James Bair: I am a mid-career healthcare professional (non-MD) with extensive background in Women’s Health and Pediatrics, as a strategic planner and clinical administrator. I have recently resigned my position at CPMC (effective Jan 5), and am taking a year to explore areas of personal and professional interest in global health. I first resided outside the US at the age of 17, when I did a two-year stint studying Mandarin at the Beijing Language Institute (Beijing, PRC). I hold an MA in International Policy Studies, with a minor in Mandarin language studies.
My professional career has been largely based in academic medical centers. I was hired in 1993 as a manager of international marketing for Stanford Hospital and Clinics, representing that organization’s educational affiliations, clinical business ventures, and international patient services in Asia. I was director of Stanford’s International Medical Services program from 1996 to 2000. From 2000 to 2008 I was an independent consultant to Stanford Hospital for the international department and on many other hospital-based clinical programs. It was during these consulting years that I increasingly turned my attention to US-based healthcare system challenges and opportunities.
From 2008 – 2014, I was the administrative director of Women’s Health at UCSF, responsible for management of 12 ambulatory practices then managed by the Department of OBGYN, including Maternal Fetal Medicine, General GYN, Women’s Health, Primary Care, REI services, Family Planning services, GYN Oncology and others. In 2014 I was recruited to California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) as Director of Strategic Service Line Development for Women’s & Children’s Services. In this capacity, I oversaw planning for OBGYN services, as well as pediatric specialty services. I was the lead administrator overseeing the joint venture between Stanford Children’s Health (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital) and CPMC for provision of pediatric specialty care in San Francisco.
My academic, professional and personal life has afforded me some interesting encounters with “global health.” I have spent extensive time in hospitals in China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines, where the system and service gaps can be glaring and the widely varied approaches to meeting care delivery demands provide an invitation to re-examine assumptions and priorities for providing effective healthcare services.
As impactful may have been my personal cross-cultural healthcare experiences: a dermatological condition, which kept me in and out of Chinese hospitals and clinics during my early years in Asia, and adopting my infant son (now 18) in Guatemala and navigating that country’s healthcare system through two acute clinical events, before finally bringing him home. These experiences have left me with indelible memories that continue to inform my understanding and interest in the broad field of global health.
Fundamentally, it is the intersection of compassionate clinical care and the systems that support delivery of care that is of greatest interest to me. In my view, examining this intersection in a global context adds both complexity and opportunity. I’m at a rare personal moment in which I have time and desire to better understand the current state of the field and to consider how I may want to work within it. It is also worth noting that my fiancé, Ryan Whitacre, is completing his doctorate in medical anthropology this year at UCSF. We are actively considering international career opportunities that allow us to “serve the cause” and meet our professional aspirations, while keeping us in close proximity to one another.
Robin Baltrushes: I am interested in working abroad for 1 year on a sort of sabbatical from my primary care job and considering Colombia. Wondering how to do that without having to get licensed in Colombia? Maybe there is an US organization I could work through? My most formative was working at a district hospital in Lesotho and most recent was working in Haiti at a trauma hospital in port au prince which was really intense and challenging. I have a 14 month old!
Carolyn Bell: I am a Family Nurse Midwife who is passionate about Global Maternal Child Health matters and eager for an update in current Global Health issues and skills. I’ve worked on MCH projects in Haiti, Peru, and Tibet, mostly training local health workers in midwifery and emergency OB/newborn skills, and look forward to doing more in the future. From almost the first day of my first project in Peru in 1988, I was struck by how culture-bound all of our medical training is. What I’d learned in eight years of medical/midwifery education was not very useful. Much was not relevant or even possible given the practice realities there. It was a major lesson in cultural humility: learning from the local health workers, doing what’s possible in their context, given cultural and resource constraints, or better yet, empowering them to do it themselves.
