responsive intervention models to effectively prevent and treat non-communicable diseases, including mental health and substance use disorders, among rural and resource-limited populations in sub-Saharan Africa. His career has focused on population health programs among highly at risk and underserved minority populations, guided by the concepts of 'common good,’ ‘social justice,’ and ‘healthcare equity.’