Class of 2013

Brandi Gary, M.D. is an emergency medicine physician and internist from Seattle, WA. She studied Spanish language and literature at the University of Washington and then went on to medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia. She completed her residency in emergency and internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis before joining the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Global Health Fellowship Program. She has worked with various aid groups and small mobile clinics in Mexico and Haiti to help teach health care providers and deliver care to the displaced and under-served. Her interests include building relationships with leaders from various disciplines in order to better serve the health of people living in poverty both in the USA and internationally.

Rafik Hanna, M.D. is an emergency medicine physician who was originally born in Egypt. After immigrating to the U.S. as a child with his family, Rafik grew up in New Jersey and eventually went on to pursue a career in medicine by completing his medical degree at UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School. He then went on to do his emergency medicine residency training at Jacobi/Montefiore in the Bronx, NY. From there, Rafik went on to practice as an emergency medicine attending physician at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, MD for several years prior to joining the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Global Health Fellowship program. While in residency and further in Baltimore, his interest in global health became evident as he served with several missions teams with different non-profit organizations, including the Christian Medical and Dental Association. As he made multiple trips to Ghana, among other places, to provide medical care, his desire to assist patients in developing countries has led him to continue to strengthen his clinical skills in infectious disease and tropical medicine.

Class of 2012

Claire Uebbing, M.D. is an emergency medicine physician from South Bend, IN. She studied Animal Science at Purdue University and then went on to medical school at Indiana University. She completed her emergency medicine residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit before joining the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Global Health Fellowship Program. She has spent time working at Moi University Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya in the medicine, pediatrics, and casualty wards as well as at Mampong District Hospital in Mampong, Ghana, working to improve emergency care in the Casualty department. She has also worked with small mobile clinics in Quito, Ecuador and the Chiriqui province of Panama to deliver health care to the indigenous poor populations living there. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Her interests in international medicine continue to be emergency medicine systems development, disaster medicine, and public health in developing countries.

Vanessa Velazquez-Ruiz, M.D. is an emergency medicine physician from Puerto Rico. She studied biology as an undergraduate and then pursued a medical degree at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). She completed her emergency medicine residency at UPR and served as Chief Resident before joining the St Luke’s Roosevelt Global Health Fellowship Program. During medical school, she worked in cooperation with non-profit organizations from Puerto Rico to serve communities in Costa Rica and Santo Domingo. She worked in Kintampo District Hospital in Ghana to improve the delivery of medical services in the newly establish Emergency and Casualty Ward. As part of her fellowship, she has traveled to India and the Dominican Republic. She has a strong commitment to work with communities in developing countries and is highly motivated to expand her knowledge and improve her clinical skills in the areas of infectious disease, HIV, and tropical medicine.

Class of 2011

Sabreen Akhter, M.D., is a pediatric emergency medicine physician from Chicago, IL.  She studied English Literature at the University of Chicago before completing medical school at Midwestern University and a pediatric residency at Rush University in Chicago.  She then finished a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin before joining the Global Health Fellowship at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt.  While in Wisconsin, she focused her research interests on barriers toward HIV testing among pediatric emergency providers.  She has worked in a variety of countries and clinical situations all over the world, including:  a field clinic in Kashmir for IDP’s after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, a pediatric clinic at a public hospital in Roatan, Honduras, a children’s hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, the emergency room of the main public hospital in Port-au-Prince Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, the emergency room of the main public hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, and the pediatric ward of a rural mission hospital in Chiapas, Mexico.  Throughout these experiences, she continues to be primarily interested in teaching, building partnerships, and supporting local health care capacity building.

Class of 2010

Christopher Dayton, M.D., is an emergency medicine physician.  After returning from a 5-week trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti just two short weeks after the earthquake in 2010, Dr. Dayton share his thoughts: http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/haiti-six-months-after-part-iii.

Class of 2009