Stevan M. Weine, MD
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Director of Global Medicine & Director of the Center for Global Health
Dr. Weine is Professor of Psychiatry at the UIC College of Medicine, where he also Director of Global Medicine and Director of the Center for Global Health. For 30 years he has been conducting research both with refugees and migrants in the U.S. and in post-conflict countries, focused on mental health, health, and violence prevention. His research mission is to develop, implement, and evaluate psychosocial interventions that are feasible, acceptable, and effective with respect to the complex real-life contexts where at-risk populations live. This work has been supported by multiple grants from the NIMH, NICHD, DHS, NIJ, and other state, federal, and private funders, all with collaboration from community partners. This work has resulted in more than 130 publications and two books: When History is a Nightmare: Lives and Memories of Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Rutgers, 1999) and Testimony and Catastrophe: Narrating the Traumas of Political Violence (Northwestern, 2006). He has been awarded two Career Scientist Awards: “Services Based Research with Refugee Families” from the National Institute of Mental Health and “Labor Migration and Multilevel HIV Prevention” from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Weine is the 2020 recipient of the Abraham L. Halpern Humanitarian Award of the American Association for Social Psychiatry.
Maarten C. Bosland, DVSc, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology
Maarten C. Bosland, DVSc. PhD, Professor of Pathology, is engaged in capacity building in teaching, research and clinical care at the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology and the Komfo Anyoke Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. He is fostering partnerships between these institutions and the UIC College of Medicine in areas such as pathology, dentistry, anatomy, primary care, hematology, and mental health. In Nigeria, he is collaborating with several universities to develop research on Nigerian medicinal plants and on prostate cancer; he has studied this malignancy in the US for many years resulting in many publications. In a current pilot project, conceived in collaboration with Northwestern University, the prevalence of prostate cancer in three regions in Nigeria is studied as a first step towards improving prostate cancer care in Nigeria. Capacity building in Nigeria is focused on clinical pathology.
Mary Bunn, PhD
Clinical Instructor and Research Scientist, Department of Psychiatry
Mary Bunn, PhD, LCSW is a Research Scientist at the UIC Department of Psychiatry. She is also the Deputy Director of Global Mental Health in the Center for Global Health and provides therapy services to survivors of war and forced migration in her clinic in the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Clinic. Her research program focuses on the long-term and multi-level effects of political violence and forced migration on culturally diverse communities and mental health and psychosocial interventions across diverse contexts Her current research projects in Jordan and Thailand focus on the provision of integrated mental health services for displaced refugees and survivors of human rights violations.
Stacey Chamberlain, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine
Director of Academic Programs
Dr. Stacey Chamberlain is the Director of Academic Programs in the Center for Global Health. In this role, Dr. Chamberlain oversees the Global Medicine (GMED) Program for UIC medical students and the Global Community Health Track for resident physicians. In addition, she is the Director of the International Emergency Medicine and Global Health Fellowship Program. Dr. Chamberlain has done clinical, educational, public-health, disaster-response, and emergency medicine development work, including working with several globally-focused NGOs, spanning five continents. In addition to her focus on global health education, her global health work focuses on capacity building in emergency care in Uganda. Dr. Chamberlain is a board certified emergency physician and Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Andrew Dykens, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine
Andrew Dykens, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Director of Health Systems at the UIC Center for Global Health. Andrew chairs the CUGH Capacity Building Subcommittee. He is a NIH Fogarty International Research Scientist Career Development Award (K01) recipient through which he studies the implementation of sustainable cervical cancer screening programs at the regional level in rural Senegal. He actively collaborates with the Senegal National Ministry for Health and Social Action, the Institute of Health and Development at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, the Senegal National Cancer Institute, Peace Corps Senegal, and Rotary. Andrew is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Mauritania 1997-99) and a Rotarian at the Rotary Club of Chicago.