After practicing as a midwife and FNP for almost 25 years, I returned to UC Berkeley to study Public Health, focusing on Global Maternal Child Health. Until then, I had no idea how grim the situation is for many of our sisters abroad, whose lifetime risk of dying in childbirth can be as high as 1in10. As clinicians, we get tunnel-vision, focusing on our patients and health care systems, and getting a broader, public health perspective was invaluable to me. The skills and contacts I gained launched me into work on MCH projects in several countries, designing and implementing training projects for local health care workers to enhance their skills and capabilities.
Since then, my global health work has included project design and management for a program training rural health workers in midwifery skills in Tibet, designing and conducting workshops in Emergency OB and NB skills for doctors, midwives, and nurses in rural Peru, and training Haitian midwifery students in Home Based Life-Saving Skills and emergency care. I’ve conducted site visits and participated in community-based as well as NIH-funded research projects. Even small efforts go a long way in GH.
One success story: our training project in Tibet was taken over by local staff since the ouster of foreign NGOs from Tibet/China after the uprising in 2008, and they have since taken it to scale. We were proud to have trained 200 health workers in midwifery skills over five years in just two small counties. Since we left, the local project has extended to all areas of the Tibetan region and have trained almost 2000 rural health workers over eight years. The whole idea in Global Health is to train ourselves out of a job.
For the past decade, I’ve needed to focus on work closer to home, leaving little time for global projects. I’ve recently stepped down from the role of Chief CNM at Kaiser Santa Rosa, as I ease toward retirement. As I transition into the next phase of my career, I look forward to doing more gardening, reading, and travel. I remain passionate about Global MCH, and am grateful for the opportunity to catch up on the latest by participating in this workshop.
Constance Borden: I have been fortunate to experience a diversity of positions and settings in healthcare. I have been a bedside nurse, a NP in rural Mississippi, a NP/administrative nurse at an academic urban clinic, an executive director for a nonprofit hospice and for the past 14 years, I was the advance practice nurse providing inpatient palliative care consultations. I am curious how I might enhance palliative care on a global level and hope to gain the tools for program assessment, ethics and implementation of programs. I have studied a body movement called Shintaido for the past 34 years. This study encompasses both physical training and spiritual growth. Through my study of Shintaido, I have been able to travel to Italy, Czech Republic, France, England and Japan and, with this exposure to other countries, I have glimpsed the diversity of cultures. I included Shintaido for Healing during my time as an executive director of hospice through providing one-day workshops for caregivers.
Mark Caplin: At the tender age of 4, my English parents moved me from London, England to Los Angeles, CA. The my (gypsy) parents moved to a small town of 300 in rural Northern California. All of my schooling was in the US, so I feel like a Yank, even though my roots are British. I developed my interest in medicine while in High School watching the TV show, “Emergency!” I wanted to be a Paramedic, badly, so after High School I joined the Navy to become a hospital Corpsman. I spent part of my time in a hospital and then was shipped off to the “fleet” with the Marine Corps. We sailed around the Pacific and I got to see many countries on Uncle Sam’s dime. Being English my parents always went on holiday for the Summer. I think that’s where I developed my love for travel. After the Navy I went Paramedic school and worked as a paramedic for over 20 years. Using my time off to travel, learn to scuba dive and sail fit my traveling lifestyle quite well. I then went to PA school and became a member of a Federal Disaster team. My first deployment was to Haiti for the earthquake. After that I became a civilian contractor to the military in Afghanistan, working with contractors from all over the world. My recent deployment was to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands for the hurricanes. I grew up listening to bagpipes and all things Scottish, so I enjoy Scottish Country Dancing. I think it’s because I look good in a kilt…
![DSCF0869[1] copy](https://globalhealthbootcamp.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/dscf08691-copy.jpg?w=234&h=192)
Nick Castaneda: I have been volunteering in third world countries since 2000. I usually go once or twice a year for a week or so. A few times I have gone for longer. I usually go to Honduras with one of 2 groups. My longest trip was 3 months in Ecuador. When I am away, I feel I am where I am supposed to be. I think you must understand that. I guess one reason I signed up for the course is to see what other opportunities there might be that I cannot just find on an internet search where I may devote more than 1 week at a time here and there. I also want to see how possible and practical it could be to devote more time to volunteering and teaching. I have had opportunities to teach in various places, and I enjoy that immensely. I have spent time in different parts of the world volunteering. I feel somewhat unfulfilled when I am back in the states. I also want to hear if others have the a similar passion or perspective that I do. I love living in California. My family is here, and I can live by the ocean with good weather. I enjoy traveling and surfing.
