Amy Atwood: I have limited experience in global healthcare from my time in residency doing an elective in Ecuador. During that elective I spent time observing on labor and delivery as well as in the primary care clinic but received no hands on training. I am feeling stagnant in my current role as an office based Ob/Gyne at Kaiser in Daly City. Several colleagues have traveled to the Philippines and Africa to provide gynecological surgery and that made me start thinking about how I might be able to get involved. I no longer operate except for minor procedures and also no longer do deliveries. I am definitely interested in learning more about global healthcare and seeing how I might be able to make a positive impact. In the last year I spent time in Uganda as part of a guided trip to get to know the culture and the people. There was also a meditation/mindfulness and secular Buddhism focus. This experience made me realize I don’t feel very fulfilled (or in alignment with my values) when practicing medicine in the world of 15 minute appointments. I am looking to reawaken the passion I have for serving others, making the world a better place and for taking care of the whole person.
This year I started meditating and practicing yoga. I am going to Thailand in April for a yoga retreat. I also have 2 dogs that I love to take on hikes.
Kara Bjur: I am a pediatric anesthesiologist intensivist currently practicing in Rochester, Minnesota. I am passionate about child health equity. My academic career is young, and my interests include capacity building and research focused on narrowing the quality gap in pediatric global surgery, perioperative, and intensive care among children in low and middle income countries. While I have yet to travel to Canada, Europe, or Australia, I have been fortunate to do some work in Botswana, Kenya, India, and Vietnam. I am taking this course to network, learn from you how to build a career in global health, and honestly to warm up. I am a native of northern Nevada and love to backpack, run, ski, and cycle. I am the privileged caretaker of a beautiful mutt, Princess Anna Fluffballs Corndog (accolades to the nieces/nephew who both named and gifted her to their favorite aunt).
Carrie Brothers: I am relatively new to medical practice, having worked as a PA in a small private practice group for a little over 2 years, providing primary care for ages 13 and up. Though I’ve not yet directly worked in global health, it’s been my plan for many years. In the meantime we’ve supported global health organizations financially for decades. I see participation in this conference as an important opportunity to gain more specific knowledge and make connections with others in anticipation of working in an underserved region of the world.
I received my PA training at UC Davis, with a Master’s focus on transgender care, and was fortunate to be able to partner with local advocates to provide the first openly welcoming and competent primary care home for trans folks in the Santa Barbara area. My undergraduate degree was from UC Davis, in Music, with a Botany minor, and I completed a M.Ed in Special Education at UCSB.
Prior to becoming a PA, I raised three kids while teaching in a variety of contexts, from elementary school through adult. In addition to providing direct medical care, I hope to find opportunities to use my educational background in training local care providers, wherever I end up working globally.
Though I don’t get enough time as I’d like for it these days, I’m a gardener, a musician (choral and keyboard), a hiker/backpacker, and reader. I grew up in a small agricultural town of 1,000 in the northern Sacramento Valley, where most of my extended family still live; my complete resume includes working at a prune dryer, and hand measuring thousands of randomly selected immature walnuts for the State Ag Department’s annual crop prediction survey. My husband is a music professor at a small liberal arts college. Our thoughts increasingly turn to “what next” and “where next” as he considers retirement in the next few years.
Mary Burke: I came to SF in 1983 to go to UCSF and never left the City. I trained in psychiatry and child psychiatry at UCSF, and was on the volunteer faculty as well as an attending at SFGH and Edgewood. I currently work for CPMC, my areas of interest/ expertise include treatment of trauma-related conditions, especially working with parents with histories of severe trauma, or with severe mental illness. I also supervise residents in a consultation to primary care, and my ambition is to convince CPMC/ Sutter to develop true collaborative care, in which I am fully trained.
Global Health experiences: Before medical school I spent a summer working with a women’s resource center in Bogota, especially serving rural peasant families, and very disadvantaged and marginalized women and girls. This was very influential. Before completing my training I was a medical student on the Navajo reservation (Chinle), and spent a psychiatric externship with a women’s resource center in Belize. Most recently I have done psychiatric evaluation for asylum cases, including in the Dilley detention center in Texas. I also developed the basis for the curriculum for the Healthy Generations Program in Potrero Hill
Fun Fact: I failed to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in October due to altitude sickness, which is horrible. (The sickness, not the failure.) However I DID meet two terrific young psychiatrists in Arusha and would like to help them in their work.
