ABOUT
Health Professionals for Global Health was founded in 2017 with the merging of two already established bodies who work on education and advocacy on global health in the UK. We felt that we could join resources and move forward as a stronger entity to meet our shared objective of ‘global health for all people.’
The two groups are Alma Mata and the Global Health Curriculum Group (GHCG).
Alma Mata is a network of healthcare professionals interested in global health established in 2005. They provided regular updates on global health news, events, education and careers. They have over 1000 members across the globe and have provided a forum for continuing training and discussion in global health.
The GHCG was founded by a group of UK based doctors at the request of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in 2010. Their main aim was to work towards the inclusion of more global health opportunities within postgraduate training through the inclusion of competencies in the curriculum. The focus was on “what the UK based health professional needs be able to do,” and how training to achieve these competencies could be both delivered and assessed.
Together, we are Health Professionals for Global Health, and our vision is:
A UK health workforce that engages with global health challenges to achieve equitable health for all
AIMS
1. Act as advocates for Global Health and social justice both in the UK and more broadly; this will be through raising awareness about relevant situations, activities, opportunities and through collaborating with relevant stakeholders as well as advocating for the inclusion of GH competencies into UK curriculum
2. Keep Global Health education in focus with collaborative working across specialties and boarders to support global health education, action and research to achieve health for all. This will be through promoting learning about Global Health in the UK and providing learning opportunities and advocacy.
3. Build partnerships with key stakeholders and develop a network of health professionals who are engaged in Global Health both in the UK and abroad.
4. Build knowledge and understanding amongst health professionals on their role in achieving global health and how they can contribute at the local, national or international level to forward the agenda.
TEAM
We are steering committee of healthcare professionals in the UK.
CO-CHAIRS
Aula Abbara
Catherine Baker
STEERING COMMITTEE
Liz Hardman
Rita Issa
Sarah Denny
Adam Harvey-Sullivan
Rhiannon George-Carey
Sanna Ahmad
Anika Rahim
Natalie Webber
MORE ABOUT US
Aula Abbara
Dr Aula Abbara MBBS DTMH MD(Res) is a consultant in Infectious Diseases/ General Internal Medicine at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust, London and an Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College. She has volunteered in different humanitarian and refugee settings including Greece, Sierra Leone, Turkey and Jordan, undertaking direct clinical work, teaching healthcare workers and building capacity. Since 2012, she has volunteered predominantly with Syrian non-governmental organisations. Her research interests include attacks on healthcare, antimicrobial resistance in conflict, refugee healthcare workers and, more broadly relating to global and humanitarian health. She chairs Health Professionals for Global Health. (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/a.abbara15)
Catherine Baker
Catherine Baker is a Brighton-based ACCS trainee (MBChB, PGDip). In 2019 - 2020 she worked in a Greek refugee camp for 1 year as a doctor and then medical co-ordinator. She has also spent time working in a remote clinic in Vanuatu. Her interests include refugee healthcare, health equity, migration and climate change.
Liz Hardman
Dr Liz Hardman is a trainee in anaesthetics and intensive care and has been a committee member of the group since 2017. In 2016, she worked in Greece with the Syrian American Medical Society and has subsequently followed up her global health interests with ongoing work in Subsaharan Africa with the Zambian Anaesthetic Development Programme. Her interests include intensive care medicine, provision of safe surgery and medical education.
Natalie Webber
Dr Natalie Webber MBBCh BSc DTMH is a speciality registrar in Palliative Medicine in London. She has volunteered in Kenya and Uganda, participating in field research, direct clinical work, teaching, curriculum development and building local capacity. Her interests lie in education and the delivery of palliative care in humanitarian settings.
Rita Issa
Dr Rita Issa is an Academic Clinical Fellow in General Practice. Her academic and advocacy passions are in migration, climate change, community empowerment and justice. She has previously worked for MSF and WHO, and active with Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, Docs Not Cops, Medical Justice, and the campaign to Build Back Better.
Sarah Denny
Dr Sarah Denny is a London-based trainee in Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine. In 2018 she sat the DTM&H with MSF and has since volunteered with them as an online moderator for their Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course. She has worked with the Syrian American Medical Society in northern Greece, Kos and Leros. Her interests include humanitarian and refugee medicine and she currently volunteers as a befriender for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people.
Adam Harvey-Sullivan
Adam Harvey-Sullivan is an academic clinical fellow in primary care working in East London. He has a Masters in Public Health from LSHTM with his research, in collaboration with Doctors of the World UK, focussing on migrant health in the UK. His interests include health inequity, social justice and the wider determinants of health. His works includes improving access to healthcare for marginalised communities during the COVID-pandemic with Medical Aid Films and the Royal College of General Practitioners Health Inequalities group's work on improving uptake of vaccinations in vulnerable groups of patients.
Rhiannon George-Carey
Dr Rhiannon George-Carey is a London-based trainee in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. She has previously worked with the Women and Health Institute at Harvard and with a NGO in the Philippines promoting maternal, reproductive and child health in slum and displaced communities. Her interests include safe abortion care and she currently volunteers for Abortion Talk and sits on committees for Doctors for Choice.
Anika Rahim
Dr Anika Rahim is an Internal Medicine Trainee in London with an interest in infectious diseases. She sat the DTM&H and completed her Masters in Tropical Medicine and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2018/9. She completed her project in Botswana on how to best use Xpert Ultra to diagnose TB meningitis. She has had experience in leading pre-departure ethics training for medical student electives in low resource settings. She has also worked with public health NGOs in Bangladesh such as BRAC and the Johns Hopkins’ JiVitA project.
Sanna Ahmad
Dr Sanna Ahmad is a junior doctor who works between Yorkshire & London. She has completed a degree in Global Health from King’s College London. Prior to this, she volunteered for a South Asian digital magazine focusing on the sociopolitical-health nexus within Pakistan, and now is a freelance writer with related forums. Her passions lie in global mental health & the intersection between race, gender & health equity.