Hossein Akbarialiabad, M.D., M.Sc (Australia)
Previous position: Co-founder and head of the undergraduate mentorship program, a Senior Lecturer in mentorship program training courses for mentors and mentees, and a senior research assistant at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Education and Experience: Dr. Hossein Akbarialiabad graduated from Shiraz Medical school in 2021 with a joint M.D.M.Sc. (medical education) degree. He has been involved in multi-disciplinary research in the areas of global/public health, mentorship in academic medicine, and digital medicine. He has been teaching “soft skills in mentorship courses for mentors,” including leadership, communications skills, and negotiation. He has designed, led, implemented, and did teaching activities regarding the educational curriculum of both mentors and mentees as a student-based volunteer project. In 2021, in the rush of COVID-19 in East Africa, he voluntarily visited patients. He taught “basics of medicine,” including history taking, physical examination of patients, and interpretation of laboratory results for third-fifth year Makerere University, medical students in Uganda, Africa.
Achievements: Dr. Hossein Akbarialiabad is the holder of two gold medals in the national scientific medical student olympiad in “management of health systems” and medical education; in Iran. In addition, he is a member of several prestigious associations, including a member of Global Burden of Study (GBD) Collaboration, inventor member of the International Federation of Inventors Associations (IFIA) for internationally recognized inventors, member of Aerospace Medicine Association (AsMA), and International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
Interests: Dr. Hossein Akbarialiabad recently focused on global health experiences and conducted studies about low and middle-income countries.
He is interested in the field of interdisciplinary sciences. He has a background in medicine, public health, medical education, and digital medicine.
Roberto Alves (Brazil)
Roberto Alves is a proud son of Brazilian and Portuguese parents. His family moved to the U.S.A. from Rio De Janeiro Brazil when he was 5 years old, and they have never forgotten their Latin American roots.
As a member of a diverse community that has offered so much to his family, he has always made it a priority to find ways to serve that community back. Roberto is currently the Treasurer of the State Democratic Party, Chairman of the Danbury Democratic Party, and a former Danbury City Councilman. He is a current Trustee/Board of director member of the Danbury Museum and Historical Society and member of many local area social clubs.
Roberto currently works as a Technical Sales Engineer and above all is most proud of his family, wife Robyn Alves and two children Julius & Catalina Alves.
Norm Beatty, MD
Norman L. Beatty is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine. He graduated from the University of Central Florida College of Medicine with a B.S. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology, and a B.S. in Biotechnology. He received his medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine where he graduated with High Honors. He completed his Internal Medicine residency and Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.
Dr. Beatty has been studying triatomines (kissing bugs), the insect vector responsible for transmitting the parasite that causes Chagas disease in humans and other mammals and Chagas disease since 2015. He is currently researching the prevalence of Chagas disease in Florida as well as throughout the United States. His research has been presented at several conferences, including both the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual scientific meetings.
Jett Choquette, UVMLCOM Class of 2023
Jett Choquette is a fourth-year medical student at the Larner College of Medicine (LCOM). Since starting her studies at LCOM, she has been active in the Nuvance/UVM Global Health Program including serving as a student liaison to the Dominican Community Center, a nonprofit that serves the Latinx communities in Danbury, CT. Jett completed her undergraduate education at American University in Washington, DC where she studied public relations and Spanish. Following graduation, she worked in health communications n Washington, DC for several years, developing health campaigns and health education materials for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Jett then shifted gears by joining the Peace Corps as a community health volunteer. During her two years in the Peace Corps, she lived in Paraguay and taught health to grades 8 through 12. Between serving in the Peace Corps and starting medical school, Jett volunteered as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) on an ambulance in Essex, VT; worked as an EMT in the Emergency Department at the University of Vermont Medical Center; and completed her postbaccalaureate, pre-medical studies at the University of Vermont.
Khoa Duy Duong, MD, MPH
Dr. Duy Khoa Duong, Global Health Scholar, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Recipient of Fulbright Scholarship
Khoa Duy Duong, MD, MPH is a young faculty at Department of Internal Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (UMP). He received his MD from UMP and his MPH from Université Paris-Sud.
His medical interests are pulmonary - sleep medicine, tobacco control, palliative care, and global health.
He also works for UMP’s Medical Education Center and is in charge of research and development in medical education. As a medical educator, he is passionate about sharing knowledge, skills, professionalism, mindful and compassionate care. He also works with other youth empowerment organizations to promote integrity to Vietnamese young people. He is awarded the Fulbright Scholarship 2022 to pursue Master’s in Medical Education in the United States.
Eva Duran (Dominican Republic)
Eva Maria Duran-Paulino was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Eva attended elementary school in Santiago Dominican Republic until sixth grade. She migrated to the United States in 1993 were she attended Broadview Middle School and graduated from Danbury High School in 1999. She received an Associate degree in Accounting in 2015.
