Stephanie Kennell-Heiling, FNP-BC
I have a deep passion for the capacity building of nurses locally and globally. Nurses are the largest healthcare workforce with tremendous power and skill. From 2015-2017, I worked as the Oncology Nurse Educator with Parnters in Health at their site in Butaro, Rwanda. I worked to train over 40 nurses about cancer; cancer treatment; chemotherapy mixing, administration, and side effect management; and palliative care. Together we Partners in Health we trained local nurses to become local Oncology Nurse Educators. We also trained other nurses from around Rwanda to help increase awareness for cancer care and expand capacity country-wide.
During my master's training at UCSF with a minor in Global Health, I worked with the School of Nursing Center for Global Health's efforts to build capacity in maternal health. This project, a partnership with UCSF and Partners in Health - Malawi, implemented the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist in rural district hospitals and health centers. I partnered with the nurses to help design a tool for them to use at the bedside to help integrate this into their practice. This project and tool has now been adopted in large urban areas of Malawi.
In 2018, I joined the UCSF Global Cancer Program and my UCSF global nursing colleagues to help build nursing capacity at Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania. After taking time to hear from the nurses, we focused on building curriculum for palliative wound care management, a priority for their patients. Over the course of 3 trainings, we were able to train over 30 nurses from Ocean Road Cancer Institute and 13 nurses from local hospitals in Tanzania and Zanzibar in palliative wound care.
Máireád Shaw, MS, RN, DTN
Máireád Shaw, MS, RN, DTN has been an oncology nurse for over 20 years with leadership and management experience both domestically and abroad. She received a Master’s in Advanced Public Health Nursing with a dual focus in global health and HIV from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as well as a Diploma of Tropical Nursing from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her international work has focused on developing sustainable, community-based health care systems in resource constrained settings alongside mentoring nurses on leadership skills and best clinical practices. Máireád has worked in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Belize with various organizations and institutions, such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Global Health and Human Rights, Partners in Health (PIH), Projects Abroad and Global Oncology (GO).
David Asakitogum, MPhil, RN
David Asakitogum was born and raised in rural environment of Ghana, West Africa. He was the first generation in his entire Bembisi community in Kandiga to go to university. He completed his training as a General Nurse in 2006, and he worked as a Clinician and Nurse Educator in Rural Districts in Ghana for 14 years. David has taught nursing and midwifery trainees in gynecological conditions, STIs management, First Aid, Emergency and Disaster Nursing, and Medical Nursing, and he has served as a clinical examiner for the Ghana Nursing and Midwifery Council. David is a longtime women’s healthcare advocate implementing malaria in pregnancy, HIV PMTCT, adolescents’ sexual reproductive healthcare, cervical cancer awareness, and menstrual care education in five rural districts in Ghana. These experiences inspired him to conduct research in pregnant women’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices of cervical cancer and screening which led to the establishment of a cervical cancer screening unit in the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital. He later investigated women’s experiences with traditional and orthodox management of cervical cancer in Ghana which contributed to the establishment of a cancer board in the country. David is now a PhD student at the UCSF School of Nursing, and his research interests include investigating fatigue, energy levels, and quality of life relationships in gynecological cancer patients with a goal is to develop an intervention to improve the quality of life of rural gynecological cancer patients.
Linda Abramovitz, MSN, RN, CNS, BMTCN, FAAN
Linda Abramovitz, MSN, RN, CNS, BMTCN, FAAN is an adjunct Associate Clinical Professor at the UCSF School of Nursing, Department of Family Health Care Nursing and faculty for UCSF Global Cancer Program. Her career as a Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant/Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist has focused on improving care for pediatric oncology and transplant patients and supporting nurses providing this specialized care. Raising the standards and the profile of nursing in low and middle-income countries is an important focus of her practice. Linda is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is a member of the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (APHON) and currently serves as the vice-chair of the APHON Global Outreach Committee. Linda passionately advocates for nurses globally via her work with the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) which includes the development and promotion of the SIOP Baseline Nursing Standards for Pediatric Oncology Care. She has supported the development of educational programs in Vietnam, Tanzania, India and Ethiopia. Linda currently serves on the executive board of Southeast Asia Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (SEAPHO).
