University of Global Health Equity

 

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The University of Global Health Equity, UGHE is positioned as a leader in the field of equitable global health care delivery. The University has a local and international network of faculty who are experts in global health delivery, strategic problem solving, monitoring and evaluation, quality improvement, leadership and management, and implementation science. These faculty, and our staff, are leaders in the field of global health and would serve as invaluable mentors to Fogarty fellows.

Located in rural Rwanda, our campus is an ideal location for a Fogarty fellow to experience first-hand the challenges and rewards of delivering high quality health care and global health education in a rural setting. Our newly-constructed, state-of-the-art facilities will serve as a unique and enriching place in which to conduct research and learn strategies for addressing new, neglected, and emerging global health issues, with a mindset for community involvement, strategic thinking, and equity.


Site Director

Professor Agnes BinagwahoProfessor Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity
abinagwaho@ughe.org

Professor Agnes Binagwaho is a Rwandan pediatrician who completed her MD in General Medicine at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and her MA in Pediatrics MA at the Universite de Bretagne Occidentale. She returned to Rwanda in 1996. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Dartmouth College and earned a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Rwanda College of Business and Economics, with her PhD Dissertation titled “Children’s Right to Health in the Context of the HIV Epidemic”.

Professor Binagwaho was named Vice Chancellor of the Partners In Health initiative, the University of Global Health Equity, in 2017. From 2002-2016, she served the Rwandan Health Sector in high-level government positions, first as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, then as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and then during five years as the Minister of Health. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Professor of the Practice of Global Health Delivery at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.


Site Mentors

Dr. Abebe BekeleProf. Abebe Bekele, Professor of Surgery, Consultant General and Thoracic Surgery
abekele@ughe.org

Professor Abebe Bekele is a full Professor of Surgery and a consultant thoracic surgeon at University of Global Health Equity where he is serving as Dean of the University. In addition to his busy clinical practice, he is responsible for teaching undergraduate and post-graduate medical students, and sub-specialty trainees in thoracic surgery. He also advises and mentors between 6 and 10 masters and PhD students every year, for a total of approximately 20 over my career. His mentees have frequently published their theses in peer-reviewed journals. He served as Secretary General of the Surgical Society of Ethiopia for 6 years. During that time, he was the PI of an effective collaborative project concerning adult circumcision to prevent HIV/AIDS, which trained nearly 450 health workers to perform safe male circumcision. Over the past three years, he has served as the Dean of the School of Medicine at AAU and the CEO of the Tikur Anbessa Hospital, the teaching hospital affiliated with the university and the biggest referral hospital in Ethiopia.

Phaedra HenleyDr. Phaedra Henley, Chair, Center for One Health and Assistant Professor
phenley@ughe.org

Phaedra Henley (PhD, MES, BMSc) is the One Health Faculty Director at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda. She oversees the development of its One Health programming including research, training and community and student engagement as well as currently runs its Master of Science in Global Health Delivery program. Prior to joining UGHE, Dr. Henley worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Program Coordinator for the Africa Institute at Western University, Canada where she contributed to establishing, implementing, and teaching two new graduate programs in global health. Dr. Henley has a PhD in Pathology, a MSc in Environment and Sustainability, and a BMSc in Medical Sciences. Her research interests include investigating the relationship between environmental and human health.

Dr. NtagandaDr. Edmond Ntaganda, Consultant Pediatric Surgeon
edmondntaganda@gmail.com

Dr. Ntaganda is a pediatric surgeon practicing at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (CHUK), in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, since January 2017. From 2014 to 2016 Dr. Ntaganda pursued accredited fellowship training in pediatric surgery, returning to Rwanda as the only pediatric surgeon in the country. Building the pediatric surgery service into a comprehensive national referral program upon his return, it was also incumbent upon he and his colleagues to start thinking on ways to improve pediatric surgery care. In 2018, working with a team from McGill University, they started on a project to revive the trauma registry with a special emphasis on pediatric trauma. Part of this work included a validation of the PRESTO (The Pediatric Resuscitation and Trauma Outcome) score. He served as the local mentor and senior author to the Canadian postgraduate researcher for this study, which was published in the journal of pediatric surgery in November 2020. Currently, he serves as the Clinical Head of Surgery at CHUK and Program Director for a COSECSA accredited pediatric surgery fellowship program. He is engaged in teaching medical students, residents (postgraduates) in general surgery, pediatrics, and pediatric surgery.

Dr. Deogratias Ruhangaza, Consultant Anatomical Pathologist
deoruhangaza@gmail.com

Dr. Ruhangaza is an anatomic pathologist and currently serves as the Director of Pathology lab at Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence (BCCOE). He has served as the clinical, administrative, and research lead at the lab since 2016. He has engaged in research projects that have described the epidemiology and pathological features of diseases in our setting. He has worked closely with Dr Milner at the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), who has facilitated the establishment of the pathology lab at Butaro Hospital and supported a progressive capacity building of the lab. Dr. Ruhangaza has an excellent working relationship with the entire oncology clinical team, and is faculty (Pathology) at the University of Global Health Equity (Rwanda)