Eva has a lot of passions for dancing, crafting and being involved with the community. While a teenager she was part of the dance group of Sociedad Cultural Dominicana in the city of Danbury, CT. Since then, she has been teaching the folklore and traditional dances to all the kids in our community.
Currently, Eva is the President of the Dominican Community Center and a board member of the Connecticut Institute for Communities, Inc. (CIFC).
Gloria Garcia (Mexico)
Gloria Mora A native from Mexico City who graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM with a degree in economics.
She is a proud mother of 4 children, 3 of them living and serving the Danbury community, the eldest is serving the country as Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. Gloria has lived in the Danbury community for 35 years, of which the last 20 have had an upward participation as a community leader.
She has been involved in different community activities and programs. She recognized the needs of Latinos and immigrants who like her arrived in this country. So, she decided to be a voice for everyone advocating for children and families. She worked as a program coordinator for parents and had the opportunity to inform families to learn more about the community's resources and teach them how to use their voice. As part of this, she took a large group of families to the Hartford Capitol where parents could express their needs to improve the quality of life of their families.
She also works in the Danbury public schools where she got involved guiding children with special needs for a better education. She currently works as a social worker at Head Start preschool where she puts all her efforts to help and guide families. She continues to actively participate helping her community and is currently the secretary of the board of directors of the Ecuadorian Civic Center. She also participates in a large number of community and civic activities in the Danbury area. Where she continues to meet and guide families.
Krystal Gopaul
Krystal Gopaul is a member of LCOM’s Class of 2024. Prior to medical school, Krystal completed a Masters in Public Health at the University of Miami. During her MPH,
Krystal did a summer internship with the CDC in Guatemala City assisting with a project to improve care for HIV positive MSM and transgendered women. Krystal also completed numerous global health trips abroad to Guyana and the Dominican Republic as well as spent a semester abroad in Colombia. Krystal strongly believes that all medical students should do some global health work during their medical education. It’s not only a great way to see the world but also expand our knowledge of foreign cultures to improve the care of our patients at home.
Wilson Hernandez (Ecuador)
Wilson Hernandez was born in Ecuador. He Immigrated to USA in 1985. Living in Danbury for the last 22 years. Restaurant owner in the City of Danbury. Completely committed to the common good. Member of the Ecuadorian Civic Center of Greater Danbury for 19 years: former president, vice-president, and treasurer of the organization. Member of the Board of Director of ARC (Association of Religious Communities) for 17 years. Always willing to do my part to build a better society. Ready to join fellow human beings who work for peace, justice, and equal opportunities for all.
Alex Kayongo, MD
Dr. Alex Koyongo is currently a Research Fellow at Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda in the department of Immunology and Molecular biology as well as the Lead, Lung infection and immunity working group at Makerere University Lung Institute. Over the past five years, he has conducted observational human- based studies related to the epidemiology and immunobiology of non-communicable diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension and kidney disease) among people living with HIV in rural Uganda. After a thorough epidemiologic characterization of COPD among PLWH in rural Uganda, he is currently investigating the role of airway microbiome as a potential therapeutic as well as biomarker signature for COPD. He has contributed to international guidelines to prioritize respiratory diseases research in Low and Middle income (LMIC) settings.
Kaveh Khoshnood, PhD, MPH
Dr. Khoshnood is an Associate Professor and Faculty Director for Humanitarian Research Lab (https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/khoshnood/) at the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Khoshnood is trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist and has more than three decades of global health research experience. Dr. Khoshnood's research interests include: 1) epidemiology and prevention of HIV/AIDS, 2) research ethics and 3) humanitarian health. Dr. Khoshnood teaches a new course on health in humanitarian crises for public health graduate students.
Tendai Machingaidze, MD
Nuvance Health/UVMLCOM Global Health Site Director for Zimbabwe; Editor and Writer for the “Global Health & The Arts” section of the Nuvance Health Global Health eMagazine; Global Health Scholar Tendai Machingaidze holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Syracuse University, a Master of Arts in Education and a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Seminary, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Privolzhsky Research Medical University.Tendai is also a fiction writer who has published a novel and several short stories.
Nelson Merchan (Colombia)
Business Advisor
Connecticut Small Business Development Center
A business advisor with the Small Business Development Center, Nelson Merchan services prospective and business owners in Connecticut. In 2019, he was the business advisor with the highest-lending impact in the state of Connecticut. Nelson is a board member with Housatonic Habitat for Humanity, Housatonic Industrial Corporation Inc., the WCSU Foundation and United Way of Western Connecticut.
Merchan has advised businesses in Costa Rica and has been invited, as keynote speaker, to Chile and El Salvador. He earned his MBA from Georgia State University and BBA from Universidad del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia.