Kristine Carter: I am a board certified pediatric nurse practitioner working in the East Bay for Lifelong Medical Care since 2014. As the Lead Clinican for school-based clinics, I am the sole practitioner of 2 school-based health centers in Oakland and also provide clinical supervision and support for another NP at our Emeryville school-based health center. During the school winter and summer breaks, I work as a PNP in pediatric primary care in Richmond and San Pablo, CA. I am originally from the Bay Area and also graduated from UCSF School of Nursing in 2012 with minors in adolescent health and global health.
After graduating in 2012, I volunteered for 2.5 months as a NP in Port Salut, Haiti for the Minnesota based NGO No Time For Poverty. The mission was to get a newly built pediatric clinic in Southern Haiti up and running before opening day. This included training the newly hired Haitian medical staff, creating workflows, formularies and protocols according to WHO guidelines. My goal for 2019 is to apply for an international medical volunteer opportunity (RotaPlast). My global health career goal is to be a medical volunteer for Doctors without Borders.
I love animals and enjoy volunteering as a dog volunteer and vet tech at Oakland Animal Services and P.A.L.S. East Bay. I also own a rescue 11 pound terrier mix named Rocky.
Joshua Clutter: My name is Joshua Clutter. I’m a Family Medicine trained doctor who works in rural ER’s and hospitals. I work per diem 9 months out of the year in order to fund my global health volunteer 3 months out of the year. I have worked in Guyana and Uganda and am looking forward to working in Egypt in 2019. I live in Tucson, AZ and spend most of my time at church or outdoors; trail running, mountain biking, climbing, and skiing.
Robin Councilman: I am a family doctor who for the past 22 years have cared for a primarily Hmong refugee population in Minneapolis, MN. While I deal with typical American healthcare problems like hypertension and diabetes in my practice, I also address parasites, chronic hepatitis B, malaria, etc far more than I ever anticipated when I was in training. In the Fall of 2017 I finally got to go visit my patients’ homeland when I traveled to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand with one of my Hmong coworkers and her family. My primary goal was learn more about my patients by seeing where they came from, but I was also interested in exploring if there could be a role for me in helping to improve the health of Hmong communities in Asia. During our travels, we got to know a missionary couple who has found tremendous healthcare needs in remote Hmong villages in Vietnam and Laos and are seeking a partner to help provide basic health services in these remote villages. Presently I am providing some consultations to them via iphone pictures and videos. When they were back in the US this summer, I provided them with some basic health information (they have absolutely no medical training) and some basic over-the-counter medications for some common, easily treatable conditions like ulcers and iron deficiency anemia. This course is my next step in reviving old skills and learning new skills that I would need to practice medicine in a remote Hmong village. Tentatively I am planning to return to Asia with some Hmong healthcare providers in Fall of 2020.
I am married to another family doctor who has no interest in traveling places without electricity and indoor plumbing (but he is a wonderful man) and mother to a daughter who graduated from college in May and 9 days later left for Liberia with the Peace Corp for 27 months and a son who is in his second year of college studying computer science. I am also “mom” to a 10 year old rescue Old English sheepdog (the sweetest dog in the world), a 1 year old beagle (“crazy boy”), an elderly cat, and a rescue parrot. In my spare time I knit and quilt. I will probably bring my knitting with me because I find I listen better if my hands are busy.
Belinda Escanio: I am a Family Practitioner. I spent 7 years doing Community Health Medicine in a rural Washington for 7 years. While there I trained in doing alot of procedures and also trained in addiction and managed the Suboxone clinic for several clinics. I also did Urgent care for 6 months. And currently work at a private company doing Geriatrics. The fee-for-service system burned me out quickly. I realized there were greater health needs out there.