Michelle Caughey: Michelle Caughey is an Associate Executive Director for The Permanente Medical Group of Northern California. She has been in this role since 2012 with responsibility for Hospital Operations, Palliative Care and Life Care Planning, Ethics, Disaster Planning and Medical Legal oversight. From 1997 – 2011 Dr. Caughey served as the Physician in Chief (PIC) at Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco (SSF) and as a Director of the TPMG Board of Directors. Prior to becoming PIC at SSF she held several leadership roles including Chief of Medicine, Medical-Legal Chief and Assistant Physician in Chief. In 1986, Dr. Caughey developed a Hospice Program in SSF, and served as its medical director until 1996. That experience taught her many lessons about symptom management and compassion for patients facing the end of their lives. Dr. Caughey is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and attends patients in her office in South San Francisco. Dr. Caughey obtained her medical degree from Stanford University and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital. She spent a year in private practice in Philadelphia prior to returning to the San Francisco Bay area to join Kaiser Permanente in South San Francisco in 1983. Her experience with global health is modest, providing care after the earthquake in Pakistan in a very remote area by herself, with a midwife.
Josephine Czechowicz: I am a pediatric otolaryngologist and joined UCSF in January 2017. I have a strong interest in global health and want to build a clinical health research program at the intersection of Otolaryngology and global health. Most of my work has been in Lima, Peru. I spent a year as a Fogarty Clinical Research Training scholar there, and conducted a study of the prevalence of pediatric hearing loss and ear disease in a a community on the outskirts of Lima. Subsequent to that, I have also done work on ear health in children with HIV as well as work on implementation of newborn hearing screening programs in resource poor settings. While in Lima, I worked with a local university training residents in surgical skills for otological surgery. I have done smaller research projects in Chile and Equatorial Guinea and educational work in Zimbabwe. One interesting thing: I once spent three days racing 180 km down the Amazon river on a raft made of balsa wood logs.
Jessica Gaylord: Jessica Gaylord is a family nurse practitioner, currently working at a federally funded health center, serving patients from a range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. In addition to clinical practice she enjoys mentoring students and instructing in the classroom, which she did most extensively for a year in Switzerland at a masters level nursing program. She also had the opportunity to support teaching efforts at a nursing school in Tanzania. Prior to health care, she worked in environmental protection, in the areas of of air quality and solid waste management. Obviously the public good is important to her. Outside of work she likes to craft, exercise and travel with her husband and kids.
Lisa T. Hannegan: Ms. Hannegan is both a Nurse Practitioner and a Neuroscience Clinical Nurse Specialist who practiced within the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California San Francisco for over 25 years. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCSF School of Nursing. Ms. Hannegan has worked directly with thousands of patients with neurosurgical diagnoses and brings her considerable expertise to the Foundation. Lisa is a founder and Co-President of the Aneurysm and AVM Foundation. Ms. Hannegan’s current efforts are focused on Mission:BRAIN (Bridging Resources and Advancing International Neurosurgery), a non-profit of which she is a founding member. The organization is dedicated to bringing neurosurgical education and treatment to public hospitals internationally through hands-on surgeries, educational conferences, and donations of equipment. The foundation Board is currently planning a scholarship program to allow international neurosurgery residents to spend time in clinical observer positions with surgeons within the United States. Ms. Hannegan’s motivation to serve as board member is fueled by her appreciation of the challenges faced by neurosurgery patients, the lessons she has been taught by their lives and her desire to give back to this community. She thanks her parents, who volunteered at mission clinics in Guatemala each year and instilled in Ms. Hannegan an understanding of how important it is to give back to those who are less fortunate than we are.
