why we chose sierra leone

Nevan Krogan, PhD, Director of QBI at UCSF, a leader in infectious disease research. Dr. Krogan focuses on host-pathogen interactions and leads several multi-PI NIH-funded collaborative projects, including the HIV Accessory and Regulatory Complexes Center and the Host Pathogen Map Initiative, which identifies and studies viral-host interactions. In March 2020, he established the QBI Coronavirus Research Group (QCRG), a coordinated response of labs at UCSF and other institutions to the pandemic. QCRG, which is devoted to understanding SARS-CoV-2 and identifying therapeutics to fight COVID-19, represents the effort of hundreds of scientists around the world, including in Sierra Leone (SL), Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana. 

Mohammed Barrie, MBChB, MMSc, an SL-based physician and co-founder of the Wellbody Alliance in Sierra Leone, a health service delivery and human rights organization and Executive Director for PIH-Sierra Leone. Dr. Barrie grew up in rural SL and was one of the first students to graduate from national medical school in SL. Upon graduation, he founded Wellbody Alliance in Kono district, a clinic offering healthcare to the poor in a district heavily affected by the civil war with a focus on HIV, TB, maternal and child health. Dr. Barrie built a partnership between Wellbody and PIH that established the clinic as a first responder during the Ebola crisis in SL. Dr. Barrie also holds a Master of Medical Science in Global Health Delivery from Harvard Medical School, and he is a PhD candidate at UCSF and conducts research on COVID-19 in SL.

Jacqueline Fabius, BA, Chief Operating Officer of QBI, a former UN Project Manager with field experience in rural Haiti, and founder of the Children of Haiti Project. At QBI, she heads a number of initiatives involved in establishing global relationships and collaborations as well as media and communication strategy for the institute. In alignment with QBI’s mission to bring young and women scientists to the forefront, she started the Scholarship for Women from Developing Nations. The first QBI Scholar, Jacqueline Kyosimiire-Lugemwa, is one of the speakers in the symposium. When working at the UN, she headed the operations, a team of 28, and the complex relationships of a sustainable development project in rural Haiti. During this time, she oversaw and planned various large international meetings to bring donors and stakeholders to Haiti, as well as facilitating capacity building workshops for different development themes.

Mohamed Samai MD, PhD, Director of Training and Research & Acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Services Ministry of Health is a Physician and Professor in Clinical Pharmacology with interest in both Curative and Preventive Medicine, Biomedical and Health Systems Research, Clinical Trials, and the general health status of Sierra Leoneans. As Director of Training and Research, he successfully led the development of the Postgraduate College of Health Specialties, a strategic plan for local medical postgraduate training and the curricula for postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and Specialized Courses in Pharmacy, Nursing and Public Health. He also led the development of research for Health Policy, and pioneered the establishment of the Sierra Leone Ethics and Scientific Review Committee in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

Christian Happi, PhD, the Director for the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) and the Dean of the College of Postgraduate Studies at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria. He attended Harvard for his postdoctoral fellowship where he studied malaria, efforts that contributed to the current antimalarial treatment policy in Nigeria. Dr. Happi was instrumental in establishing the Lassa fever laboratory that is the center of excellence for detecting viral hemorrhagic diseases in the country. He established the ACEGID, a World Bank funded Center of Excellence and led the team in detecting and sequencing outbreaks, including EVDs in 2014, monkeypox in 2018, yellow fever in 2019 and COVID-19. 

Mustapha Kabba, MBChB, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Consultant Surgeon at Connaught Hospital and a Lecturer at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences. Dr. Kabba has a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (M.B.Ch.B) from the University of Sierra Leone, a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Bonn in Germany, and a Specialist Qualification for General Surgery, Proctology, and Visceral Surgery from the German Medical Board. He is also a Foundation Fellow of the Postgraduate College of Health Specialties. 

Currently, Dr. Kabba holds the esteemed position of Chairman of the Sierra Leone Medical Board, where he is responsible for training the next generation of medics and surgeons. From 2020 to 2022, he held the prestigious role of Hospital Care Manager at Connaught Hospital, the largest tertiary hospital in Sierra Leone, where he made significant transformations in health service delivery and managed national disasters. In 2022, Dr. Kabba received one of the highest awards in Sierra Leone, the Commander of the Order of the Rokel (COR). He is currently supervising the largest Mercy Ships mission to Sierra Leone, which will result in 2,500 free surgeries and training of 300 health workers, including doctors, surgeons, and biomedical engineers.

Ashley Kappeler, BSc, Chief of Staff, Partners in Health, Sierra Leone, has a degree in Public Health from The University of Alabama. She has been based in Sierra Leone for 5 years and works the intersection of operations, policy, and administration at PIH SL.  Prior to joining Partners in Health Ashley served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, where she worked closely with community health workers and local government. She also worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Field Policy, focusing on increasing accessibility to COVID-19 vaccinations for people living in public housing.

Dan Kelly, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF, infectious disease specialist and co-founder of the Wellbody Alliance. He is a core faculty member of the Institute of Global Health Sciences and F.I. Proctor Foundation at UCSF. In 2006, he became a founding member of the nonprofit that later became PIH – SL. During the 2013-2016 EVD outbreak, he took a one-year leave of absence to engage in the response. During the outbreak, he established an Ebola response coalition with PIH, educated healthcare workers on infection prevention and control, cared for EVD patients, and co-led studies of Ebola virus diagnostics. His work is supported by an NIH/NIAID K23 award to study the natural history of unrecognized Ebola virus infection and an NIH/FIC UR2 project that trains Liberians on epidemiological and clinical research at UCSF.