For the Global Advancement of Children's Healthcare

Lee Todd Miller, M.D.
Founder

Dr. Lee Miller is Professor of Pediatrics and the Associate dean for Student Affairs at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also serves as the Director of the Global Health Education Program. For over 25 years, he has had a leadership role in medical education at both the undergraduate and graduate medical education levels. He has also received unprecedented recognition for his contributions as an educator and role model for thousands of medical students and residents over these years, with significant experience in curriculum design and evaluation.
 

The creation of Partners for Pediatric Progress was a terrific way for Dr. Miller to combine his passions for pediatrics, medical education and global health. As a former consultant for the Diarrheal Disease Program of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Miller made enormous contributions teaching at the medical school faculty level in a multitude of developing nation settings, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Zambia and Myanmar. Furthermore, he had the opportunity to coordinate the teaching and training activities of the International Federation of the Red Cross in Goma, Zaire during the Rwandan civil war and refugee cholera-dysentery crisis in August of 1994. Dr. Miller was subsequently invited to the newly established University of the Transkei School of Medicine in Umtata, South Africa to review the pediatric undergraduate and post-graduate medical education curricula, and to make recommendations to the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at this institution.
 

Over the years he has conducted the evaluation of pediatric clinical and training programs at a public maternity hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, and a review of the medical school curricula of both the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane and Lurio Universities in Mozambique. Closer to home at UCLA, Lee has been committed to establishing and supporting global health training opportunities for scores of medical students and residents.
 

Dr. Miller is a graduate of Bowdoin College and earned his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His subsequent residency and Chief Residency in Pediatrics were completed at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, before joining the faculty of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Miller is the 12-time recipient of the UCLA School of Medicine’s annual Golden Apple Teaching Award, the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Academic Senate of the University of California, and a UCLA nominee for the American Association of Medical College’s Humanism in Medicine Award.

Risa Hoffman, MD. MPH
Co-Founder

Dr. Hoffman is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. She graduated from Stanford University and received her M.D. from UCLA, and M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. After completing her MD/MPH training, she entered the Harvard Combined Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program, completing Internal Medicine training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Pediatric training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Hoffman completed her adult Infectious Disease training at UCLA in 2008 and has remained with the Division as faculty where she works closely with both the UCLA Center for World Health and CARE center. Her research focus is in the area of optimizing care for HIV-infected women. She currently serves as the UCLA site PI of the PROMISE study (Promoting Maternal and Infant Survival Everywhere), an IMPAACT/ACTG sponsored clinical trial of postpartum antiretroviral treatment strategies in women with CD4 cell counts above current thresholds for treatment. Dr. Hoffman worked as part of the UCLA-based team of the EQUIP program (Expanding QUality ImProvement in Malawi), a project funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focused on improving the quality of HIV care in Malawi, Africa. The project involves workforce training, integrating and strengthening linkages within the continuum of care for HIV, and performing operational research to inform the future of Malawi’s HIV programs and policies. Dr. Hoffman also has very strong interests in supporting and improving medical education in the international setting. She has worked closely with the Global Health Education Program at UCLA developing programs for medical students and residents, networking with various UCLA medical and non-medical faculty involved in global health, and helping to build capacity for medical education in resource-limited settings.

Thomas J. Coates, PhD
Co-Founder

Dr. Thomas Coates is the Director of the UCLA Center for World Health, and is the Michael and Sue Steinberg Endowed Professor of Global AIDS Research within the Division of Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He co-founded the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) at UCSF in 1986 and directed it from 1991 to 2003. He was the founding Executive Director of the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, leading it from 1996 to 2003, until assuming his leadership and faculty position at UCLA.He is a member of the Executive Committee of the NIH-funded HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), and is conducting prevention and policy research domestically and internationally. His current projects include completion of a 4-country (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Thailand) community-randomized trial to de-stigmatize HIV and reduce HIV infection in entire communities, a study of early HIV testing and referral to care in Uganda, and a study of treatment capacity building in China.  He co-leads a major PEPFAR capacity building effort in Malawi, in collaboration with Partners in Hope (a Malawian NGO) to improve the delivery of treatment and prevention programs in urban and rural clinics all over the country. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2000 and is currently a member of the Board on Global Health of the IOMHe earned his doctorate in psychology at Stanford University and held faculty positions at Johns Hopkins (in Psychiatry and Public Health) and at the University of California, San Francisco (in Medicine) prior to coming to UCLA.

