OUR TEAM

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Sep 29, 2021
4 min

Accountability & Attention to Results: Dr. Andrew Oryono, OBGYN at Rwinkwavu District Hospital

OBGYN specialist Dr. Andrew Oryono discusses his career journey, why practicing medicine is a calling to him, and the value of quality care.

Pacifique Iradukunda

Aug 12, 2021
9 min

Celebrating Youth PIHers

On International Youth Day, we are celebrating the imaginative, compassionate, and vital members of our community: bright-eyed Youth PIHers.

Q&A with Joanna Galaris – Impact and Systems specialist

IMB Team

Oct 14, 2018
4 min

Q&A with Joanna Galaris – Impact and Systems specialist

As we begin this discussion, would you tell us a little about yourself: My name is Joanna Galaris, I hold dual citizenship: I am Greek...

Dr. Joel M. Mubiligi

Executive Director

Dr. Joel M. Mubiligi first started caring for patients as a physician at Kigali’s King Faisal Hospital. He later joined Partners In Health, known locally as Inshuti Mu Buzima, and led the decentralization and integration of HIV, NCD, mental health, oncology and surgery interventions within the Northern District of Burera whose public health system serves a catchment area of over 300,000 people. From 2013, he was the Medical Advisor to the Ministry of Health’s national Human Resources for Health program, where for two years before he rejoined PIH, he supported government efforts to develop training programs to produce a cadre of qualified health professionals in collaboration with more than 20 US institutions. Prior to his appointment to his current role as Executive Director, Joel was the Chief Medical Officer for Partners in health, where he oversaw national mentorship and quality improvement interventions for primary health care services, which successfully reduced neonatal, child and maternal mortality and translated into improved national policies and protocols for primary care.

In his current role, Joel leads a team of over 200+ people tasked with improving the quality of care provided to patients in oncology, NCDs, mental health, surgery, maternal, neonatal, adolescent, and child health by developing equitable, scalable, and patient-centered innovations in these clinical areas. He also serves as adjunct faculty and a member of the board of directors of the University of Global Health Equity, a PIH initiative that equips future physicians with the clinical knowledge and skills needed to effectively implement innovative public health solutions, lead and manage equitable health systems, and improve the delivery of care in rural communities.

Joel holds a medical degree in general medicine and surgery from the University of Rwanda, a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and is currently completing an Msc in Global Public Health with the Queen Mary University in London. He proudly attributes his commitment to global health and dedication to value-driven leadership to his late mother, who has inspired him throughout his life with her dedication to nursing and compassionate care for the most vulnerable around her.

Nadine Karema

Chief Informatics Officer

Nadine Karema joined PIH/IMB in November 2013 as Health Information Systems (HIS) Implementation Manager to support the implementation of new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) functionalities while improving use of the system and use of data by all stakeholders. In September 2015, she moved up to the Health Information System Director position, overseeing the expansion of EMR implementation and collaborating with IMB programs on strengthening EMR with the aim of efficiently supporting IMB processes and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).
In 2016, Nadine took on additional responsibilities as the Director of Health Informatics in charge of leading synergy for the functions of HIS and M&E across all the IMB sites to improve processes towards data-driven decision-making and an evaluation framework that facilitates in-depth review of IMB current and future impact. Since July 2019, Nadine is Chief Informatics Officer, leading IMB strategic goal of integrating HIS, M&E, and IT platforms needed for impactful action, effective care, and improved services within IMB and in the districts we support.
Besides her strategic involvement at PIH/IMB, Nadine represents the organization at the Ministry of Health eHealth workgroups, providing technical support, review, and advice regarding national decisions and vision of eHealth applications. She also represents PIH and health sector NGOs as the co-chair of the National e-Learning Committee chaired by MOH. In addition, Nadine performs guest speaker engagements at local universities events aimed at educating the next generation of Rwandan innovators on eHealth implementation.
Nadine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and Technology and an MBA in International Business and Organizational Leadership. Prior to joining PIH/IMB, Nadine worked in various positions at the University of California-San Diego. Nadine has also taught undergraduate courses in Computer Programming and Business in California career colleges.

