Fardin Fazl: A Family Physician from Afghanistan, Vice President for Afghanistan Family Medicine Association(AFMA) and permanent member of WONCA. I graduated from Kabul Medical University in 2011 and successfully completed 3-year Family Medicine residency in Cure and Afshar International Hospitals (Both are US-based Hospitals in the country) in 2014, in Kabul. I have the honor of working with Global Health committed volunteer physicians for the last 5 years and I’m an active member of Global Health Development Website (GHDonline.com) through which I got UpToDate free subscription for all AFMA members. Now, more than hundred family doctors practice evidence-based medicine throughout the country, using UpToDate. I also have the honor of registering AFMA with WONCA and registering Family Medicine as a recognized and separate field of specialty with the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan(AFMA) for the first time in 2015. My hobbies are reading, traveling around and participating in philanthropic activities.

Lourdwige Felizor: I graduated from school of medicine of University Notre Dame of Haiti, in Port-au-Prince. I’m actually a third year internal medicine resident at the University Hospital of Mirebalais, Haiti. In the future i would like in addition to the clinical medicine get involved in global health to find other strategies to respond to health problems in countries with resources limited like mine. Work more with the community to better know their needs and also encourage them to engage. In my free time I like to observe nature.

Zeenat Gonzalez: I was born and raised back on the East Coast in Maryland where as a new grad I began my nursing career working at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Recently this year, I left Maryland and moved out to California as a travel nurse working assignments along the central coast. Ever since nursing school, I’ve always had an interest in Global Health and a desire to someday work with global organizations. I’m seeking the opportunity to get my feet wet in the global health community and I found out about this boot camp and thought it would be a great place to start. My current interests are in the refugee crisis and women empowerment. I love to travel, meet new people, and spend time outdoors hiking and exploring. I love California but I would give anything to eat some Maryland blue crabs!

Anagha Jain: I am interested in how diet effects health and how to provide care that does not involve drugs to those suffering ailments such as DM, and inflammatory diseases, and heart disease around the world. I would like to see a decrease in animal product consumption around the world as I believe it contributes to global warming and the destruction of our environment. Combining  Eastern and Ayuvedic traditions along with Western medicine technology would be one of my goals.  Outside of medicine, I like to knit.

Zhenya Krapivinsky: I completed my residency in Internal Medicine/Social Medicine at Einstein Montefiore in the Bronx. After graduating I moved to Rwanda to work with the Human Resources for Health Project and help Rwandan doctors expand their workforce and improve the quality of medical education in the country. There, I fell in love with teaching and that for me has been an amazing learning journey that I never could have anticipated. I am now working as an academic hospitalist here in San Francisco. Recently, I started teaching the residents at my community hospital a curriculum in underserved medicine – this has allowed me to stay connected to issues in global health. I came to this Global Health Boot Camp hoping to connect with a community of people who share my passion about health equity and who may want to collaborate on projects that further this cause both domestically and internationally. And most of all, I hope to connect with a mentor who can advise me on steps to take, things to learn, experience to gain so that I may grow to become a maximally useful facilitator to those working to ensure equitable health for their own citizens. In addition to working for three years in Rwanda, teaching, writing curriculum, setting up a residency program and managing procurement, I have some time working at a district hospital in Western Uganda where I was a volunteer physician looking after a 140 person inpatient medical ward. I love love love to dance. I can boogie to monks chanting, really, the music is always in my head.

Brooke LaDuca: I went to med school at USC. I completed my residency training at Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine, where I am currently the director of inpatient medicine. I completed the Johns Hopkins summer institute in tropical medicine and public health in 2012. I have traveled and provided care throughout Central and South America and Southeast Asia. Most recently, I helped develop a 3 year longitudinal primary care curriculum for local physicians in Cao Bang, Vietnam. When I am not working, I like to travel, cook, drink wine in Paso Robles and compete in triathlons.