Kai Loebach
Co-Founder

Kai has been very much involved in the creation, planning and implementation of Partners for Pediatric Progress from its inception, and continues to play a special role in development. After his classical training in Europe as a professional chef, he established Kai’s Catering and Events (http://www.kaisevents.com/), which for over two decades has carved out a position as one of the leading boutique catering and comprehensive event planning companies in Los Angeles. Kai continues to provide tremendous support along the way, including the generous contributions of Kai’s Catering and Events.

Dr. Chris Buck is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA Department of Pediatrics and is currently working as the Director of the UCLA capacity-building partnership with Universidade Eduardo Mondlane and Hospital Central de Maputo.  Over his career, he has developed comprehensive HIV experience along the continuum of pediatric care from PMTCT to antiretroviral treatment and management of comorbidities including TB and malnutrition, and he curently does technical advisory work for the Mozambique Ministry of Health in the areas of pediatric HIV and TB.
 

Chris did his pediatric residency training at the University of California San Francisco from 2004-2007.  After residency, he joined the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Lilongwe, Malawi where he initially worked as a Pediatric AIDS Corps doctor and then as the Associate Director of the Malawi program from 2007-2011. From 2011-2013, he worked as an academic pediatrician for the University of Colorado and Denver Health, while still consulting for the Baylor program in Malawi.  He joined CDC Mozambique in 2013 as Pediatric Advisor and served as the country focal point for the PEPFAR-funded Accelerating Children’s Treatment (ACT) initiative.

Dr. Buck graduated from Wake Forest University in 1997 with a BS in Biology and a BA in Spanish, and he did medical school at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill from 2000-2004.  He speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, and medical Chichewa.

Emily Hartford, M.D.
Former In-Country Director
Mozambique

Dr. Emily Hartford completed her undergraduate studies at Point Loma University in San Diego, CA and attended Oregon Health and Science University for medical school. As a medical student she completed a one-year research and advocacy fellowship with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  Dr. Hartford then completed her pediatric residency at the University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she was selected to participate in the global health pathway, working in both Liberia and Kenya.It was during her Chief Residency year, when Dr. Hartford completed additional training in health care quality improvement and outcomes research, when she was first introduced to Partners for Pediatric Progress and the faculty in both Los Angeles and in Mozambique.  She is lived full-time in Maputo for over two years with her husband Ryan, working and teaching at the Central Hospital, directing UCLA’s activities in-country, expanding research and quality improvement initiatives, and mentoring visiting students and residents.

Daniel DeUgarte, M.D.
Director, Pediatric Surgical Training Program
Mozambique

Dr. Daniel DeUgarte is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a graduate of Harvard College and UCLA School of Medicine, and subsequently completed his general surgery training at UCLA and his pediatric surgery training at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dr. DeUgarte has been recognized for his great contributions to the teaching program at UCLA, as a recipient of the Golden Scalpel Teaching Award. He is a faculty member of the UCLA Program in Global Health Education and serves on the Internal Advisory Committee for the UCLA Center for World Health, and for the Global Affairs Committee of the American Association of Academic Surgery.Through Partners for Pediatric Progress, with additional support from the UCLA Program in Global Health Education, UCLA Center for World Health, American International Health Alliance, and Mending Kids International, Dr. DeUgarte has established a training program in general pediatric surgery at the Eduardo Mondlane University School of Medicine, to improve the care of children in Mozambique. In a country with over 10 million children and only two trained pediatric surgeons in the entire nation, Dr. DeUgarte’s training program is having a dramatic and sustainable impact on the pediatric surgical care provided in Mozambique, and the ongoing education of the next generation of surgeons in this country.

