Leadership
Officers (2022-2024)
Doruk Ozgediz, MD
Chair
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Dr. Ozgediz is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is Director of the Center for Global Surgery and Health Equity. He has maintained a focus throughout his career on global health and surgical capacity building. He was a co-founder and is actively involved with the group Global Partners for Anesthesia and Surgery (GPAS), an organization focused on the improvement of peri-operative services in Kampala, Uganda.
Tahmina Banu
Chair-Elect
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Professor Banu recently began working as Executive Director of Chittagong Research Institute for Children (CRICS) in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Prior to this, she headed the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for 23 years, and was instrumental in founding the department. She has been awarded the Rowan Nicks Scholarship and the Stephan L. Gans International Traveling Fellowship. She continues to serve as a driving force in the expansion of children’s surgical care in Bangladesh.
Marilyn Butler, MD
Treasurer
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Dr. Marilyn Butler is a Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Oregon Health Science University. She has a history of clinical work in Vietnam and China and was the founder of the Global Paediatric Surgery Networks (GPSN), a clearinghouse for resources and collaborations for pediatric surgeons around the world.
Emmanuel Ameh, MBBS
Past Chair
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Dr. Ameh is a professor of Pediatric Surgery at the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria. Dr. Ameh is a co-editor of the text “Pediatric Surgery: A Comprehensive Text for Africa,” and is Chair of the National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anaesthesia Plan Committee for Nigeria. Dr. Ameh was an expert participant of the Fourth Meeting of the WHO Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care, where he served as Vice Chair of the advocacy working group. He is also Vice Chair for the West African College of Surgeons Surgical Plan Committee.
Zipporah Gathuya, MD
Secretary
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Dr. Gathuya is a pediatric anesthesiologist in Nairobi, Kenya. She was awarded a Head of State Commendation by the President of Kenya for her work in advancing Kenyan pediatric anesthesia practices, and was very instrumental in initiating the Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship program at the University of Nairobi. She is also the Principal Surgeon at St. John Ambulance, where she has volunteered for over 20 years.
At Large Directors
Hafeez Abdelhafeez
2020-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | USA and Sudan
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Dr. Abdelhafeez is a pediatric oncology surgeon currently serves as the director of global onco-surgery transversal program, the department of pediatric global medicine, St. Jude Children’s Research. He is leading the efforts of onco-surgical education and training in limited-resources setting. He currently serves as the oncology group lead for the Global Initiative of Children’s Surgery (GICS) and a member of the education committee of the International Society of Pediatric Surgical Oncology (IPSO).
Simone Abib
2021-2024
Pediatric Surgeon | Brazil
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Full Professor in Pediatric Surgery.
Head of Pediatric Surgical Oncology, Pediatric Oncology Institute — GRAACC, Federal University of São Paulo, Paulista School of Medicine.
President, International Society of Paediatric Surgical Oncology.
President, Crianca Segura — Safe Kids Brazil.
Post-graduate mentor — Federal University of São Paulo, Paulista School of Medicine.
Academic Coordinator of Santa Marcelina Medical School.
Areas of interest: Pediatric surgical oncology, pediatric trauma, pediatric trauma prevention.
Abdelbasit Elsayed Ali
2020-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | Sudan
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Dr. Ali is an Associate Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Khartoum and a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Soba University Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.
Currently, he is a Consultant and Chairman of Pediatric Surgery Department at King Saud Medical City in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is a founding member and Ex convener of the Paediatric Surgery Specialty Council, Sudan Medical Specialization Board (SMSB) and a founding member and Academic Secretary of the Sudanese Association of Paediatric Surgeons (SAPS). He is a member of the Executive Council of Pan African Paediatric Surgical Association (PAPSA), and a member of the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group (IPEG).
Milind Chitnis
2020-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | South Africa
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Dr. Milind Chitnis is an Associate Professor and head of the department of Paediatric Surgery at the Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals, affiliated to the Walter Sisulu University in East London in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Beda R Espineda
2020-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | Philippines
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- Associate Professor of Surgery II, MCU College of Medicine and Hospital
- Chairman, Wold Surgical Foundation Philippines
- Director, Philippine College of Surgeons, Surgical Outreach S.U.R.E Commission
Faye Evans
2021-2024
Pediatric Anesthesiologist | USA
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Dr. Evans is a senior associate in perioperative anesthesia in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School where her specialty is in pediatric anesthesia. She is the current Chair of the Education Committee for the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists and a pediatric editor for ATOTW. She serves on the Lifebox, Global Governance Council, the Medical Advisory Board for Smile Train, and is on the Board for the Global Initiative in Children’s surgery. Her efforts currently focus on improving the quality and safety of anesthesia in low-resourced settings through education and advocacy. She has been involved with a variety of educational initiatives including as an advisor to the University of Nairobi Pediatric Anesthesia fellowship in Kenya, the Safer Anaesthesia from Education (SAFE) Paediatric Course, and is currently part of the PATA collaborative working to strengthen pediatric anesthesia training in Africa.
Laura Goodman
2021-2024
Pediatric Surgeon | USA
Sarah Greenberg
2020-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | USA
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Sarah Greenberg, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
She serves as the liaison between the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery and the Program for Global Surgery and Social Change, where she completed a global surgery fellowship in 2015. She served as a Commissioner and a Bellagio Commissioner for The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. Her primary area of focus is on improving equity in pediatric surgical care delivery in the United States and globally.