Chiratidzo E Ndhlovu, M Med Sci( Clin Epi), FRCP
Science as well as Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine. As a medical educator and clinician involved in Nephrology and HIV Medicine, she has vast experience in internal medicine, renal care, and looking after HIV patients in a resource-limited setting.
She is a Principal Investigator in various HIV related research activities, in particular studying outcomes in cryptococcal meningitis and HIV, and adherence to antiretroviral therapy in adolescents. She is the current Chairperson of the National Medicines and Therapeutics Policy Advisory Committee (NMTPAC) which advises the Secretary of Health & Child Welfare on all issues pertaining to pharmaceutical use including coordinating the review of the Zimbabwe Essential Medicines List as well as monitoring rational use of medicines in the country. She is Principal Investigator for the AMBITION Study in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is recipient of the prestigious Anvar and Pari Velji-CUGH Faculty Leader Award in 2019.
Jason Nova
Jason Nova was born and raised in the Bronx, New York by Dominican parents who immigrated in the late 80s to the United States. With experience in higher education; student affairs, crisis management/harm reduction, and non-profit management. He currently works as an account manager at Marketing Dimensions, Inc. and political organizer.
He is a proud member of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the Dominican Community Center located here in Danbury.
Elvis Novas
Advisor for the Dominican Community Center and member of the Board of Directors of
Housatonic Habitat for Humanity, Danbury, CT
Chantal Perera, UVMLCOM Class of 2024
Chantal is a current third year medical student at the Larner College of Medicine and did her undergraduate degree in St. Louis University. She is currently interested in Ophthalmology. One interesting fact about her is that she has tried every flavor of cheesecake at the cheesecake factory. One boring fact about her is that she thinks overhead lighting is the worst kind of lighting.
Denisse Rodas (Young Adult - Ecuador)
My name is Denisse Rodas, and I am a nursing student at WCSU. I am a senior and I aspire to be an Emergency Room Nurse when I graduate.
I was born in Cuenca, Ecuador, and at the age of 13 years old, I moved with my family to the US. Growing up as an undocumented student has been challenging due to various barriers I have faced.
Four years ago, I joined the organization CT Students for a Dream and since then I have been fighting for the rights of the undocumented community. Recently, I became the College Access Fellow, where I help undocumented high school students achieve higher education.
I am motivated to continue working with my community and being part of the change.
Christopher Rodriguez (Police Officer - Dominican Republic)
Danbury Police Officer Christopher Rodriguez has been a member of the Danbury Police Department since 2021.
Christopher moved to Danbury, CT in 2003 from the Dominican Republic. He is a graduate of the Danbury Public School system.
After graduating high school, Christopher obtained a Justice and Law Administration degree from Western Connecticut State University.
Ray Guerrero (Young Adult - Dominican Republic)
Ray was born to two parents from the Dominican Republic in Danbury, CT, where he was raised and attended public school.
He received his Bachelor of Science double-majoring in Structural Biology & Biophysics and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut in 2019. After university, a strong commitment to public health and health in the Global South led him to work very briefly in the Peace Corps as a Public Health Educator teaching nutrition, best breastfeeding techniques, and developing local healthcare capacity outside of Kissidougou, Guinea until the COVID-19 Pandemic paused all operations in March 2020.
He then went on to work in the New Orleans Health Department Public Health Emergencies and Environmental Health Unit as an AmeriCorps VISTA to help with vaccine outreach, planning and coordinating vaccination events, designing vaccine PODs, and other public health education and outreach efforts with vulnerable communities concerning public health emergencies and hurricane season. He is now a first-semester graduate student working towards a Master’s in Public Health with a certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Action at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Majid Sadigh, MD
An infectious-disease specialist and internationally recognized global health expert, Dr. Majid Sadigh is Director of the Global Health Program at Nuvance Health//UVMLCOM . In 2016, he was honored as the inaugural Christopher J. Trefz Family Endowed Chair in Global Health at Nuvance Health.
Since arriving in the United States from his native country of Iran in 1984, Dr. Sadigh has built an extensive worldwide network of universities, hospitals, and clinics that supports the education of students, residents, and clinicians. Anchored at NH , the program’s U.S.-based sites exchange students, scholars, and clinicians with academic and healthcare institutions in sixteen sites in nine countries: Dominican Republic, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Botswana, India, China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
A tireless advocate for empowering global health leaders, Dr. Sadigh has mentored generations of students, residents, physicians, and administrators around the world. He is an honored teacher and mentor, earning the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award in 2007 at Yale, and serving through AmeriCares during the 2014 Ebola crisis in Liberia and recipient of Anvar and Pari Velji-CUGH Faculty Leader Award in 2022.