My interest in Buddhist culture drew me to a medical mission trip in Zanskar, India serving a buddhist community there that does not have adequate healthcare. Realized that there’s a lot I had to learn about global health while there. The constructs that allowed me to do my job were not available there. My passion for global health was ignited and many questions I had made me realized that I needed to learn more. Thus, I decided to participate in this bootcamp program for global health.
I was in Kenya 2 years ago and worked with a Partnering for Progress that worked with the community health workers to educate about clean water, weighed babies to make sure they were gaining weight, provided some medical care to the local distant villages. Most recently in June 2018 I went to Zanskar to India for 1 month to provide direct medical care for several villages. Provider mostly general health care managing GERD, HTN, abdominal pain). My hobbies currently are: bootcamp style exercises, crossfit.
Krista Farey: I am a family physician, and have worked for Contra Costa Health Services for 29 years, in many capacities. I am part of the family medicine residency faculty and am involved in teaching our global heath fellows and our residents, some of whom have gone on to become HEAL fellows.
My current work in global health is for Health in Harmony, teaching and mentoring recent graduate Indonesian doctors in a health center in rural western Borneo, Klinik ASRI, which is part of a larger habitat preservation project. I have worked there about 6 months in 3 trips over the past 4 years. I am passionate about work that connects global heath and planetary health.
I am also trained in Ayurveda and in Integrative Medicine. I am very interested in both local and global models of integration and collaboration between traditional and modern health care systems. I currently teach pharmacology and basic allopathy to Ayurveda students in the bay area. I have two adult daughters, a large family of in-laws in India, and collect and play world music flutes. I live in San Francisco with my husband.
Kate Farr: Dr. Kate Farr is a physical therapist who works in Africa full-time as a medical missionary. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Kinesiology and then earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2013. She has two certifications in pelvic and obstetric physical therapy from the American Physical Therapy Association’s Section on Women’s Health.
In March 2017, Kate relocated to central Nigeria to join Evangel VVF Center (EVC), a faith-based, high-volume hospital dedicated to restoring the dignity of women with obstetric fistula. Without surgical and therapy interventions, these women would permanently leak urine and/or stool—a devastating result of prolonged, obstructed childbirth. Following licensure in Nigeria, Kate developed the pelvic PT program at EVC and worked with the surgical staff to design treatment protocols that include physical therapy in the continuum of fistula care. She has also lectured on fistula prevention and diagnoses in Nigerian nursing programs and assisted another fistula center in Niger with development of their own physical therapy program.
Kate is currently in the United States for further training and networking, and anticipates returning to Nigeria in early 2020. She plans to expand the physical therapy services provided at EVC as well as begin trauma healing and spiritual care programs at the on-site hostel and vocational training program. Kate is passionate about bringing skilled, compassionate care to these women to improve quality of life, increase self-efficacy, and promote holistic healing.
When not working, Kate is also an avid reader and enjoys ballet, sewing, and cooking. She loves the adventure of figuring out how to make Mexican food with what’s available at the local Nigerian market!
Alayne Farries: Hello, my name is Alayne Farries. I am an anesthesiologist. I work in Red Deer, Alberta.
I am married to a surgeon and have four children, 2 cats and a Labrador.
My husband and I have always wanted to do work abroad. We started studying Spanish and Global Medicine to educate ourselves before striking out.
On the way, we took some leadership training and that seemed to find us work closer to home.
It is interesting, how sometimes, as you learn issues become more opaque before it clears again.
We are looking forward to our time in this course and we hope to apply broader learnings wherever we may find ourselves.
Lawrence Farries: My name is Lawrence Farries. I have been a Canadian General Surgeon since 1991, working initially in a small town in central British Columbia, then moving to a medium-sized city in central Alberta where my work has morphed into a largely minimally-invasive upper GI and Bariatric surgery practice, which was quite different from the “Swiss Army Knife” practice for which I trained and in which I began.
I took the University of British Columbia course in international surgery called “Surgery 510” a few years ago and that helped clarify for me that although I am still interested in global surgery, I no longer see myself being best used as a strict hands-on provider of surgical care. My wife (an anesthesiologist) and I continue to look for an appropriate opportunity, especially now that our “day-job” careers are entering their last few years.
