Skip to main content

MSI faculty actively mentor and support surgical research projects at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Our US trainees include:

Current US Trainees in Malawi

Anna Tyson MD is conducting research in respiratory complications and burn care and currently residing in Malawi. She has completed two years of residency training at UNC.

Laura Boschini MD, MS is an NIH Fogarty Fellow currently residing in Malawi. She is conducting burn research and obtaining an MPH degree and has completed three years of training in general surgery at UNC.

Melanie Sion MD is studying acute surgical conditions and referral patterns within the central region of Malawi. She will be conducting this research, teaching for the Malawi College of Medicine, and working along with KCH surgery residents starting July 2013.

Prior US Trainees in Malawi

Michelle Kiser MD, MPH resided in Malawi and obtained an MPH (2010-2012) during her general surgery training at UNC. She studied burn care, and will be a Fellow in Pediatric Surgery at the University of Arkansas starting in 2014.

Javeria Qureshi MD, MPH. After her 3rd year of general surgery residency training at UNC, Dr Qureshi resided in Malawi and completed her MPH studies at UNC (2010-2012).. Dr Qureshi studied the epidemiology of trauma related deaths and injuries at Kamuzu Central Hospital using a verbal autopsy. She is currently a senior resident in general surgery at the University of North Carolina.

Bryce Haac, MD. During her medical school training Dr Haac resided in Malawi and conducted research on surgical conditions, HIV, and trauma scoring tools. She is currently in surgery residency in Baltimore at the University of Maryland.

Jared Tomlinson MD. During his general surgery residency training, Dr Tomlinson studied orthopedic trauma and disability at KCH (2010-2012). Dr Tomlinson is currently chief resident at the University of Rochester.

Dan Olson MD. Dr Olson was an NIH Fogarty Fellow in Malawi (2010-2011) and conducted a phase I study of valacyclovir with cyclophosphamide in Burkitt lymphoma. He is currently a Fellow in Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Lindsey Wolf MD. Dr Wolf conducted research in Malawi during her medical school studies while at UCSF (2010-2011). She studied the epidemiology of cancer presenting to Kamuzu Central Hospital, and analysed the epidemiology of esophageal cancer. She is currently a resident in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Adesola Akinkuotu, MD. Dr Akinkuotu, a Doris Duke Clinical Research scholar, conducted several research projects including a study of HIV in medical patients, sigmoid volvulus anatomy, and injury epidemiology. She conducted this research over one year during her medical school studies at UNC. She is currently a surgical resident at Johns Hopkins.

Jonathan Samuel MD, MPH. After his 3rd clinical year of general surgery residency, Dr Samuel resided in Malawi for two years (2008-2010). Hewas the first long-term US trainee in the UNC-KCH partnership. He was an NIH Fogarty Fellow 2009-2010). Dr Samuel established the KCH Trauma Registry and conducted research in topics including burns and sigmoid volvulus. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the NC Jaycee Burn Center, and an Associate Director of the Malawi Surgical Initiative.

Elizabeth Bigger MD, was an NIH Fogarty Fellow in Malawi 2009-2010, establishment and design of the KCH Malawi Cancer Registry, and clinical study of HIV infection and Cancer in Malawi. Dr Bigger is currently Fellow in Oncology at Duke University.

Jessica Smyth MD. Dr Smyth completed a rotation at KCH (2009) during her PGY2 residency training in the UNC Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery. Her project was ameloblastomas in Malawi, Outcomes of treatment in N3 neck disease, and analysis of outcomes of patients presenting to UNC with N3 neck disease.

Trevor Royce MD. Dr Royce has completed his medical school training at UNC, during which he conducted research (Summer 2009) to set up the KCH Cancer Database. He is currently a resident in radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Paula Harmon MD. During her PGY2 year of residency training in the UNC Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery (7/2007-1/200), Dr Harmon studied EBV in Burkett’s Lymphoma. She received the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Resident Research Award for this project. She is currently in practice in Georgia.