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We’d love to hear from you! Whether you have questions, collaboration ideas, or want to get involved with the Consortium of Pan African Medical Diasporas (COPAMD), feel free to reach out.
Dr. Anteneh Habte is one of the founding members of the Consortium for Pan African Medical Diaspora (COPAMD). He is also the Chairman of People to People’s (P2P) Board of Directors. Through its flagship program of “Triangular Partnership”, P2P highlights the indispensable role of the African healthcare professional diaspora in the effectiveness and sustainability of North-South collaborations. He also contributed to the publication of P2P’s “Triangular Partnership” manuscript where the organization shares its 25 years of experience particularly in Ethiopia.
Dr. Habte is a diplomat of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and a certified educator of palliative and end-of-life care (EPEC). He coordinates People to People (P2P)’s effort to promote the training of medical personnel and provision of clinical services in hospice and palliative care in Ethiopia. He is one of the editors of a series of web-based modules in Hospice and Palliative Care for Ethiopia prepared under the auspices of the Mayo Clinic Global HIV Initiative. Dr. Habte currently serves as Chief of the Geriatrics & Extended Care Department at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, WV and is clinical faculty at both the West Virginia School of Medicine and the Lewisburg School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Seble Frehywot is a Professor of Global Health and Health Policy at George Washington University (GWU) and the co-founder of the IT for Health and Education System Equity (ITfHESE) Initiative, an initiative between George Washington and Georgetown Universities. Through ITfHESE, since 2020, she works in the arena of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Realities and their relationships and impacts on global health workforce education and training. She is also the co-founder of the Consortium of Pan-African Medical Diaspora (COPAMD) in the United States. In addition, for 6 years, until Sept 2022, she was the Director of Health Equity On-Line Learning for the Atlantic Philanthropy Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity program. She has twenty-seven years of experience in international settings spanning many countries in Asia, Africa, and the United States, and brings an in-depth knowledge of comparative health systems, communities of practice (CoP), medicine, health policy, and e-learning to the challenges of building the components of a health system. Her main work focus is in Lower and Middle-Income Countries. She has comprehensive knowledge of digital health technologies acquired and honed from over nine years of background in digital health education and technologies in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). She also has a hands-on background in strategically coordinating with the public, other sectors, and health systems stakeholders (government ministries, academia, non-governmental organizations, regulating bodies, and the private sector) with regard to health equity issues surrounding health workforce training, quality, and safety regulatory frameworks, pedagogy, e-pedagogy, and e-andragogy.
She has worked as a Technical Core Group member for the World Health Organization, for the development of a number of WHO global guidelines and recommendations related to health systems, namely: the “Task-shifting Global Recommendation and Guidelines,” the “Increasing Access to Health Workers in Remote and Rural Areas through Improved Retention,” the “Transformative Scaling-up of Medical and Nursing and Midwifery Education,” and the “Optimizing the Delivery of Key Interventions to attain MDG 4 and 5.” Also, currently, she serves in a technical capacity on the WHO Digital Health Roster and the WHO Digital Education for Building Health Workforce Initiatives.
She has provided senior-level influence as a principal investigator and director for multimillion-dollar international projects, including the United States-funded Medical Education Partnership Initiative Project (MEPI), and has published several papers related to the health workforce and health systems as well as to the linkages with ICT. She teaches at George Washington University both in an online and residential format the Global Comparative Health Systems, Global Health and Development, and Global Public Health Culminated Experience courses.
Eiman Mahmoud MD MPH is currently Professor of Pathology and Global Health Program Director at Touro University, California. Mahmoud, a pathologist, epidemiologist, and global health researcher. Her career in global health began at the age of 22 as director of Women Health in Natural and Human Resources protection group (NARP) in Sudan. Her bio attests to a career of contributions in both academic and international development related to global health. As the Lead of Strategic Planning -Executive Board of directors of Sudanese American Physician Association she worked on developing SAPA’s several initiatives in Sudan 2020-2022. Active member in Consortium of Universities in Global Health (CUGH), member of the founding team of the African Diaspora initiative, COPAMD, and the Medical Education and Research Strengthening project (MERSI) led by SAPA and other Sudanese diaspora health professional organizations.