At the moment, we are typical sandwich-generation types with adult children still living at least part-time at home, and caring for elderly parents while working full clinical practices and doing medical leadership jobs as they come our way.
Hobbies include bicycling, fishing, and building stuff.
Katherine Glaser: I am an Obstetrician/Gynecologist working on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. I came to medicine after working in Malawi in the Peace Corps, arriving in my medical school class with a strong interest in Global Health and with most of a Public Health degree completed. This was nurtured by working for a year in Zambia on HIV diagnostics for neonates while I was a medical student and returning as a resident to work briefly with a cervical cancer screening program. Since completing residency, I have twice returned to Africa to work for a few weeks at a time, but I would like to make this a more recurring part of my life moving forward.
When not working, I enjoy running long distances in the forest, and as a person who has spent the majority of life in Southern Arizona or Africa, I am trying to get better at winter sports.
Kathleen Harner: I have been a practicing Obstetrician Gynecologist for 27 years, the last 16 spent on Navajo at the Tuba City Regional Healthcare Corporation. I am currently the Academic Dean for our Institution and I supervise 30 residents, students and fellows each month.
I have had two overseas experiences in my early career working in rural Kenya at a Methodist missionary teaching hospital and in Blantyre, Malawi working in a large public hospital.
I am approaching retirement from my current position and would like to spend a few years sharing my skills with the underserved before I completely stop practicing medicine.
My husband and I enjoy travel, care deeply about the environment and wild animals and we are passionate about our Border Collie, Shadow.
Garima Hoffmann: During my >40 year Family Practice career I have been in private practice doing mostly OB and Peds, then in the Kaiser system both in the clinic and more recently as a hospital doctor.
Because of various responsibilities my global health activity has been limited to week long work in a clinic in the Dominican Republic.
In June I will be retiring still in good health and with a lot of energy. My main reason for attending the Conference is in anticipation of spending more time in this area.
Maryam Jamshidi: I look forward to learning from colleagues during this upcoming conference; I have been working in the America health care field for over 20 years, and am eager to explore global possibilities, innovative approaches to them, challenges, and the interface between private and public enterprises.
I have been practicing medicine as a front line provider and have been involved in administrative/systemic change initiatives.
I am an immigrant to the US, and despite having lived here for almost 30 years, am still striving to take advantage of every opportunity, and push the envelope of possibilities.
I have an 8 year old daughter, and would like for her to develop an awareness of us belonging to a global community.
Michelle Kangkolo: I work in health administration and have a masters in public health. While I have traveled to Honduras and Ecuador on short-term medical mission trips, I am interested in learning about others experiences in global health. A great majority of my career has been dedicated to working in psychiatry and most specifically in an eating disorder program. I look forward to networking and gaining insight on the field of global health. When I am not working, I enjoy traveling, spending time with my family and friends, watching movies, making baskets, and the occasional hot yoga.
Hannah H MacIntyre: As the Midwifery Director of Labor & Delivery at George Washington University Hospital, I work with a team of 11 Certified Nurse Midwives and 2 Midwifery Fellows within a large interdisciplinary CNM/OBGYN/MFM collaborative practice model. Our midwifery division is a part of a larger academic medical education program with midwifery fellows and OBGYN residents learning side by side. In conjunction with my clinical duties, I serve as a women’s health team leader for a GW School of Medicine global health course in Haiti. This has inspired my interest in building my global health skills. Lastly… Outside of GW, you are likely to find me eating tacos or hiking.
Michella Otmar: Michella Otmar is a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Emergency Medicine. Michella has more than a decade of experience in clinical nursing and public health. She has worked in emergency medicine, primary care, maternal child health and infectious disease.
Her work in global health includes quality improvement and capacity building in HIV, tuberculosis, maternal child health and nutrition programming. She served as the Assistant Director of Programming at The Ihangane Project, where she led and supported the development of the Nutrition for HIV Exposed Infants (NHI) Program in Ruli, Rwanda. She was a Drabkin-Neumann Global Health Scholar in Uganda, contributing to quality improvement projects in HIV patient care systems in regional and referral hospitals. She has worked as a primary care provider in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas and she has contributed to health education projects in Honduras, Mexico and Slovakia.