Marcia Edison, PhD, MBA
Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Education
Director of Research and Evaluation
Dr. Edison directs the research and evaluation effort within the Center for Global Health. She is a Research Assistant Professor in the UIC Department of Medical Education (DME). Dr. Edison has served as an evaluator on federal grants from the US Department of Education (DOE) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a unit within the Department of Health and Human Services; she has also been evaluator on two projects funded by the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.
She was the project director of a HRSA grant awarded to UIC to provide Bioterrorism and Disaster Preparedness education to medical students, and is currently a co-investigator on two DOE-funded Patient Safety Education initiatives.
Gelila Goba. MD, MPH, FACOG
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Director of the Global Women’s Health Fellowship
Dr. Goba has a major commitment to women’s health, both in Chicago and globally. She is the Director of our UIC Ob/Gyn’s Global Women’s Health Fellowship, and a core faculty member of the University’s Global Medicine (GMED) Program for medical students. Additionally, Dr. Goba established The Mela Project, a four-year OB/GYN Residency Program through Mekelle University in Ethiopia. Supported by the Chicago-based IDP Foundation, The Mela Project provides resident education, mentored research and OB/GYN faculty development in Mekelle. Many UIC faculty donate their time to this Project. The ultimate goal is to establish an “OB/GYN Center of Excellence” at Mekelle University. Under Dr. Goba’s leadership, The Mela Project is expanding regionally and beyond, to include South Sudan, Uganda, and Somaliland.
Olamide Jarrett, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Associate Director of Academic Programs
Dr. Olamide Jarrett is an assistant professor of medicine in the department of infectious disease in the UIC College of Medicine. Her research interests are in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in women in sub-Saharan Africa. In November 2014, Jarrett traveled to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, to work in the Ebola Isolation Unit in Connaught Hospital. Jarrett, who has family members in Sierra Leone, hopes new treatment and isolation facilities being constructed will help control the Ebola outbreak. The stigma faced by health care workers who treat patients with Ebola in Sierra Leone is real, she says. “Sometimes it’s not enough to talk about how you want to see your country improve or talk about all the ways it can be a stronger nation. Eventually, you have to be illing to be on the ground and help out in a time of crisis.”
Janet Lin, MD, MPH
Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine
Director of Health systems Development
Janet Lin is Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine and an Affiliate Professor in Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC). She is Director of Health Systems Development, at UIC’s Center for Global Health. Her work for the past 17 years has focused on improving health care access and the delivery of care in resource-limited settings within a framework of public health. She has earned certificates in tropical medicine and has consulted on global health issues. Her work has led her to pursue activities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Current work focuses on HIV, HCV, and diabetes screening in the emergency department and linkage to care in Chicago; community engagement in disaster risk reduction in Haiti and the Caribbean; and emergency care capacity development in Kenya.
Sarah Messmer, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Dr. Messmer has worked primarily in Guatemala, where she worked to develop community-based child nutrition and women’s health programs. She continues to work with Wuqu’ Kawoq, an organization in Guatemala dedicated to providing care in indigenous languages, primarily on educational initiatives. She is also interested in LGBTQ health, particularly on the global scale.
Bellur Prabhakar, MSc, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immuniology
Associate Dean for Technological Innovation and Training
Dr. Bellur S. Prabhakar is renowned immunologist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He is an integral part of the leadership team that is leading the UIC efforts in HeartRescue India (HRI) project in Bengaluru, India. This project is supported by Medtronic Foundation and involves providing paramedic training and skills development in advanced life support system, improving pre-hospitalization care for STEMI patients as well as community education and training. Additionally, he is involved in the development of a poison control center at Ramaiah Medical College in Bengaluru, India. The intent is to share Standard Operating Procedures with interested entities and implement a “Train the Trainers” program to ensue successful implementation of both programs in other communities.
Miriam Redleaf, MD
Professor, Department of Otolaryngology
Director of Otology Hearing Services
Miriam Redleaf, MD, is a neurotologist at the University of Illinois Hospital, and as such is a widely-respected expert in otology (medical and surgical problems of the ear). She is the head of the Otology/Neurotology Program at UI Health.