Deborah Lehman, MD
Director, Infection Control Program
Mozambique

Dr. Deborah Lehman completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University, and her medical school studies at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Lehman subsequently completed her pediatric training at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA), followed by fellowship training in pediatric infectious diseases at UCLA and UCSF Schools of Medicine. Dr. Lehman is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She is very involved with medical student and resident education, and has been recognized for her teaching excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate medical education levels.

Dynio Honrubia, M.D.
Director, Neonatal Training Programs
Mozambique and Peru

Dr. Dynio Honrubia completed his undergraduate studies at University of California at Los Angeles , and his medical school studies at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Honrubia subsequently completed his pediatric training at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, followed by his fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Boston Children’s Joint Program of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine and the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Honrubia held faculty appointments at both the Harvard Medical School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.  He is currently the Director of Perinatal Services and the Medical Director of a 70 bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Women’s Hospital at Rennaisance in Edinburg Texas.  Dr. Honrubia is also the Medical Director of the Women’s Hospital’s Nurse Family Partnership Project aimed at improving at-risk  mothers’ prenatal care and pregnancy outcomes.In addition to the above, Dr. Honrubia serves his State as a member of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Council, part of the Health and Human Services Commission’s mission to regionalize and improve quality neonatal care for the women and babies of Texas.  He is passionate about addressing the healthcare needs of underserved families, and has made substantial contributions to the improvement of neonatal morbidity and mortality in both Mozambique and Peru.

R. Matt Bernstein, M.D
Director, Pediatric Orthopedics Surgical Training Program
Founder, Mobile Pediatric Orthopaedic Education (MoPOEd)
Mozambique

Dr. Matt Bernstein is Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs and Medical Director of the Orthopaedic Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. After earning his medical degree from the University of Southern California School of Medicine, Dr. Bernstein completed his internship at the University of South Florida and his orthopedic residency at the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopedics at Children’s Hospital in Boston and a fellowship in spine surgery at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.Dr. Bernstein’s clinical areas of expertise include pediatric orthopedics, pediatric spine surgery, scoliosis, and pediatric orthopedic prosthetics and orthotics. He is internationally recognized as an expert in the areas of scoliosis and spinal deformity, hip dysplasia, clubfeet, children’s fractures, limb lengthening, children with limb deficiencies, and skeletal dysplasias.Amongst his many research interests, Dr. Bernstein has focused on pediatric orthopedic education in the developing nation settings, most recently in Cambodia and in Mozambique. He founded the non-profit Mobile Pediatric Orthopaedic Education (MoPOEd), which has partnered with Partners for Pediatric Progress in Mozambique to help strengthen the clinical and training programs in pediatric orthopedics at Central Hospital of Maputo.

Dr. Gitanjli (Tanya) Arora
Medical Education and Curriculum Design
Mozambique and Peru

Dr. Gitanjli (Tanya) Arora completed her undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins and received her Master’s in Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, prior to attending medical school at the USC Keck School of Medicine. Tanya subsequently completed her residency training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She has worked internationally with Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan and Guatemala, and trained with Medecins Sans Frontieres in their Epicentre Responding to Epidemics Program. She also received her Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Arora was a Pediatric Hospitalist at University of California, Los Angeles Mattel Children’s Hospital, Chair of the Patient Family
Centered Care Committee, and faculty in the UCLA Global Health Education Program.  She had a critical role overseeing the medical student and resident training experiences in both Mozambique and Peru, and coordinating opportunities for residents from our partner sites to study here at UCLA. During the current academic year, Tanya is a completing a fellowship training in palliative care.