Michella has served as both a Peace Corps Volunteer and as an AmeriCorps Volunteer. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing and Master in Public Health from the University of California Los Angeles, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Shenandoah University and Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Social Sciences from James Madison University. When not working, she’s busy raising two tiny humans and exploring the outdoors. She can be reached at michellaotmar@ucla.edu
Pamela Parker: I have worn many hats in the medical profession – medical transcriber, nurse, nurse practitioner, family physician and OB-Gyn. I am currently practicing at Cal Poly Health and Wellness Center in San Luis Obispo. I have long dreamed of working globally, but until this past summer, I was not able to make that dream a reality. The photo is me in Kiwoko Uganda, where I did “a lot” of cesarean deliveries in a very short time and gained an appreciation for sharp scissors and suture needles. I plan to continue this clinical work in the future, and would like the skills to possibly set up ongoing global health programs in medical education residencies for family physicians and OB-Gyns. My specific areas of interest are contraception and maternal-fetal health. In addition, I am a member of the ASCCP International Education and Humanitarian Outreach Committee and will be involved in international teaching of colposcopy and LEEP procedures.
For fun I swim, kayak, play piano and guitar, read and act as media specialist for my boyfriend (a speaker for AZ Humanities) when he does presentations throughout Arizona. I am also a Zumba and Aqua Zumba instructor – activities that I know have international followers. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and learning more about participating in Global Health practice.
Lea Ross: I am an adult health nurse practitioner at UCSF. Prior to my current position, I worked in various specialties including emergency medicine, clinical research, neurology, and neurosurgery. I currently work with the UCSF Adult General Surgery service providing inpatient and outpatient care.
As an undergraduate nursing student, I traveled to India with a fellow student over semester break to volunteer at a clinic in Calcutta for a couple of weeks. After graduating from my NP program in 2010, I volunteered as an NP extern for a year at Glide Health Services, providing primary and urgent care for underserved people in the Tenderloin District. Currently, I am co-chair of the Health Circle at Full Circle Fund, a network of Bay Area professionals who provide funding and pro-bono consulting services to local Bay Area nonprofit organizations seeking to improve community health. My global health experience is not extensive, but I am interested in learning more about ways to provide better, more efficient care with available resources, and I am always looking for ways to problem-solve and think outside the box. My goal is to learn about models of care that may be effective for serving underserved populations within the US, as well as to learn about issues impacting health and care delivery globally.
One interesting thing about me: I have come to love Film Noir, especially films from the 1940s. Watching those films is like stepping back in time, or into a different world. I am looking forward to the upcoming Noir City film festival at my favorite San Francisco movie theater, The Castro.
Talia Ryan:
Global Health Experiences:
- Grade 11- Teaching English as a Second Language in Ecuador
- University- Health Promotion without Borders in Zimbabwe
- Howard Hospital
- Surgery, Physio Out-reach, HIV education, Pharmacy
- University- Education and Sustainability Project – Cambodia
- ESL
- Housing
- Economics
- Medical School – Global Health and Climate Change Conference
- Netherlands- Groningen
- Spain- Barcelona
Hobby:
- Hiking with my dog in the Canadian Rockies
- Travel for great hiking with friends
Roma Sprung: I was born in Vancouver BC and lived between Mexico and Northern Canada as a child, following my mother around. I studied biology at UC Santa Cruz and medicine in Grenoble, France. I completed my residency in Internal Medicine in Stamford CT, where I worked for 10 years in Emergency Medicine. In 2003, I moved to Ashland OR, where I worked in primary care and hospital medicine. Currently I am working as a hospitalist in Reedsport OR a small town on the Oregon Coast.
I have always regretted not heading out straight away on a path that included global medicine, and recently I have the example of good friends, a surgeon and his wife an FP, on the coast who are able to offer their expertise to those in need, and I would like to start building a skill set that will be useful abroad.