Mollie Hudson: My name is Mollie Hudson. I am a newly minted nurse and finishing up my masters degree this spring. I graduated from the UCSF GHS MS program in 2014, where my research focused on linking HIV/TB co-infected patients to public sector health services. For the last nine years, I have worked in health clinics and hospitals in the Bay Area and East Africa, working primarily with HIV positive populations. As a nurse, I hope to work in critical care. I intend to eventually train as an adult gerontology nurse practitioner, and would love to continue working as a clinician with HIV positive patients. I spent six months after college working as a professional cook, where I learned to grow, maintain, and use a sourdough starter. I love making bread, especially bagels.
Veda Koneru: Through out my childhood in India, I encountered several doctors in my family – mom, dad, several aunts and uncles, older cousins – majority of who are currently practicing in US. When asked why they made this move their answers were: better opportunities, better rewards for their hard work and most importantly better system to practice in. They felt they would either have to run their medical practice as a business model and reject those who can’t pay upfront in order to survive/be successful or endure facing moral dilemmas day after day in India. They do express a guilt associated with leaving their home country but their answer remains “what choice did we have ? We were trying to make it and create some opportunities for our own families”. Fixing the system seemed too daunting and overwhelming of a task. I travel to India frequently to visit family and over the years experienced some of this guilt as well. I started reading and researching pioneers in global health, specifically clinicians like me who have paved some paths so far in tackling this daunting task. I feel lucky to have found a more structured approach to learn and train in this field through organizations like HEAL and PIH who have been bringing like minded individuals together to creating solutions at grassroots level. Although I grew up in India and often visit, my healthcare experience has been limited. I spent a month as a medical student shadowing my aunt who works as an Ob-Gyn in a small town in southern India. We planned with the local community health authorities to arrange for a free OB- Gyn check up, Anemia screening and folic acid supplementation for pregnancy for roughly 30 tribal women with poor medical access. These local authorities arranged for transportation for these women to my aunt s clinic for screening. I also spent a month as a medical student in Kumasi, Ghana shadowing several doctors in Internal medicine, Pediatrics and Trauma surgery through IMFSA exchange program. This experience was eye-opening for me as I saw how low resource setting hospitals functioned in comparison to US. Although I was at a fairly well known hospital in the city of Kumasi I noted the 3 babies to 1 incubator ratios in the nursery and how quickly the vaginal deliveries were handled in the Ob-Gyn ward. I enjoy going for a run, hiking. Would like to hike to Mt. Everest Base Camp this year.
Sky Lee: I am a recent Family Medicine graduate of UCSF and currently work mainly as a hospitalist, but also provide primary and HIV care at an FQHC in Sacramento, CA. Living and volunteering in Indonesia for two years after college persuaded me to become a physician not only for those in my local community but globally as well. It was a valuable time that made me question and re-think international aid and our place in the world. My views on global health and research evolved once again after spending a research year in Lima, Peru learning about HIV testing rates among MSM and Transwomen. As the word “sustainability” continues to infiltrate global health, I continue to struggle with what that really means and how I can be an effective ally. Just like family medicine, my interests are broad, ranging from women’s health to HIV care and hospital medicine. My interests outside of medicine also remain broad such as rock climbing, reading, yoga, fermenting things, scuba diving and I’m always on the lookout for whale sharks and bears.