Dr. Maneesh Batra
Newborn Care, Medical Education and Curriculum Design
Mozambique 

Dr. Maneesh Batra completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University, and his medical school studies at Stanford University. Maneesh subsequently completed his pediatric training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital, followed by his fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine and Master in Public Health in Epidemiology at the same institutions. He is currently Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Associate Program Director of the Pediatric Residency Training Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Batra is also responsible for the creation of the Global Health pathway at the University of Washington Pediatric Residency Training Program, that he now directs. His international experience includes work in Harare, Zimbabwe; Managua, Nicaragua; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; and Kiwoko, Uganda, where for the past eleven years he has been involved with the medical direction of a rural special care baby nursery. Dr. Batra sits on the steering committee of the Pediatric Global Health Educators associated with the Association of Pediatric Program Directors. He has been honored to receive tremendous recognition and teaching awards over the years from both medical students and residents at the University of Washington.

Ryan Coller, MD, MPH
Pediatric Training, Curriculum Design and Quality Improvement
Mozambique and Peru

Dr. Ryan Coller is a general pediatrician and serves on the pediatric faculty at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He was formerly the Associate Residency Program Director and Director of Pediatric Quality for the Department of Pediatrics at UCLA. Dr. Coller has worked in South America, Asia, and Africa on USAID-funded projects looking at community health and HIV prevention in youth at the population level. He has interests in program monitoring and evaluation and international medical education. Domestically, Dr. Coller works on quality of care, the patient centered medical home, and transitions between hospital and home settings for children with chronic illnesses. Prior to joining the general pediatric faculty, Dr. Coller completed medical school at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and did both his residency and Chief Residency at UCLA. While in residency, Dr. Coller participated in the Community Health and Advocacy Training Program. He completed his MPH at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health as a member of the Child and Family Health Fellowship through the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, and the Maternal-Child Health Bureau.

Lawrence Dong, MD
Neonatology Training
Mozambique

Dr. Lawrence Dong earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Boston University, and then pursued his postgraduate training in pediatrics at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Dong’s subsequent fellowship training was in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. He is now Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center, a 26 bed Level III Regional Neonatal Care Unit. Dr. Dong has demonstrated his tremendous commitment to improving the care of neonates in low resource settings, including Vietnam and Mozambique.

Lawrence Hy Doyle, EdD
Medical Education and Curriculum Design
Mozambique

Dr. Lawrence ‘Hy’ Doyle is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the Executive Director of UCLA PRIME, a five-year dual-degree program designed to develop healthcare leaders for medically underserved and disadvantaged communities. He received his undergraduate degree from UC Santa Barbara, and a doctorate from UCLA in Educational Leadership. He has worked in programs across the country with the goal of developing physicians for underserved communities. He is Principal Investigator of the UCLA Hispanic Center of Excellence and of the Robert Wood Johnson funded Summer Medical and Dental Education Program. Dr. Doyle has also served as Executive Editor, in working with colleagues to create and publish an Evaluation Compendium designed to share tools and experiences in implementing undergraduate health careers pipeline programs. Dr. Doyle has contributed his expertise to the creation of a student support program for medical students at the Eduardo Mondlane University School of Medicine.

Balaji Govindaswami, M.D.
Neonatology Training
Mozambique

Dr. Balaji Govindaswami completed his medical school studies at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and his Master’s of Public Health (Maternal & Child Health) at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Dr. Govindaswami subsequently completed his pediatric training at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, followed by his fellowship training in neonatal-perinatal medicine at the University of California, San Diego.  Dr. Govindaswami previously held faculty appointments at both the University of California, Irvine and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is currently Chief of Neonatology and Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, and serves as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatal and Developmental Medicine) at the Stanford University School of Medicine.Dr. Govindaswami has served as a volunteer with the March of Dimes for almost 20 years, and on the Board of the Valley Medical Center Foundation for 7 years. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the California Association of Neonatologists.  Over the last 15 years Dr. Govindaswami has also served on volunteer medical education and clinical care teams all over the world, including Lithuania, India, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique and China.