Brian Kasigazi

Grants Director

Brian Kasigazi joined PIH/IMB in July 2017 as Resource Development and Grants Director. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (Finance) and a Master of Business Administration degree (Finance). He is a Grants Management Specialist with 20 years of practical work experience in resource mobilization, grants and contracts management and business management. His previous work engagements have been with Infectious Diseases Institute (Uganda) and Makerere University Business School (Uganda) where he worked as a Senior Grants and Contracts Manager and Finance Lecturer respectively.

Vincent Cubaka

Director of Training & Research Department

Vincent K. Cubaka is a medical doctor, health researcher and educator. For the past fourteen years he practiced as a rural clinician, then served as a lecturer and researcher and head of the Department of Primary Health Care at the University of Rwanda (UR). He recently joined Partners in Health Rwanda to hold the position of Director of Research and Training. He trained as a specialist in Family and Community Medicine at UR. He also holds a doctorate in medicine from Aarhus University in Denmark. His doctoral work explored patient-provider communication in primary healthcare in Rwanda. His scientific publications can be found here.

Gilbert Rwigema

Chief Operations Officer

Mr RWIGEMA Gilbert is the Chief Operating Officerfor Partners in Health/ Inshuti Mu Buzima in Rwanda. As COO, he works day to day with PIH/IMB Executive Director and other PIH/ IMB Senior Leaders in driving effective and efficient implementation of health systems strengthening programs and delivering a preferential option for the poor in health care. The COO role oversees district programs as implementation sites, and all non-clinical programs of PIH/IMB including social and economic development programs, health infrastructure and support functions like logistics, transport and administration. He is in charge of establishing, implementing and evaluating all necessary systems to supports the delivery of PIH clinical and non-clinical programs.
Mr Rwigema holds an MBA with professional experience as Programs Manager and Teams leader. Prior to being appointed COO, he served PIH as a District Program Director of Burera , one of the 3 PIH supported districts. Through this role, he significantly led the site operations, health infrastructure development projects and partnership development within the district.
Mr Rwigema has an extensive experience of more than 26 years in humanitarian industry in Rwanda, with a significant experience leading community development programs, working with community and local partners within International NGOs and currently leading health systems strengthening programs.

Alice Uwingabiye

Chief Human Resources Officer

Alice Uwingabiye is an MBA holder, with over 14 years of experience working directly with communities focusing on empowerment of Rwanda’s rural health sector and the most vulnerable people. She joined PIH/IMB in 2006 when PIH/IMB was expanding its activities in Kirehe District. She occupied different positions. From the Administrative Assistant to Deputy Program Manager and then District Program Director where she was a PIH representative in Kirehe, overseeing and coordinating all PIH activities also ensuring the partnership and collaboration between PIH and local government in Kirehe District. This has enabled her to analyze and solve social, economic, and health challenges in grassroots communities. Together with other PIHers, she advocated for more than 300,000 people without a hospital or adequate Health Clinics in Kirehe District.

Dr. Cyprien Shyirambere

District Program Director (Butaro)

District Program Director at Partners In Health in Rwanda, leads the implementation of cancer care delivery at our sites in this country. This includes supporting the daily operations of the Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence (BCCOE), the first national referral cancer center in Rwanda, and accompanying Rwanda’s Ministry of Health in designing, implementing and scaling up evidence-based and cost-effective strategies to advance cancer prevention and care in Rwanda.
. He graduated from University of Rwanda with a master’s of Medicine in Pediatrics and child health and received pediatric oncology trainings at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s hospital. Before joining PIH/IMB in 2014 he was a faculty and head of postgraduate training program in the department of pediatrics at University of Rwanda and a lecturer at Catholic University of Rwanda, faculty of public health.
As a researcher he is interested in the use of implementation science as a framework for iterative evaluations of our cancer care model, to understand programmatic efficacy, where gaps exist and where improvements can be made. This not only informs changes in clinical practices or policies, it will also offer lessons to others seeking to start cancer centers in low-income settings.

Joanna Galaris

Strategy Implementation and Resource Mobilization Advisor

Jean de Dieu Gatete

Director of Health System Strengthening

Dr. Jean de Dieu Gatete is the Director of Health System Strengthening (HSS) for PIH/IMB, where he oversees the harmonization of lab and biomedical work plans from the Health Facilities we support and those of IMB, the implementation as well as staff capacity building. Dr Gatete joined PIH/IMB in 2018 as the District Clinical Director for Kirehe District where he supported our district decentralization process.