Raquel Livoni: First of all, let me say I go by “Rocky” and not Raquel. I am a Family Practice MD with an MPH. I am married to a radiologist who has his MPH in international health. In my younger years I worked at UCDavis in the MICU. I intended to go to medical school when my husband was finished, however I was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer and given less than one year to live. I was miraculously healed. I had 1 biological child (obviously prior to the cancer), 2 foster children, and 3 adopted children. I left nursing to be a stay-at-home mom and home schooled my 3 youngest children. Eventually I returned to nursing and worked as a Public Health Nurse at the Sacramento County Refugee Health Clinic prior to going to medical school at the University of Arkansas where I also obtained my MPH. I did my residency at UCDavis in Family Medicine and followed that with a two year fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. I have also participated in several courses through the Institute of Functional Medicine. I have had a private practice for the past 4 years which in terms of behavioral change, smoking cessation, and weight loss was crazy successful. Unfortunately under the current dismal pay structure I was never able to make more than minimum wage beyond my overhead. I consequently have had a second job doing hospice medicine for the past two years. Last summer I put my office on hold until I find a way to pay for it. Throughout the years I have traveled to more than 30 countries and have been involved in various projects including 3 post-earthquake trips to Haiti. Some of my trips were purely as a tourist, others were medical, some were just as a support person, but all thoroughly rewarding and fun.
Grace Maher: I am a community development worker in a small rural village in Papua New Guinea. My work spans different sectors, but they almost all intersect with health. I usually work in the village, called Limol, for about two months each year, and spend the rest of the year researching organizations that might be able to partner with the community, and educational materials that I can bring on my next trip. This past trip, my focus was on health education- we are trying to get a few young, motivated folks in the village trained as community health workers. Additionally, I have been trying to establish connections with regional health officials who can help improve Limol’s access to healthcare. The work I do is independent of any organizations, government departments, or academic institutions, which has made for plenty of learning on the job, trial and error, and frustrating dead ends. I am excited to work with experts in the field who are dedicated to making contributions to global health through making connections with peers and colleagues. Finally, one interesting non-medical thing about me is that I enjoy weightlifting. Not competitively, and unfortunately not as much recently, but I’m hoping to get back into my routine.
Miriam Maher: I am a Med-Peds doctor in practice currently at a FQHC serving US poor people and many center and South American immigrants and farm workers in New Jersey. As I approach my 20th year in clinical practice, I am thinking about what I may do in the future. As a global citizen, I think about what part I may play in global health in my own professional future. I strive to find a balance between the value of my contribution and the personal fulfillment of the work I am doing.
Mariavittoria Mangini: Mariavittoria Mangini completed her doctorate in Community Health Nursing at UCSF, where her research centered on drug use and drug policy. Currently she is the director of the MSN/FNP program at Holy Names University in Oakland. She has 31 years experience in Family Practice and Women’s Health including 22 years with the primary care practice of Dr. Frank Lucido in Berkeley, CA. She was a member of the Haight Ashbury Medical Clinic Board for 25 years and in 2003 served as its chair. She also served for 20 years on the board of the Seva Foundation, which is dedicated to helping people who are traditionally underserved. Seva brings high quality eye care knowledge and resources to Asia, Africa and South America, and takes pride in working with marginalized communities in developing countries to ensure the power of sight is within everyone’s reach. During her service to Seva, she travelled to eye car programs in India and Nepal, and developed an ophthalmology curriculum for specialized eye-care nursing students. She is a member of a fifty-year-old intentional community, and is the founder of the Black Oak Ranch Free Medical Clinic, which provides primary health care at her community’s ranch in northern Mendocino county. Her current project is the development of a Thanatology program for the study of death and dying.
Phillip Mendoza: I was born and raised in Colorado, and now I am a family physician with both a clinical and administrative role at Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center in Anchorage Alaska. I have been on three medical mission trips offering primary care in underserved areas. I went to Guatemala in the Summer of 2008, Peru in October 2016, and Honduras in July 2017. I enjoy riding my fat tire bicycle on trails and through town. I also enjoy backpacking in wilderness areas.