Robert Kelly, M.D.
Pediatric Critical Care Training
Mozambique and Peru

Dr. Robert Kelly completed his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University and his medical school studies at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Kelly subsequently completed his pediatric residency training at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, followed by his pediatric critical care fellowship training at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. Robert is currently an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, and is the Associate Medical Director of Pediatric Transport. He has been involved in surgical and medical teaching trips in India, Peru and El Salvador, and this year is contributing to teaching in pediatric critical care and training in resuscitation and stabilization in both Maputo and Iquitos.

Carlos Lerner, MD
Pediatric Training
Peru

Dr. Carlos Lerner is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Medical Director for the UCLA Children’s Health Center, and the Chief Medical Officer for the Pediatric Medical Home Program at UCLA. After completing his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, he obtained a graduate degree in health economics from the University of York, England, as a Marshall Scholar. He subsequently earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and completed his pediatrics residency training in the Boston Combined Residency Program. After residency, Dr. Lerner spent six years at the Kayenta Health Center, a remote Indian Health Service facility on the Navajo reservation. Dr. Lerner’s interests include health care delivery and health system redesign, with a focus on children with complex chronic conditions. In addition to his many roles, he maintains active in general pediatrics practice, is one of the core preceptors in the pediatric resident primary care clinics, and is a faculty advisor for the pediatrics residency program. Dr. Lerner has made significant contributions to both the clinical and teaching programs at the Regional Hospital of Loreto in Iquitos.

Robert McGregor, MD
Pediatric Training and Curriculum Design
Mozambique and Peru 

Dr. Rob McGregor completed his undergraduate studies at Juniata College, and his medical school studies at the Penn State University College of Medicine. Dr. McGregor subsequently completed his pediatric residency and Chief Residency at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.  He completed additional medical leadership training at the Harvard School of Public Health.   He was Professor and interim Chair of the Department of Pediatrics of Drexel University College of Medicine, as well as Pediatrician-in-Chief of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.  He is now the Chief Medical Officer at Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, Ohio. His medical interests include medical education, faculty development, curriculum development and adult learning.  Rob has made significant contributions evaluating the medical student teaching programs and pediatric residency training programs in both Mozambique and Peru.

Lizette Santos, RN
Neonatology Training
Mozambique

Lizette Santos RNC,MSN,CNS has a BSN from California State University, Hayward and an MSN from Cal. State University, Dominguez Hills. For the last 36 years, Lizette has had extensive experience in neonatal nursing, both as a staff RN and as a Nurse Manager in a Level 3 Nursery in northern California. Her certifications include STABLE (Sugar & Safe Care, Temperature, Airway, Blood Pressure, Lab Work, Emotional Support), which focuses on post resuscitation/pre-transport stabilization of newborns. Lizette is a Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) Instructor, and is also certified in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing by the National Certification Corporation (NCC).After spending 7 years in Mozambique as a child, Lizette feels a special connection with Maputo, and has made multiple trips there to partner with her nursing colleagues in Maputo for training workshops in the nursery of Central Hospital of Maputo.

Stephanie Schoenstein

Stephanie Schoenstein graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor’s in Nursing in 2008. After graduating, she took her first nursing job in Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). For the last 5 years, Stephanie has worked in Kaiser Santa Clara’s NICU for the past 5 years, where she worked in the role of Advanced Life Support (ALS). While at Kaiser Santa Clara, Stephanie also gained experience in Labor and Delivery, primarily with the purpose of being an experienced NICU nurse with Neonatal Resuscitation Training (NRP). She also served as a member of the Neonatal Cooling Team.  In addition to working in the NICU and in the role of ALS holds a certification in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Stephanie is a native Spanish speaker.
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