• Catherine Juillard
  (Advisory Panel Member)
  

  Catherine Juillard graduated from Stanford, and is currently a surgeon-in-training at UCLA Medical Center. Her interest in Public Health began in Senegal, West Africa, where she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1998 to 2001. Dr. Juillard has recently been awarded the Sommer Scholarship by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree. Improving access to surgical care in sub-Saharan Africa through education, systems, and policy is Dr. Juillard's primary research interest.

 

• Katherine Westphal
  (Advisory Panel Member)
  

  Katherine Westphal is originally from Minnesota and she has spent a significant amount of time abroad strengthening self-help capacity among populations in resource poor countries. A graduate of Bucknell University with a degree in chemical engineering, Katherine served as an enthusiastic Peace Corps volunteer in Panama where she designed and constructed water systems for rural villages. Following Peace Corps, she spent a year discovering Africa's diverse culture and health issues in an overland journey through West Africa. Most recently she worked in Uganda as a Project Manager for an initiative to provide sustainable employment to local communities. Katherine is currently earning her Master of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she serves as the Vice President for the J.B. Grant International Health Society.

 

• Akbar Waljee
  (Advisory Panel Member)
  

  Akbar Waljee was born and raised Nairobi, Kenya. He spent many years volunteering with the Kenya Red Cross, and at Kenyatta Hospital where his interest in medicine and gastrointestinal diseases flourished. Akbar graduated from Emory University with Bachelor of Science in Biology and his Doctor of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency training at the University of Michigan, and spent a year as faculty. He is now a Gastroenterology fellow at the University of Michigan, with an interest in inflammatory bowel disease. During his fellowship, he was awarded his Masters of Science in Health and Health Services Research, and plans to pursue a career in academic and clinical medicine.

 

• Jennifer Waljee
  (Advisory Panel Member)
  

  Jennifer Waljee was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan as she completes her clinical training. She received her Bachelor of Science and Masters of Public Health degrees at the University of Michigan in both Biology and Epidemiology, and completed medical school at Emory University. She is currently a General Surgery House Officer at the University of Michigan, and recently completed a health-services research fellowship through the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. Her interests include patient-centered outcomes and the delivery of health care, and the influence of the patient and physician interaction on patient decision making, specifically as it relates to the surgical management of breast cancer. She and her husband hope to continue their careers in clinical medicine, administration, and education jointly in Kenya and the United States.

 

• Rebecca Thornton
  (Advisory Panel Member)
  

  Rebecca Thornton (Ph.D.), graduated from Harvard and is currently a NIA post-doctoral fellow in the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan. She will begin her appointment as an assistant Professor in the Department of Economics in September 2008. Her research focuses on education and health in developing countries, with particular focus on Africa. Dr Thornton has evaluated a randomized merit-based scholarship for girls in Kenya and is working on a number of interventions examining HIV testing and prevention as well as road safety in Malawi. Her experience has involved extensive time living in Kenya and Malawi. She is committed to combining rigorous research, collaboration, and training with policy in order to increase health and opportunities in Africa and elsewhere.