– Rajib Acharya was a postdoctoral scholar with the Gates Institute. His undergraduate training was in Statistics from the Calcutta University, India. He received his PhD in Demography from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai in 1999. He worked with IIPS as a Research Officer on the Indian DHS. From 1999 until recently, he worked as an Indian Resident Advisor to ORC Macro, USA. He has also been an advisor to other international organizations like Population Reference Bureau and the Population Council. Between 2002 and 2005, he was a consultant on a Gates-supported study in India. The study focused on the impact of quality of care on subsequent adoption of family planning in four states, along with a host of related issues particularly on women's reproductive and mental health. Acharya's current interests include sexual and reproductive health of adolescents, child health & nutrition (including breastfeeding), unintended pregnancy, induced abortion and quality of care and its impact on family planning adoption. – Richard Adanu received his MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He received his MBChB medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School in 1994. After one year of housemanship at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana he specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology and received the West African College of Surgeons (Obstetrics and Gynecology) fellowship – FWACS – in 2001. He was on the faculty of the University of Ghana Medical School before coming for the MPH degree program. His major research interest areas are maternal morbidity and mortality, pelvic floor relaxation and non-fistula urinary incontinence in African women. – Agbessi Amouzou received his PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He obtained a Master in Mathematics at the “Université du Bénin” in Togo and a Master in Demography at the Institute of Demographic Training and Research (IFORD) in Yaoundé (Cameroon). Following his demographic training, he worked as Research Associate at IFORD and later as Operation Research Assistant at the Family Health and AIDS (FHA) project in Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire). He specialized in Population Studies with a concentration in Biostatistics. His research interests include HIV/AIDS, infant and child health, fertility and projections. – Abena Asante received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She received her medical degree at the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, Ghana. Before coming to Hopkins, she worked as a resident at the Department of Community Health, University of Ghana Medical School. She also served as a medical officer at the Infectious Disease Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, where she worked with people living with HIV/AIDS. Her interests include the epidemiology and control of HIV/AIDS in developing countries and adolescent reproductive health. – Radia Daoussi received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health* and is originally from Tunisia. Prior to Hopkins, she received her Master’s in Political Science from the University of Paris in 1993, a Master’s in International Studies from the University of Denver in 1997, and also received a training in community health at Saint John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India in 1999. She has worked for WHO, researching mechanisms to support HIV positive mothers’ choice to feed their infants. In Peru, she worked with UNICEF to design a mother-to-child prevention of HIV strategy. Radia has led the Vineeta Foundation for the past 7 years, an NGO dedicated to public health work worldwide. To support the mission of the Foundation, Radia has traveled overland to more than 50 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America where she lived and worked with vulnerable populations. Her interests include reproductive health, the prevention of HIV/AIDS, access to contraception, and adolescent reproductive health. – Susmita Das received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She obtained a Masters degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, India. In the three years preceding her coming to Hopkins, she worked as Program Officer with Family Health International (FHI) in India. She was also the FHI Country Coordinator for the Protection of Human Subjects Committee. Before that and since 1999, she worked with the Child In Need Institute (CINI), one of four national NGOs in India and the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) as part of their Technical Assistance Team in West Bengal. She has been mainly involved in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS related program planning and management and policy work in India. Her interest areas include: integration of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS services, adolescent reproductive and sexual health, health system analysis, program monitoring and evaluation and ethical issues in public health. – Mai Do received her DrPH degree from Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She received her medical training at the School of Medicine in Hanoi, Vietnam. Upon graduation from medical school, she joined the Department of Family Planning/Maternal and Child Health of the Ministry of Health in Vietnam. After completing her MPH at Johns Hopkins, she returned to work in Vietnam for a year before coming back for doctoral study. Her research interests include family planning, the contraceptive behavior of couples, and adolescent reproductive health. – Oluwaseun Falade received her MPH from Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She obtained her medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2001. After her internship, she worked as a junior research fellow at the malaria research laboratories of the Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She participated in community activities that target HIV prevention among adolescents. Before coming to Hopkins, she served at the Association for Reproductive and Family Health, a national non-governmental organization in Nigeria, dedicated to meeting the challenges posed to the social and sexual health of Nigerians where she worked on reproductive health issues. Her special interest area is reproductive health epidemiology with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS. – Joseph Kagaayi received his MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health. He obtained his Bachelors degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1999 from Makerere University Medical School, Uganda. Before coming to Hopkins, he worked as a Research Coordinator with the Rakai Project, Uganda, with a focus on operations research for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV. His special interest area is reproductive and perinatal epidemiology. – Nicole F. Kouassi received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health. She is from Cote d’Ivoire. She received her medical degree from the National University of Cote d’Ivoire School of Medicine. Upon completion of her studies, she worked as a pediatrician in a suburban health center in Abidjan focusing on malaria in young children. Prior to becoming a Gates Scholar, she worked with UNAIDS in Cote d’Ivoire to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS among children, adolescents and women. During this time, she was also responsible for national level coordination of local NGOs involved in HIV/AIDS prevention programs, worked to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV with the Maternal and Child Health Service, and was involved with the National AIDS Control Program’s antiretroviral drug access initiative. Her areas of interest include the implementation of effective Behavior Change Communication programs for adolescents, as well as program monitoring and evaluation. – Fred Makumbi received his PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He received his undergraduate training in statistics at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 1992. Upon completion of his studies, he joined the Rakai Project in Uganda, a health research organization working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Uganda Virus Research Institute, Makerere University, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University. In 2000, he was awarded the Master of Health Sciences degree from JHSPH. His academic focus is demography with a concentration in epidemiology, and his research interests include fertility, infant and child mortality, and the impact of HIV/AIDS on children with a particular focus on those orphaned as a result of their parents' AIDS-related mortality. – Joseph Matovu received his MPH from the Department of International Health. He graduated from Makerere University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and Social Administration. Upon completion, he worked with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), a leading HIV/AIDS service delivery NGO in Uganda, between 1996-1997. In 1997, he joined the Rakai Project, a community-based collaborative health research institution with field operations in Rakai district, south-western Uganda. The Rakai Project works in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Uganda Virus Research Institute, Makerere University, Kampala; Johns Hopkins University, and the Columbia University. His academic focus is in the area of International Health with a concentration in social and behavioral interventions in developing countries, and research interests are in the area of HIV/AIDS, family planning and adolescent reproductive health. – Samuel Mills received his PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He obtained his MHS degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Nafis Sadik Fellow. His research interests include maternal and neonatal health, family planning program strategies and evaluation, reproductive health of women and adolescents, and HIV/AIDS. – Zikulah Namukwaya received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She received her medical degree from the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Upon graduation from the medical school, she worked in Uganda as a General Practitioner. In the last two years before coming to Hopkins, she worked with the Rakai Research Project on HIV/AIDS as head of the Community Based Reproductive Health Unit and Coordinator for the Bacterial Vaginosis natural history. She returned to Uganda after her MPH degree studies to continue her work with the Rakai Project. – Eyerusalem K. Negussie received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She is from Ethiopia. She received her medical degree in pediatrics from Addis Ababa University (Faculty of Medicine) in Ethiopia. She has worked at both the community and policy levels, primarily in the NGO sector with a focus on improving the health of mothers and children. She also worked as a health programme manager in the rural parts of Ethiopia and as a health programme advisor for an international NGO, where she was responsible for care and support program interventions in the area of HIV/AIDS. Her areas of interest are reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, children and women's health, and program management. – Oladapo Olayemi received his MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He obtained his MBBS degree from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine in 1989. He specialized in obstetrics and gynecology and received the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) diploma in 1999 and became a Fellow of Medical College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nigeria – FMCOG (Nig) in 2001. Before coming for the MPH program, he was on the faculty of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Ibadan, and a consultant to the University College Hospital, Ibadan. His research interest is in the area of prevention of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. – Nilma Rupani received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She received her medical degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya in 1985. She became a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1991 at the same University. Before coming to Hopkins, she worked in different capacities in the Kenya Ministry of Health. She was the Provincial Reproductive Health Trainer and Advisor (1992-2000) and then the Director of the Division of the Reproductive Health (2000-2002). She served as head of the Reproductive Health Section of the Coast Province of the Ministry of Health in Kenya. Her main interests are Maternal and Child health services, with special focus on maternal mortality and morbidity, family planning programmes and policies, HIV/AIDS. – M. Hafizur Rahman received his DrPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He received his medical training at Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh, and earned his MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. After graduating from medical school in 1992, Rahman joined BIRPERHT, a reproductive health research institute in Bangladesh, acting as director for one summer. His research interests include maternal morbiditiy and mortality in developing countries. – Roopina Sangha received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She completed her undergraduate studies at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India in 1994. In 1997, she completed her MD in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the same insitution. Afterwards, she worked as Medical Superintendent and Consultant for a charitable maternity and gynecology hospital in Punjab, India. There she worked in close collaboration with many NGOs and the local government in initiating a training program in safe delivery practices for midwives in the region as well as establishing sex and marriage counseling clinics. Her areas of interest are HIV/AIDS, women and reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, social and behavioral aspects in the field of obstetrics, and tuberculosis as a cause of infertility. – Rocio Schmunis received her MHS from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health* following the Health Communication track. She received her undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Lima in Peru. Before coming to Johns Hopkins, she worked for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in Washington, DC, where she assisted country offices and technical units in developing, implementing and monitoring quality health development projects. Her main areas of interest are in behavioral change communication interventions