BULEEVR Leadership Team

 

Nahid R. Bhadelia, MD, MA

Associate Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases, National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) Boston University School of Medicine

Dr. Nahid Bhadelia is an infectious diseases physician and the medical director of Special Pathogens Unit at Boston Medical Center, which provides care for patients with highly communicable diseases. Furthermore, she oversees the medical response program for BU’s biosafety level 4 program. Dr. Bhadelia is the principal investigator on a large natural history study of COVID-19 patients and the institutional COVID-19 biorepository. In addition, she has provided direct care and implemented response, and medical countermeasures research during Ebola Virus Disease outbreaks in West and East Africa working with World Health Organization and Partners in Health and Department of Defense (DoD). Her research focuses on identification of safe and effective clinical interventions and infection control measures related to viral hemorrhagic fevers and emerging infectious diseases including H1N1, Zika, Lassa fever, Marburg Virus Disease, and COVID-19. Dr. Bhadelia’s expertise has informed several international groups on biodefense priorities, supply chain evaluation, diagnostic positioning, infection control policy development, and healthcare worker training. Dr. Bhadelia is also an Associate Professor at the Institute of Human Security at the Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she teaches a course on human security and emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Bhadelia was instrumental in developing the BULEEVR training program.

Mosoka P. Fallah, PhD, MPH, MA

President and CEO, Refuge Place International (RPI)

Dr. Fallah has a distinguished record of accomplishment and service to Liberia including but not limited to co-founder and Director General of National Public Health Institute of Liberia, being a leader in the Liberian public health response to 2014/2015 Liberian Ebola outbreak and the recent COVID19 pandemic, with the former being recognized by Time Magazine Persons of Year, 2014, as part of the “Ebola Fighters,” awardee of “Quartz, Builders of Africa Future”, USAID Health Persona and Development Person of the Year. Dr. Fallah has been principal investigator for several NIH-sponsored studies focused on Ebola including PREVAIL. Dr. Fallah has also been instrumental in improving maternal and child health in Liberia and rebuilding the that ravaged post-civil war health system. These efforts include the establishment of Refuge Place International, an internationally recognized maternal and child clinic in the Chicken Soup Factory slum community of Monrovia. Dr. Fallah’s role as an educator is equally accomplished with leadership roles and development of multi-institutional programs for the University of Liberia and A.M. Dogliotti, College of Medicine. Most recently, under Dr. Fallah’s leadership, a Master of Public Health is now offered through University of Liberia. Dr. Fallah’s vision was also instrumental for the BULEEVR training program.

Andrew J. Henderson, PhD

Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Microbiology and Assistant Dean of Graduate Medical Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine
Dr. Henderson’s research focuses on cellular and biochemical mechanisms that influence HIV transcription, infection, replication and pathogenesis. His research also provides general insights into signal transduction, tissue-specific gene expression, immune cell function and mechanisms that contribute to inflammatory disorders. In addition to his research, Dr. Henderson is proactive in undergraduate and graduate training providing leadership to several programs including BU PREP, an NIH supported post-baccalaureate research program that focuses on preparing underrepresented, disadvantage and/or disabled students for entry into PhD training programs. Dr. Henderson’s international experiences include participating in Fogarty International training grants between BU and Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and the BULEEVR program.

Patricia Hibberd, MD, PhD

Chair and Professor of Global Health, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Boston University School of Public Health and Medicine

Dr. Hibberd is a practicing infectious disease consultant who leads a public health, clinical and translational research program focusing on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases at the extremes of life and improving maternal and child health outcomes. Dr Hibberd’s research includes development and testing of novel point of care diagnostics for infectious diseases and public health, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has worked in India for 25 years, funded by NICHD since 2008 and Malawi and The Gambia, in the last 5 years. Dr. Hibberd is also passionate about mentorship and fostering the development of the next generation of global health leaders training more than 60 undergraduate, public health, and medical students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty.

Kaylyn Bruciati, MHA

Project Manager, Boston University and University of Liberia Emerging and Epidemic Virus Research Program (BULEEVR)

Kaylyn Bruciati received her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and completed her master’s degree in Healthcare Administration at Suffolk University in Boston. At Boston Medical Center she is the Project Manager for the Boston University and University of Liberia Emerging and Epidemic Virus Research Program (BULEEVR), as well as the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).

Odell Wannie Kumeh, BSc, MD, MMSc

Program Coordinator, Boston University and University of Liberia Emerging and Epidemic Virus Research Program (BULEEVR)

Odell earned a Master of Medical Science (MMSc) in Global Health Delivery from the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, on May 22, 2018: her thesis title Literacy is Power: Structural Drivers of Child Malnutrition in Rural Liberia is published in a peer review journal, BMJ Nutrition. As a way of paying it forward, upon her return from her master’s program, she matriculated to the College of Health Sciences, University of Liberia where she serves as Coordinator of Teaching and Learning for the College of Health Sciences. She is a part time faculty of the College of Medicine where she teaches Year V Primary Health Care, a public health course. At the School of Public Health of the University of Liberia, she is Director of Public Health Seminar (PHLT 511) and is also an instructor.