I love music, travel and great food. I play the violin, guitar and viola da gamba and can be found playing Balkan folk music at cafes and dance halls in whenever possible.
Hubert S Swana: I am a pediatric urologist based in Florida. My parents were born and raised in Guatemala and Belize where they worked in healthcare before moving to the United States. During my travels in Central America I witnessed firsthand the need for improved medical care abroad.
I have participated in short-term medical missions in Honduras and Peru. I am interested in learning how to help create sustainable medical/surgical training experiences. I hope to learn how to best partner with healthcare systems and local governments to improve care.
I enjoy travel, exploring new cities, coffee and photography
Geraldine Taplin: I was born in Germany, and raised in England and Venezuela; my father spent the last 30 years of his life in St. Lucia, and my brother spent 6months a year of the last 20 years of his life working and teaching in China. My education has been an English Literature degree from Berkeley, Med. School at UC Irvine., Internship at Gorgas Hospital in Panama, Internal Medicine at Kern County General Hospital, and Infectious Disease fellowship back at UC Irvine. My assumption was that I would go into global health of some type, but I moved to Monterey County with my partner, and set up practice just as the AIDS epidemic hit. So since 1980 I have practiced ID and HIV. The second of the two ID physicians replacing me started this Spring, and now I am free to get out into a global arena to use whatever knowledge and experience I have gleaned from a long and fascinating medical career. I want to use my time and talent wisely, and am unsure how to go about finding an appropriate venue, or how to avoid the common pitfalls of the “do-gooder.” I am looking forward to learning from everyone at this Boot Camp.
I have no real Global Health experience, other than having given HIV talks to the staffs of a couple of large Infectious Disease hospitals in China. I do have experience treating people from all walks of life and I have major experience with addiction and mental health issues. I have taught in a wide array of venues. I have felt the power of fear and hatred and discrimination from the early days of the HIV epidemic. I set up the two HIV clinics that are still the sites of virtually all HIV care in Monterey County, and I taught many of the current practitioners through a fifteen year AHEC grant. I have traveled extensively and well off the beaten track.
Personally, I love to read and cook and garden and hike and do yoga (although a recent torn rotator cuff has put a crimp in my style). My husband and I spend as much time as we can on an island in British Columbia, where we are able to boat in Desolation Sound.
Laravic Trancé Flores: I am originally from the Philippines and grew up in the Bay Area. Raised in a family of activists who survived martial law, values of social justice were deeply engrained throughout my upbringing, and working with underserved marginalized communities has been essential in guiding my work. I completed my undergraduate studies at Brown University in Rhode Island, completing a degree in Community Health with a focus on International Health. During undergrad and medical school, I worked with the NGO Council for Health and Development (CHD) in the Philippines, participating in the work of community-based health programs, implementing a community empowerment model utilizing health as a tool for community organizing and capacity building. I was fortunate to live in Cuba and learn from their excellent primary care model while completing my medical studies in Havana at Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM / Latin American School of Medicine). This experience reinforced my passion for family medicine, community health and public health, universal health care, and the belief that health is a social justice issue. I recently completed my training at Valley Family Medicine Residency Program in Modesto in June 2018 and currently work as a Global Health Fellow with the Contra Costa Global Health Fellowship Program. I’m fortunate to be part of a program that enables me to pursue my passion to continue working with the underserved both locally in Contra Costa County and internationally abroad. I’ll be traveling to Malawi at the end of January and will be working there for a few months precepting medical students during their Family Medicine rotation. Afterwards I plan to work with border health issues in Mexico and then return to the Philippines to continue to work with community-based health programs there.
My hobbies are biking, yoga, baking, and DIY projects.
Ocean Williams: I am a Family Physician at Sea Mar Community Health Centers in Seattle, where I have worked since 2007. Sea Mar was organized in 1978 by a group of Latino community leaders and health activists who dreamed of developing a comprehensive health center for the Latino community in Seattle, with satellite clinics in rural communities in western Washington. It has grown to provide a variety of services including health, housing, educational, and cultural, to diverse communities, specializing in service to Latinos in Washington State.