Mitra Sadigh
Mitra Sadigh is writer, editor, and researcher at the Nuvance Health/UVMLCOM Global Health Program where she works on the program’s Global Health Diaries blog and eMagazine. She also teaches Decolonizing Global Health for the program’s virtual global health elective. With two bachelor’s degrees in music and philosophy, she is an activist with a passion for creative storytelling as a means of advocacy. She has published on many topics including health equity, social and cultural determinants of health, medical education, and rural healthcare access. She is also a second-year medical student at the Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine where she formerly served as President of the Medical Student Pride Alliance (MSPA) as well as Physicians for Human Rights, Policy Advocate for Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), and member of the Social Determinants of Health Curriculum Committee.
Stephen Scholand, MD
Associate Director Global Health Program at Nuvance Health/UVMLCOM, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at UVMLCOM
Dr. Stephen Scholand is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases at the University of Arizona, where he works closely with residents and fellows in training as a bedside clinician.
He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Frank H Netter School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University, Connecticut. There, he serves as course director of the Hospitalist Medicine elective at Midstate Medical Center in Meriden, CT. Pre pandemic, he served in a close supportive role for students involved in our overseas and domestic clinical rotation sites. His experience focused mainly on Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Vietnam. “Post” pandemic, he is looking forward to more clinical interaction and instruction at the bedside in many of our overseas sites.
He has been active in the field of Global Health for more than 20 years, from his first experiences as a physician in training at a major city hospital in metro Manila, Philippines.
He has been active in the field of global health for more than 20 years, beginning as a physician in training in urban Manila, Philippines.
He is a rabies sub- specialist and has been active in the field for many years. His latest efforts include the ‘Zero by Thirty’ WHO goal which is to eliminate human cases of dog rabies around the world.
Mary Shah, MLS, AHIP
Medical Librarian and Archivist at Norwalk Hospital
Mary Shah teaches classes on cultural competency, health literacy, searching the literature, and evidence-based practice, and directs the Archives and Oral History Project.
Ms. Shah also gave Grand Rounds for the Department of Medicine on Cultural Competency and Clinical Communication. She is on the steering committee of the Global Health Program and the new Linde Health Educators without Borders Program. She is a senior member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, inaugural scholar in the Nuvance Health Pat Tietjen MD Teaching Academy, and serves on the Nuvance Health GMEC committee for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as well as co-chair of the archives committee of the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Caucus of the Medical Library Association.
Beth West
Director, Nuvance Health Patricia A. Tietjen, MD Teaching Academy
Beth West joined Nuvance Health in June 2021 as Director of the newly founded Patricia A. Tietjen, MD Teaching Academy. Beth completed her undergraduate education at Fordham University and her Masters in international education from the SIT Graduate Institute (formerly School for International Training) in Brattleboro, VT. Beth has over fifteen years of international and intercultural education program development and management experience, including her work with the William J. Fulbright program, as Director of the Centro de Consejeria Educativa (EducationUSA Advising Center- Bogota, Colombia), founding Director of Exchange Programs at the Prepa Ibero at the Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City, Mexico), Director of CIEE Guanajuato (Guanajuato, Mexico), and founding Director of Indiana University’s Mexico Global Gateway at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM-Mexico City, Mexico). Prior to joining Nuvance Health, Beth served in the CDC Foundation’s COVID-19 Crisis Corps as a bilingual intercultural Health Educator working with communities in Hartford, CT. She has diverse experience in non-profit humanitarian aid program management, solidarity based-community development projects, intercultural teaching and learning, and creative partnerships linking volunteerism and international education within Latin and South America and the United States. She speaks Spanish fluently, and lived in Mexico for 8 years and Colombia for 3 years. Currently, Beth is a doctoral student, pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a concentration in International Education at the University of Bridgeport and is a certified Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Assessment. Beth is an active member of the Housatonic Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
Bulat A. Ziganshin, MD, PhD
The Nuvance Health/UVMLCOM Global Health Program Associate Director
Dr. Bulat Ziganshin is an Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Surgery, Section of Cardiac Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, and is the Research Director of the Aortic Institute of Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is also serving as an Associate Editor of the AORTA Journal.
Currently completing a PhD program in Genetics and Development at Columbia University (New York, NY) where he studies the genetic basis of thoracic aortic disease, Dr. Ziganshin has published over 150 scientific manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, as well as 17 chapters in textbooks, and co-authored five drug reference books.
Dr. Ziganshin also has a long-lasting interest in global health. For seven years, he served as the President of the Tatarstan Medical Students’ Association, an associate member of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. During 2010-2011, he served as a member of the Student Advisory Committee of the Global Health Educational Consortium. He has served as the Director for the Global Health Elective Program for students at the American University of the Caribbean and Ross University School of Medicine, and more recently as the Associate Program Director at the Nuvance Health Global Health Program.