Before joining PIH/IMB, Dr. Gatete was the Child Health Advisor for the USAID Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP). During the time with MCSP, he co-chaired the national child health technical working group and supported Rwanda Ministry of Health in developing policies, strategies and interventions to promote the health and wellbeing of all children.

He is a clinical instructor of Newborn and Child Health courses and he is particularly active in building the capacity of primary care providers across the country. In 2013 he contributed to a nationwide assessment of neonatal care services at district hospitals and he was a secretary of the organizing committee of the Xth International Conference on Kangaroo Mother Care held in Rwanda in November 2014. Dr. Gatete is an alumnus of the US State Department through the Community Solutions Program where he developed interest in a right-based approach to solving community problems.

Dr. Florence A. Bitalabeho

Head of Medical Education and Training

Dr. Florence Akiiki Bitalabeho, is proud and privileged to lead a dynamic team with diverse technical skills that aims at strategically optimizing the work of PIH/IMB into trainings and information transfer that builds the capacity of health workers in pre-service and in-service training. She has had over thirty years’ experience practicing and teaching medicine in the Africa region and internationally; culminating in developing training and supporting training in HIV/AIDS management based with WHO in Geneva for 8 years. On the pre-service front, the team works closely with the University of Rwanda in the innovative health education that trains the next generation of health care providers to be responsive to the health needs of the Rwandan community, providing quality health care and striving for health equity and social justice. On the In-service side, the team collaborates with IMB programs, both clinical and non-clinical to develop high impact capacity building strategies, systems, processes and tools.

Pierre C. Niyigena

Director of Community Health

I’m a Rwandan with 15 years of experience in Public Health related programs such as program implementation, supervision, clinical trainings, research and quality improvement. Currently, I hold a advanced diploma in Nursing, Bachelor degree in Public Health, Post Graduate credit certificate in Ant retrovirus Therapy at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Prince leopard, Candidate for Master of science, environmental studies, health stream and have a huge experience in clinical program management.

Until recently, I have been working as Community Health Program Director in Partners In Health-Rwanda; a program which aims to strengthen services delivered by Community health workers(CHWs) in the community and health Centre; decentralized training of CHWs, sustained, regular supervision and clinical mentoring and routine clinical and operations data collection for quality improvement.
I’m supporting MOH in community health program curriculum and module developments, training implementation and I m a national community health trainer.
My main responsibilities at PIH /IMB have been to manage and ensure coordinated implementation of the community health program, develop action plan, budgeting and maintain relationship with Ministry Of Health and local officials in order to make the program effective.

I’m trained on management of persons living with HIV / AIDS, training on the management of common illnesses and chronic diseases and hospital organization at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, trained in Strategic planning. grant management ,and participated in different international Conference on CHWs organized by MOH / Partners
I’m also member of MOH community health technical working group.
In my experiences I worked for public sector (head of health center) before working with PIH/IMB.
I participated in different studies as co-author ex; The impact of a community-based intervention including a monthly food ration on food insecurity among HIV-positive adults during the first year of antiretroviral therapy .
I presented different abstracts in national and international conferences
Im fluent in English, French and Kinyarwanda and have skills on computer use

Frederick Kateera

Chief Medical Officer

Fredrick Kateera is a Rwanda Medical Doctor with Postgraduate Trainings in Epidemiologist and Immunology & Immunogenetics. He completed his Doctorate studies in Malaria Epidemiology and a Post- Doctoral Fogarty Global Health Fellowship in Malaria Epidemiology. He has over 15 years of experience as a Rural Hospital and Research Clinician. He has also worked in HIV program management, and he is a Global Fund Certificated Public Health Expert involved in Monitoring and Evaluating Malaria Program implementation. Currently, he works as the Chief Medical Officer at Partners In Health – Rwanda overseeing all Clinical, Research and Training functions. He is a Global Health advocate with a passion for rural setting Clinical and research program design, Implementation and evaluations. He is a Principal Investigator on multiple research grants including NIH funded grant in the field of Infectious Diseases.

OUR TEAM

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Accountability & Attention to Results: Dr. Andrew Oryono, OBGYN at Rwinkwavu District Hospital

Celebrating Youth PIHers

Q&A with Joanna Galaris – Impact and Systems specialist

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