I attended medical school at Albany Medical College in New York, then in 2004, moved back to Seattle for residency at Swedish Family Medicine, Cherry Hill. Professionally, I love the challenge of Family Medicine whether in the community, the clinic, or the hospital. Since 2009, I have held a faculty appointment at the University of Washington as Family Medicine Clinical Instructor.
In my clinical practice, I see myself as a partner with patients and communities toward improving their health. I enjoy working in a health care team, getting to know families, and encouraging parents and kids to become all they can be. I also really like teaching residents, patients, students, and other caregivers.
I have worked in medicine and community health in the U.S., Guatemala, Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Madagascar. In my work at Sea Mar, many of my clinic patients are Spanish-speaking and recent immigrants. In some ways I am an outsider, but I have insider credibility as part of an organization committed to hiring and developing people from the communities we serve with to goal of improving health for all. I am also organizing a small team of leaders to provide strategy in our global health activities. We are about 1 year into the process of forming international partnerships. We have identified potential partners in Guatemala and Peru, with whom we plan to expand existing educational exchanges and add other mutually beneficial activities.
I grew up in the Seattle area and appreciate spending time with family and friends. My wife and I met as freshman at the University of Washington, where I studied Ethnic Studies and she studied Sociology. We have two children, with whom we have fun doing many outdoor activities, especially in the mountains or water.
Hailon Wong: Hello! My name is Hailon which is pronounced “Hey – Lawn” although “Hi lawn” is also acceptable. Born in Venezuela to Chinese immigrants and growing up in Oklahoma, a global mindset has always felt natural to me. The more I learned about medicine, the more I wanted to incorporate this mindset into my future career. For residency, I decided to move up north and am currently in my third year of Family Medicine residency at Mayo Clinic. After graduation, I will be moving south to Florida, where I will pursue a one year fellowship in global health at Florida State University.
My global health experience is fairly limited at this point. I have gone on a few short-term trips to Nicaragua and recently returned from a month-long rotation in Kathmandu, Nepal working at a large hospital there. I am particularly interested in learning about how medicine is taught and practiced in other institutions and countries, both the similarities and differences.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with friends, eating large amounts of various foods, and long-distance running. I also find washing dishes oddly therapeutic. My affinity for long-distance running stems from the fact that it helps clear my mind but also helps to support my eating habits. I am eagerly looking forward to meeting everybody and hearing their stories. Thank you for reading!
Helen Ye: I am a Chinese medicine practitioner and Licensed Acupuncturist. I have been in practice for 16 years privately and at large institutions, such as CPMC and UCSF, where I have grown the Chinese medicine practice and represented this healing system in formal ways. I have years of administrative and operational experience prior to and concurrent with my clinical roles, and founded and directed my own collaborative integrative medicine center for over 5 years.
I have experience in managed care, the nonprofit sector working with youth, street youth, and young adults, and their care providers with HIV/AIDS when cocktails were not yet available; and I have worked in healthcare institutions to create systems and change to integrative non-allopathic ways of serving a patient and the community.
I see patients in inpatient and outpatient settings from all backgrounds and have worked with addiction and mental health issues, as well as complex cases from underserved communities who are homeless, low income, refugees, and those who have experienced war and trauma.
My historical background starts in San Francisco’s Chinatown and the Mission district, with most of my childhood and development years in Vancouver, Canada. My ethnic heritage is Chinese, with two generations prior to me from the Philippines, and at home we speak our “family language” of Toisanese, English, Ilongo (a Filipino dialect), and Hokkien (a Chinese dialect).
My passion is to manifest a vision of collaborative integrative care (inclusive of conventional medicine) where all people have access to care; and clinicians, researchers, educators, administrators and policymakers, are in alignment to work together to identify, learn, teach, and support best practices for the best patient outcomes possible with a goal and focus on wellness. I take steps where I can to work towards this through presentations locally and nationally, and other measures that create meaningful impact.
Fun tidbits: a precocious 8-year old daughter, enjoy Harry Potter and fun action/adventure movies. I enjoy poetry and playing the piano.
UCSF GLOBAL HEALTH BOOTCAMP 