Arising from family ties to Ethiopia, Dr. Redleaf’s otology and audiology projects there have grown since their inception in 2012. Currently she co-directs a surgical training program with her Ethiopian partner, Dr. Es-hak Bedri. She has also initiated the first audiometry training programs in the country, starting this year with 29 trainees, and planning for 4 ongoing training sites in 2020. Her commitment to these projects has inspired her colleagues to help in this endeavor as well the support of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at UI Health with the start of the Ethiopia Otology Fund as well as their volunteerism and expertise.
Damiano Rondelli, MD
Michael Reese Professor of Hematology
Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Director, Blood and Marrow Transplant Program
Dr. Damiano Rondelli completed his training in Hematology at the University of Bologna, Italy, where he started his career. In 2002 he joined the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where he is currently the Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Director of the Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program, the Co-Director of the Urban Global Medicine Program in the Department of Medicine, and the Associate Director for Global Partnerships in the College of Medicine Center for Global Health. His research is in BMT for blood cancers and sickle cell anemia and laboratory models to prevent rejection in incompatible BMT. Over the last 7 years, he has also started a GlobalBMT project to collaborate with low-middle income countries with high need for BMT. His GlobalBMT initiative currently includes partners in Nepal, India, Nigeria, Bolivia, Ukraine and Cuba. He has authored over 140 peer-reviewed articles and multiple book chapters.
Reshma Shah, MD
Assistant Professor, Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics
Reshma Shah, MD is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and a Fellow in the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also the Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics. As a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, Dr. Shah cares for young children with developmental disabilities, speech and language delays, and learning challenges.
Dr. Shah’s research aims to reduce poverty-related developmental and educational inequities by developing, evaluating and disseminating accessible and sustainable primary care-based strategies that improve early child development both locally and globally. She is the principal investigator of a career development award from the National Institutes of Health and has also received funding from Maternal Child Health Bureau, the Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science to support her work.
Thomas Sims, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
Dr. Thomas Sims joined the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Surgery as a pediatric surgeon. He is working with the Center for Global Health to develop global surgery within the university by integrating ongoing projects and fostering new programs of collaboration with low- and middle- income countries. He is currently involved in surgical research, care, and training endeavors in Uganda, Honduras, and Ukraine. He also hopes to develop an opportunity to utilize his pediatric surgery training on the Indian subcontinent.
Rhea Begeman, MS, BSN, RN
Director of Administrative Operations
Rhea Begeman is the Director of Administrative Operations for the University of Illinois Center for Global Health. She provides overall administrative leadership and oversees operational, financial, regulatory and business activities to position the Center for innovation and growth. She collaborates with all global health faculty to promote the mission, vision and values of the Center. Rhea has a Bachelor Degree in Nursing from Bradley University and Masters Degree in Health Systems Management from Rush University. She is currently a faculty team member on the Heart Rescue India grant funded by the Medtronic Foundation which is a quality improvement project for pre-hospital access and emergency care for ST- segment elevation myocardial infarction in Bangalore India. She has participated on a number of abstracts, publications and presented internationally. Her interests lie in the burden of NCDs, global health education and community health programs.
Nicole Gonzalez, MPH
Research Specialist, Center for Global Health
Nicole is a Research Specialist at the Center for Global Health. She was previously a Survey Director at NORC at the University of Chicago, where she worked on several research projects including Field Support for the National Children’s Study and a redesign of the National Survey of Children’s Health. Nicole completed an internship in the Service Delivery and Safety Department at the World Health Organization and assisted with several research-focused projects. She earned her MPH at UIC and studied Community Health and Maternal and Child Health. Prior to graduate school, Nicole was a Research Assistant at the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University. She is committed to health equity, capacity building, and increasing access to and quality of care.
Jeanne Burian
Program Coordinator, Center for Global Health