for family planning and adolescent reproductive health in developing countries. – Wilberforce Sekirime received his MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He received his medical degree in 1987 from the Makerere University in Uganda. He later specialized in obstetrics and gynecology in the same University in 1996. He worked as a specialist at two regional hospitals before joining the Family Planning Association of Uganda (FPAU) as a Service Delivery Officer. Between 1999 and 2003, he served in the Uganda WHO country office in two different capacities, first as a Program Manager for Strengthening Sexual and Reproductive health (1999–2001); and later as a National Professional Officer for Making Pregnancy Safer (2002-2003). Before joining the MPH program he worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Uganda as a reproductive health coordinator. His current interests include monitoring and evaluation of RH services, integrating STIs/ HIV/ AIDS into RH services. – Richard Semakula received his MHS from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* During 1996-2000 he was Head of the district population and planning unit in Tororo, Uganda. There he worked with local governments and NGOs to integrate population concerns into the district development plans. Two years prior to joining Johns Hopkins University he worked with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) as a Senior Data Manager/Analyst. His interests are translating population and health problems into development program, impact of HIV/AIDS interventions, reproductive health strategies and evaluation. – Payam Sheikhattari was a postdoctoral scholar with the Gates Institute.* He received his medical education at Urmia University, Iran and an MPH degree from Tehran Medical University. After his graduation, he worked with Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Iran as a Director of Family Health Experts Group. He was also involved in UNFPA Reproductive Health project, Center for Women Partcipation Gender and Reproductive Health project and Kurdistan Supporting Women and Children's NGO activities. His current research focuses on improving reproductive health services through women empowerment, people participation and health system evaluation. – Sagri Singh received her PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She received her ScM in Public Health from Harvard University and has spent the past five years working on adolescent reproductive and sexual health issues in India, specifically program and policy development and implementation. Sagri's current research interests include exploring reproductive health decision-making, such as contraceptive use among young married couples in India. An underlying theme of her work is to effectively translate research findings into actionable program and policy elements, thereby linking policy and resource allocation to on-the-ground realities. – Nagendra Nath Sinha received his MHS from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He received his undergraduate training in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service and assigned to work in Jharkhand State. He has extensive work experience in the areas of population and reproductive health, rural development and poverty alleviation. His last assignment (1998-2003) was in the Department of Family Welfare, Govt. of India, where he coordinated India’s Reproductive and Child Health programme. His interests include design, monitoring and evaluation of population and reproductive health programs, enhancement of health system capacity to implement these and other programs, pursuit of a broad-based population and development strategy and improving communication and advocacy of the these issues. – Kranti Vora received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She had her postgraduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology from India. Kranti had worked for about three years as a Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Consultant in an organization called Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA). She had also worked in a UNFPA supported Integrated Population Development Project (IPD) in Gujarat as Project Officer (Reproductive Health). She was responsible for initiating Emergency Obstetric Care centers in Gujarat. Just before coming to Hopkins, she worked at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) as Research Associate. She was involved in sensitizing policy makers for RH issues. Kranti's areas of interest are improving Emergency Obstetric Care in developing countries, better health systems to increase access to Reproductive Health care and influencing policies for reproductive health. – Haijiang Wang received his PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He received his BA and MA degrees from Beijing University, China. Prior to pursuing his PhD, he worked with the China Population Information and Research Center and became involved in projects related to family planning, reproductive health and social policy. His research interests are demography and health, family planning, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and related social policy. – Gold-Marie Wontumi received her MPH from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* She received her MBChB Medical degree at the University of Ghana Medical School in 2002. She later obtained a Diploma in Anesthesiology from the Department of Anesthesiology in 2004. Prior to coming for the MPH program, she worked as a resident in the Community Health Department of the University of Ghana Medical School. At the same time she was attached to the Infectious Disease Unit of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, where she was involved in running clinics for patients with HIV/AIDS. Her experiences include assessment of knowledge on Reproductive Health in Ghanaian townships, rural and urban health assessment, as well as giving health education talks to adolescents. Her interest is in Reproductive Health with special interest in Women's Health and HIV/AIDS. – Jianhua Yang received his PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.* He graduated with a MA degree in history from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, in 1990. Before he came to the School, he served as deputy division director in the IEC Department of the State Family Planning Commission of China. During that period, he was involved in the design and implementation of family planning IEC activities at the national and grassroots levels. Mr. Yang has published and helped prepare a number of important documents and books on family planning communication in China. Currently, he is interested in the study of factors related to adolescent sexual development in China. – Shuangling Zhao was a postdoctoral scholar with the Gate Institute. She received her MPH and PhD degree at Medical Center of Fudan University, China (former Shanghai Medical University). After graduation in 2002, she worked with the Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research and was involved in projects related to family planning, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention. Her current research focuses on reproductive health of adolescents and young adults. *designated Department of Population and Family Health Sciences at time of graduation. |