Mary Pittman: Originally from New Jersey, I went to Miami University in Ohio where I completed my undergraduate degree in health promotion. After school, I lived and worked in Chile for a year but continued my journey west in the States landing in San Francisco, my home for the past five years. I am currently finishing the last semester of my MPH at the University of San Francisco and have been working at Watsi for two years. Watsi is a non-profit that is building technology to finance universal healthcare by crowdfunding surgeries and providing community-based health coverage. My role at Watsi is focused on the monitoring and evaluation of our technology. In great timing with this bootcamp, I will be heading right to the airport after the Friday sessions to catch a flight to Uganda. This will be my first trip specifically for global health work so I’ll be absorbing all of the bootcamp information just hours before I leave. Outside of the office and the library, I enjoy skiing in Tahoe and running along the bay in the morning with my husband. We hope to adopt a dog this year that will join us on all of our outdoor adventures.
Robert Prongay: Currently practicing Family Medicine in an area south of Seattle, WA. Married 17 years (together 25) 2 daughters 9 and 11 (both smarter than I EVER was at those ages).
Professional experience prior to medicine included Defense Electronics, Satellite Image Processing for Intelligence Agencies, work in Germany for large digital imaging systems for National Health Services of Germany and Austria, development of video servers and cable modems for telecommunications company, small business owner providing support for same-this helped pay for medical school.
I have never skydived. I am a pilot (though not currently active). I enjoy playing ice and roller hockey, and just started piano lessons with my 92 year old neighbor who has been teaching literally since before I was born. I like weird infectious diseases. I have limited global health experience. I do like ultrasound. I am nervous about this CME.
Victoria Reiser: My area of interest has always been environmental health and pediatric health care. After receiving my BA in Environmental Quality and Health from UC Irvine in 1974, I studied nursing at Mt. St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. My first job was with UCLA in pediatrics, after which I continued my studies at UCSF and received my BS/MS/Public Health Nurse (PHN)/Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) in 1985. During that time, I also worked at UCSF Hospital in Pediatrics and CHOPE Pediatric Clinic. I then married and moved to Germany, during which time I had two daughters. In 1992, I returned to Orange County, CA where I worked as a Certified PNP at Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s (CHOC) Healthy Tomorrows Van with the Santa Ana Unified School (SAUSD). I also worked in the CHOC Pediatric Behavior Clinic and as a school nurse with the SAUSD. Over the course of my career, I remained passionate about the environment and the effect its condition has on our lives. I visited clinics on various trips to Ecuador, Mexico, and Indonesia. At home I volunteered with Physicians for Social Responsibility to advocate for pediatric environmental health. In June 2016, I retired, giving me the opportunity to spend part of my life on postponed dreams, for example to be involved implementing global health in developing countries. Additional interests include climate change, our political climate, and the threat from nuclear weapons. Additionally I am involved in local conservation programs. I have always wanted to work in global health, yet feel overwhelmed by the daunting amount of work that is needed. I dream of a world, where all people can live in healthy environments, and I continue to strive to contribute to these goals.
Jessie Standish: I am a 6th generation San Francisco born on my father’s side. My mother was an immigrant from New Zealand. I grew up in Novato, California and did my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. I went to medical school in Cuba and stay very connected to Cuba through my fellow Cuban alumni, Cuban family and friends. I just finished Family Medicine residency in Los Angeles and am excited to be working and learning as a Global Health Fellow at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. My recent work has been in the southern part of Angola working with Canadian and US surgeons for 2 months during residency in 2015. This was fascinating as Angola is recovering from a long civil war and doesn’t get many visitors or NGOs. I was in Malawi for 2 months working at a PIH site in 2017 helping to teach medical students during their family medicine rotation. This capacity-building experience was very enjoyable and I met many interesting people. I plan to go to Chiapas, Mexico to another PIH site this summer. My husband and one year-old son will also be coming along. I like to play accordion with my 96 year-old grandfather. He plays the concertina. Neither of us plays very well but we know many traditional songs.
Petra Stanton: I am with Dignity Health and we are developing international health work in partnership with a network of hospitals in rural north and northeast India. Dignity Health is pursuing this work as an extension of our mission and our commitment to address human trafficking locally and globally. We will be supporting efforts to prevent trafficking that often results from unpaid healthcare debt. In India many vulnerable families who don’t have access to affordable healthcare end-up in bonded labor when they can’t pay their medical bills. We will contribute to the important work of prevention by increasing the capacity of our partners in healthcare delivery. The majority of my international health work has been in India where I lived for five years and worked in community health. Also, I enjoy Masters swim meets.