Her commitment to avail time and energy at this stage of her career to strengthen health system, medical education, and research in LMIC is reflected in work in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Sudan, highlighting the importance of a broader range commitment to equity and fairness in international collaborations. Mahmoud authored a decent number of academic papers in the field of global health, pathology and medical education and numerous other working papers and reports. Participated in major field programs in East Africa, including Clinton foundation sponsored Assessments of Rural Health centers in Tigray and Amhara region in Ethiopia and served as a member of the Scientific Advisory committee of Consortium of universities in Global Health and CUGH Afrehealth Interprofessional Education Working Group.
Her primary interest includes primarily health system strengthening and building health workforce capacity in education and research. In addition to connecting women and children in cancer screening and diagnostic services, reflecting her overarching interest and research in examining how health system policies, particularly in diagnostic services in women health and childhood cancer, are translated from global to national policy arenas.
Dr. Kebede Begna is a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota. He is a consultant in hematology and clinical investigator focusing on myeloid neoplasm specifically on acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia, myeloproliferative neoplasm including CML. He is the PI and co-PI of multiple phase I-III clinical trials focusing on acute and chronic myeloid neoplasms including acute lymphoblastic leukemia. His research focus is on translational research through multiple ongoing clinical trials. He is instrumental in establishing CML follow-up clinic at Mayo Clinic. He represents Mayo Clinic in the NCCN CML expert guideline committee. Dr. Begna has published more than 140 peer-reviewed papers; and is in the editorial board of hematology journals. He is vice president of education, “people to people” a nongovernmental organization which works as a bridge between African educational institutions mainly Ethiopia with other institutions of higher learning in the west. He is the course director of a newly started Mayo Clinic Hematology & Medical Oncology Practice update and Board revew. He is instrumental for the establishment of the first Hematology/Medical oncology fellowship program at St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Quentin Eichbaum completed his MD, MPH, PhD/postdoctoral degrees at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his medical residency and fellowship trainings at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. He was a chief resident at MGH and completed research fellowships in hematology/oncology and infectious diseases, and clinical fellowship in human genetics, medical ethics, and transfusion medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and MGH. He completed postdoctoral medical research training in hematology/oncology as well as in infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School, and subsequently conducted R0-1 grant funded research at the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He was recruited to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) as Assistant Dean and Professor of Medical Education and Administration, and is currently also Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Transfusion Medicine Fellowship Program. He is Medical Co-Director of Transfusion Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and Co-Medical Director of the TVHCS Veterans Administration Transfusion Medicine Service. He is director of the VUMC Pathology Education Research Group, and Director of the Vanderbilt Pathology Program in Global Health.
He serves on numerous national and international clinical, global health, education, and health humanities committees and boards. He serves on the board of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) and has chaired several of its committees; and he serves on the global health board committee of FAIMER/ECFMG. He founded and chairs the AABB Global Transfusion Forum (GTF) (that works in over 80 countries), the AABB Global Standards Committee (GSC) and the ASFA International Affairs Committee. He recently edited a book on Global Perspectives and Practices in Transfusion Medicine with over 80 authors from low-and middle-income countries and is currently editing a book on Global Education, Training, and Staffing in Transfusion Medicine and Blood Banking.
He is also deeply committed to developing and teaching the medical ethics and humanities. He completed a fellowship in medical ethics at Harvard Medical School and for over decade directed a unique medical humanities program at VUSM. He co-founded and chaired the international Health Humanities Consortium (HHC); chairs the CUGH Global Health Humanities Working Group; and he recently served on the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) select 25-member national committee on the Fundamental Role of the Arts and Humanities in Medical Education (FRAHME).
He is deeply committed to global medical education and works intensively with new medical schools in Africa. He founded, and is an executive board member, of the Consortium of New Sub-Sahara African Medical Schools (CONSAMS) a consortium serving the needs of over 130 medical schools in African to promote their education, clinical training programs, and research.
Outside of work, he is an avid watercolorist and has participated in numerous joint and solo exhibitions.