Vrishna Madhuri
2021-2024
Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon | India
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Dr. Madhuri is a Senior Professor and Head of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore. She is also the Immediate Past President of the Paediatric Orthopaedic Society of India and editor in chief of the Paediatric Orthopaedics and Related Sciences.
Liz McLeod
2023
Pediatric Surgeon | Australia
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Liz is a practising paediatric surgeon in Melbourne, specializing in congenital colorectal conditions. She also holds an adult general surgical fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). She has a Doctorate in tumour cell biology and a Masters of Public Health with a research interest in program evaluation and health system strengthening, from the University of Melbourne. Through the RACS she has been involved over the last 15 years in a range of programs including service delivery, program design, management, and evaluation, with partners in the South Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Eastern Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. She has served as Chair of the RACS Global Health Monitoring and Evaluation and Global Health Executive Committees, and been part of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery Regional Working Group. She is the Global Health Editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, and is a consultant for the WHO WPRO for Safe and Affordable Surgery program. She has recently completed an Executive Masters in Development Policy and Practice at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. Her thesis was on surgical system strengthening and resilience to the effects of climate change, and she is currently working with the Pacific Community on a project looking at projected impacts of various climate stressors on health infrastructure and access to surgical services.
Lawal-Aiyedun Olubunmi
2021-2024
Pediatric Nurse | Nigeria
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Comrade Lawal-Aiyedun has served as a member of the committee that developed the National Surgical, Obstetrics, Anesthesia and Nursing Plan (NSOANP) for Nigeria, and she currently is driving implementation of the nursing component.
Udo Rolle
2022-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | Germany
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Udo Rolle is a Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Surgeon in Chief of the Department of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Urology at the University Hospital Frankfurt/M., Germany.
His main interests are newborn surgery, pediatric urology, pediatric oncology, and global pediatric surgery.
He has published more than 150 scientific peer-reviewed articles.
Lubna Samad
2020-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | Pakistan
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Dr. Lubna Samad is a pediatric surgeon based in Karachi, Pakistan, committed to improving patient outcomes with a specific focus on LMICs. She is the Director of Global Surgery Programs at IRD Global. She has led the development of Pakistan’s national surgical plan – “National Vision for Surgical Care 2020-25” – and has conducted the country’s first national surgical indicators survey. She has contributed to the surgical component of Pakistan’s Universal Health Coverage Benefits Packages. Dr. Samad is a member of the Global Surgery Foundation’s Leadership Team.
John Sekabira
2021-2024
Paediatric Surgeon | Uganda
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Dr. Sekabira is the Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and Head of Paediatric Surgery at Mulago, National Referral and Makerere University Teaching Hospital, the only centre for paediatric Surgery in Uganda. He is a founding member of COSECSA (College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa) and a member of the Association of Surgeons of Uganda. He has been a Hugh Greenwood Lecturer at BAPS in Edinburgh, UK 2015, and also a Stephen L. Gans Lecturer at the American Academy of Paediatrics, San Francisco, USA 2016, and an awardee of an Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy of Paediatrics. He was also the guest lecturer of the Swedish Association of Pediatric Surgeons, and has experience with pediatric surgical camps in the region as part of Global Surgical partnerships.
Justina Seyi-Oljide
2022-2023
Pediatric Surgeon | Nigeria
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Justina Seyi-Olajide is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria. She is passionate about access to surgical care for children in LMICs and Global Surgery in General. She is a member of the core committee that developed and is currently implementing Nigeria’s National Surgical Obstetric Anaesthesia and Nursing Plan.
Mohamed Shalaby
2023
Pediatric Surgeon | UK
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Mr Shalaby is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and Urologist, at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. He is the Training Program Director for Paediatric Surgery in Bristol and the Divisional Clinical Lead for outpatients’ services for Women and Children in Bristol. He is an examiner and the OSCE lead for the Examination committee of the European Board of Paediatric Surgery. He graduated from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and finished his General Paediatric Surgical training there before being appointed as a consultant in 2009. He then did sub-specialist and Paediatric Urology training at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow before he took his current substantive post at Bristol in 2014. He is the Middle East representative of the International Affairs Committee of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons and a board member of the Arab Association of Pediatric Surgeons. He regularly contributes to meetings, courses, and fellowships in LMICs. He is the Paediatric Urology lead for the Global Initiative of Children’s Surgery “GICS” and the GICS working groups facilitator.
Sabina Siddiqui
2019-2022
Pediatric Surgeon | USA
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Dr. Siddiqui is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatric Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research interests include the development of surgical technologies and the expansion of surgical technologies in resource limited settings. She has worked to expand access to laparoscopic surgery in Nicaragua and on capacity and service projects in Iraq, Palestine, Peru and Kenya.
Associate Members
Core Operations and Logistics
Naomi Wright
Roba Khundkar
Sarah Cairo
Jacques Fadhili Bake
Lawal-Aiyedun Olabunmi
Marcia Matias
Isaac Ndayishimiye
Maame Tekyiwa Botchway
Arjun Visa
Katie Larusso
Intisar Hisham
Andrew Trecartin
Hetal Gohil
Many thanks to our previous COL members, for their many contributions to GICS:
Sarah Greenberg
Laura Goodman
Guy Jensen
Jamie Anderson
Etienne St. Louis
Advisory Group
Stephen Bickler
Diana Farmer
Kokila Lakhoo
Keith Oldham
Dan Poenaru
Richard Stewart