Angela Stevens: Angela Stevens is a Certified Nurse Midwife, Clinical Director and Co-Founder of The Birth Center of Boulder. Graduated from the University of New Mexico Masters of Science of Nursing Midwifery program in 2006, I have lived and worked in Boulder, Colorado since 2008. Mother of an amazing son. Passionate about working in global maternal health in Nepal since 1998. I have been following One Heart Worldwide and the work they have done since their inception in 1998 and met the founder, Arlene Samen in 2006 when I was pregnant. We reconnected in 2014 with the hope for the birth center to partner and contribute to OHW. I have been on three volunteer trips with One Heart Worldwide to Nepal since 2016 working with the Skilled Birth Attendant students at Dhulikhel Hospital in training basic obstetrical ultrasound skills with NYAGI and then doing follow up and remote ultrasound clinics with students in the Taplejung region. The goal of The Birth Center of Boulder’s partnership with One Heart Worldwide is to support the Skilled Birth Attendants with enhanced education, training, and mentorship in the remote birth centers and regions that OHW works. We are in process with working with the government to add on the basic ultrasound education to the 8 week SBA program. I am also collaborating with iBirth, to create an app that is specific for SBA’s in Nepal. The goal is that when the SBAs graduate they will have an iPad that will have all of the resources needed: ultrasound, reference materials, iBirthNepal. It is my passion and mission that all women in these remote mountainous areas of Nepal have access to a well educated, well resourced SBA to provide essential maternity care to these communities. I love the beach, dancing, excellent espresso, wine, olives, delicious bread, olive oil, cheese and throwing parties with friends. I love traveling, meeting new people, connecting with humans and animals, community, being in nature, and living a simple meaningful life.
Nazneen Uddin: Nazneen Uddin is a family medicine physician working as a hospitalist in the East Bay. She is passionate about refugee health and volunteers her time with medical trips aiding Syrian and Rohingya refugees. Uddin completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan and she graduated from the residency program at the University of California, San Francisco. Her interest in global health was sparked after learning Arabic in Jordan and Egypt the year prior to medical school. In 2011, Uddin spent a year in Malaysia as a Henry Luce Scholar working at various health institutions and NGOs with a focus on marginalized populations. She spent most of her time providing medical care at a refugee clinic and training community health workers through the UNHCR. She also was selected in 2017 as a US representative for the Carnegie Council, where she went to Indonesia for a delegation on religious tolerance and peace. She has a special interest in women’s health, social determinants of health, and designing preventive health care systems that are culturally sensitive.
Lylith Widmer: My name is Lylith. I am a family medicine physician, and I have been working in rural Alaska with the Indian Health Service since graduating from residency 6 years ago. I attended the Medical School for International Health and throughout the course of my medical school and residency training had many experiences working internationally, from the Middle East to India to Central America. Prior to residency, I worked as a Community Health Aide trainer in Alaska and have a deep interest in the role lay practitioners can play in rural health contexts. My professional interests include comprehensive women’s health and preventative health/lifestyle medicine. However, since graduating, for various personal, professional, and financial reasons I have not worked outside of Alaska. I am hoping to network with other physicians working in global health to see how they are balancing career, family, etc. in this context. I love living remotely in Alaska, and enjoy backcountry skiing, all kinds of biking, hiking, sea kayaking, subsistence hunting/fishing, wildcrafting, and gardening.
Yuwen (Winnie) Xu: I work at SF Kaiser, Department of Family and Medicine, interested in global health, and I’m originally from China, fluent in Mandarin/ Cantonese. I have never done Global Health and I am interested in opportunities in China. I love photography and want to learn more. Also, I like exercising, hiking, swimming, racquet, Zumba, etc.
UCSF GLOBAL HEALTH BOOTCAMP 