Esther Li-Bland: I was born and grew up in Toronto, Canada, but spent some time living in Taiwan as a child. I did my undergraduate studies, medical school and residency (Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine) at the University of Toronto. I currently work in primary care at a community health clinic/FQHC called Asian Health Services in Oakland, serving low-income/uninsured immigrants and refugees. My first exposure to international health was the summer before med school, when I went to Calcutta, India and volunteered with Mother Theresa’s hospices/orphanages. During medical school I did an elective at a mission hospital in Angola. During residency I did another elective at a rural hospital in Zambia. I’m currently looking to go on another short term global health trip (1-2 months) and have a preference for Africa or Asia. I’m interested in public health, and plan on pursuing a Masters of Public Health degree sometime in the next 5 years. I’m also interested in medical education/capacity building and primary care in resource-poor settings. My husband is also interested in doing long-term development work, and so we hope to potentially move overseas in the next few years. Non-medical things about me: I like playing piano, tennis, and biking, and I miss Canadian politics!

Stephanie Lin: I am a vascular surgeon in private practice.  I have been interested in global health and medical mission work since medical school, but I have never been able to make the time to make a focused effort to learn about it, understand it and do it as well as I would like.  I fantasize about taking several months off to do something like Doctors Without Borders one day, or even working for the CDC.  I also sometimes think about doing postgraduate studies in global health in the future. I have been on several medical missions in various places overseas over the last 8+ years – always as a clinician, but also helping with organizing logistics (ie supplies, staff, etc) in advance.  However, all of these trips are short-term (ie 1-2wks only), so I’ve never been able to have a more longitudinal, in-depth experience. I love scuba diving but also don’t get to do it often enough.

Sarah Lovern: As the Clinical Data and Quality Improvement Analyst at Children’s HeartLink, I am responsible for the clinical data collection and analysis and the quality improvement work at our partner sites in the countries where we work: Brazil, China, Malaysia, Vietnam and India. Children’s HeartLink is a nonprofit organization working in partnership with pediatric cardiac programs in underserved regions of the world to promote sustainable cardiac care for children with heart disease. In addition to working part-time at Children’s HeartLink, I also have a part-time position in the Pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive care Unit at Children’s Minnesota, where I have cared for pediatric patients with congenital heart defects following open heart surgery for the past five years. I have a Master of Science in Nursing Leadership from East Carolina University and a B.S. in Biology and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When I’m not nursing, I enjoy reading historical fiction.

Tennessee Mackenzie: I’m excited to learn new ultrasound skills, as this is an imaging modality that is challenging for me. In my current practice, most of my experience is with GYN ultrasound for early pregnancy localization and dating and I hope this session will expand on these skills. My global health experiences include short trips to Latin America as a medical student and working as a locum tenens general practitioner in small towns in Canada and New Zealand. I recently spent a week’s vacation hiking in the Sierras and climbing Mt Whitney.

Sarah Moore: I grew up in MI and did my training at Tulane in New Orleans (medical school, MPH (in tropical medicine) and internal medicine residency). During that time I did a research practicum in India and worked in and ICU in Colombia. After residency I did locums work in rural Maine and with the Indian Health Service in New Mexico. I know work as a teaching hospitalist in Portland, OR. I would like to find a way to get re-involved with global health, while continuing with my current position. In my free time, I love hiking and music festivals.

Katie Morales: I’ve been wanting to delve deeper into the world of global health. I’m looking not just to do intermittent volunteer trips but to make a career out of this work, I’m just not sure how to go about getting started.  I’m planning on applying to the UCSF masters in global health, and looking for any pointers or guidance on how to turn my passion for global health into a career. I’ve worked primarily in Latin America as a volunteer nurse. The first program was in Quito Ecuador where i worked with a local doctor seeing patient’s and family’s in a family health clinic. I also spent two months in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala working as the sole health care provider in a small community clinic that serviced the local orphanage and community. I actually lived in the orphanage with a group of girls age 5-12, I looked after them on my down time and took them on outings on weekends.  I currently work in a Federally Qualified Health Center in east bay as a Family Nurse Practitioner, providing primary health care to undeserved populations,  and undocumented immigrants. I LOVE hot yoga and I love San Francisco (I’m a Bay area native!).

Kabiru Ohikere: I am a Nigerian-trained physician and just completed a Masters in Healthcare Administration at California State University, East Bay. Before I came to the United States for my postgraduate study in spring 2015, I worked about three years as a resident doctor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology in a federal medical center in Nigeria. My core areas of clinical duties were Antenatal Care, Postnatal clinic, Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health / Nutrition.  I hope to use my balance of clinical medicine experience and health care administration graduate classes to improve individual and population health either as an individual or whenever I have the opportunity to work with a team of health professionals with the same vision. I enjoy watching soccer and my favorite club is Barcelona FC of Spain.

Amy Patton: I am a Family Nurse Practitioner from Washington, DC. I practice in a community health setting, traveling to 25 clinics across the undeserved regions of DC. I firmly believe access to excellent health care should be a right, not a privilege, and I am reminded daily how far we are from achieving this goal. I have great personal interest in travel and take every opportunity I have to explore a new country and immerse myself in new cultures. I have explored 35 countries (and counting!) including one year spent on a solo round-the-world adventure. I have experience providing healthcare at The World Bank HQ in DC where my interest in global health was born and I am hoping to learn more about career paths within the global health community. I am a mom, an adrenaline junkie, and scared to death of raw meat.

Jusel Ruelan: Is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Family and Community Medicine Department at UCSF Fresno. She graduated from Stanford University with a concentration in International Health, went on to study medicine in Arizona and completed her residency in Family Medicine at UCSF Fresno. She has worked in rural settings in the Philippines in direct patient care and service projects. Now that residency is done, she has time to pursue her interests in cooking, learning new sports, and traveling.

Lea Ross: I am an adult health nurse practitioner, and I currently work in inpatient General Surgery at UCSF. My only experience working abroad was a Christmas-break trip to volunteer at a clinic in Calcutta, India when I was in college. More recently, in addition to my paid work, I was a volunteer healthcare provider at Glide Health Services in the Tenderloin. I currently volunteer with a local engaged-philanthropy organization called Full Circle Fund, through which I work on a team of volunteer consultants to help Bay Area nonprofits which focus on aspects of community health. I am interested in learning how I might be able to make an impact in global health, and hope to learn techniques and skills that can be applied in resource-poor settings both in the US and abroad. When I’m not at work, I enjoy travel (particularly in Southeast Asia) and Ashtanga yoga.

Andrea Shaw: I am from Syracuse NY.  I completed my undergraduate studies at Cornell University and medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University.  I spent one additional year during this training doing clinical research in Moshi, Tanzania.  I went to Duke for my combined training in internal medicine & pediatrics.  I worked at UCLA in a combined primary care position for 2.5 years and left 12/2015 to pursue a career in refugee medicine in Syracuse New York and global health work in South Sudan.  I split my year to be half time in each location, although plans have been on hold these past 2 months due to insecurity in South Sudan.  Outside of medicine, I enjoy time outdoors–biking, hiking, swimming, and spending time with my family.

Chris Zamani: I am a family medicine physician practicing ambulatory care in the Contra Costa county health care system. I trained at Contra Costa County Family Medicine Residency and participated in the global health tract. I have had the opportunity to engage in some limited global health service; at Machame Lutheran Hospital in Machame Tanzania in 2009, Two trips at one and six months after the Haiti earthquake to Port Au Prince, Haiti in 2010, and at Kadoma General Hospital in Kadoma Zimbabwe in 2012. I am interested in domestic and global health disparities and the process dedicated to finding sustainable solutions. I love to read, cook and garden.