Team

Archives: Team Members

Team Member

Sheila Klassen, MD

Sheila Klassen, MD, an adult cardiologist with subspecialties in echocardiography and structural heart disease, serves as the Assistant Director for Cardiac Integration at the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In that role, as part of PEN-Plus, she leads programs for decentralizing and integrating care for people with advanced cardiovascular disease at the rural district hospital level across the Network’s Phase 3 and Phase 4 implementation countries.

Dr. Klassen has had extensive experience carrying out heart failure and echocardiography training related to PEN-Plus implementation in sub-Saharan Africa and has chaired or directed sessions at international conferences related to heart failure care in limited-resource settings. She also manages cardiology fellowships supported by the Center for Integration Science.

In addition, Dr. Klassen serves as a Lecturer in the Program in Global Noncommunicable Disease and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Klassen earned her MD at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, in 2011. She completed a residency in internal medicine at McMaster University, followed by an Adult Cardiology fellowship at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Dr. Klassen completed a fellowship in Advanced Echocardiography and Clinical Research with Massachusetts General Hospital in 2019 and a fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease and Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2020. She is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography, and an Emerging Leader within the World Heart Federation.

Natnael A. Abebe, MD

 

Natnael A. Abebe, MD, is a Regional Advisor for the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In that role, he focuses particularly on Ethiopia’s and Uganda’s PEN-Plus initiatives.

Dr. Abebe’s previous work centered on decentralizing cancer care, particularly through the development of models to extend palliative care to periurban and rural communities. Additionally, he has been actively involved in the clinical and programmatic management of noncommunicable diseases, and he spearheaded the Ethiopian PEN-Plus initiation project as a medical coordinator.

As a medical oncologist and palliative care specialist, Dr. Abebe has been recognized for his contributions to expanding palliative care in low-income countries. He received the IDEA-Palliative Care Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncologists in 2022 and the International Physician Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 2023.

Dr. Abebe completed his medical oncology fellowship at Tata Memorial Hospital in India and pursued Palliative Medicine training at the Cipla Palliative Care & Training Centre in Pune, India, and St. Christopher’s Hospice in London, United Kingdom. He studied leadership at the University of Delaware, where he was also honored as a 2022 Mandela Washington Fellow under the Young African Leaders Initiative.

 

Dr. Remy Nkwiro Bitwayiki

Remy Nkwiro Bitwayiki, MD, MMed, is the Regional Advisor for West Africa for the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also an internal medicine specialist with more than ten years of clinical practice in diverse African healthcare settings, particularly in managing noncommunicable diseases.

As the internal medicine consultant and NCD lead at Partners In Health in Sierra Leone, he has significantly contributed to the implementation of the PEN-Plus project at Koidu Government Hospital. He has also helped the initiation of a bachelor’s program in internal medicine for local health officers.

Dr. Bitwayiki’s previous challenging roles have included supporting Ebola and COVID-19 management with the World Health Organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Early in his career, he established the Department of Internal Medicine at Aweil State Hospital in South Sudan, where he focused on quality improvement, the development of clinical protocols, and healthcare provider training.

In addition to his MD, Dr. Bitwayiki holds a master’s degree of medicine in internal medicine from the University of Rwanda. His work is driven by a deep commitment to equity and compassionate care.

Gedeon Ngoga, MPH

Gedeon Ngoga, MPH, is a Clinical Advisor for the NCDI Poverty Network. Over the last decade, his work has focused on the implementation of noncommunicable disease care delivery models in low-resource settings including developing a dedicated training and mentoring program for PEN-Plus health care workers, principally nurses and clinical officers in clinics supported by Partners In Health. This has involved clinical duties as well as a wide programmatic and leadership role for the NCD program which eventually led to national implementation of the model and scale-up of NCD services to all district hospitals of Rwanda.

Ngoga holds a master’s of public health in international health and development.

Marta Patiño Rodriguez

Marta Patiño Rodriguez, MD, is an internal medicine physician who serves as the Associate Director of Education and Training for the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr Patiño has more than 20 years of work experience in Spain with the National Health System and in Sierra Leone with Partners In Health. Through this work she has had extensive involvement in a broad range of activities from clinical practice to clinical education, research, and program implementation across multiple health system environments.

In her role as Clinical Projects Specialist for PIH–Sierra Leone, Dr. Patiño managed several large grants including MIND-TB, a gender-sensitive tuberculosis screening project and PEN-Plus funded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she conducted the National Assessment in Emergency Care for Sierra Leone, and led development of data management and evaluation in the Emergency Department at Koidu Government Hospital.

In her role as clinical educator, Dr. Patiño has trained and mentored clinical students throughout her career as well as supervised local and visiting trainees completing their research and implementation projects in Sierra Leone. She supervised the development and implementation of the Advanced Training Program for Emergency Care in conjunction with Chicago University and was part of the training faculty for Non-Communicable Diseases at Koidu Government Hospital.

Most recently, she co-led the development and implementation of a novel Bachelor Degree Program in Internal Medicine for Clinical Officers in Sierra Leone together with the Makeni School of Clinical Sciences. In her current role at PEN-Plus, she continues to build on her prior experience as she steers organizational efforts toward ongoing curriculum development, on-site training, cross-site collaboration and standardization, and cultivation of context-relevant learning resources.

Todd Ruderman

Todd Ruderman, DO, serves as a PEN-Plus Regional Advisor for the Center of Integration Science for Global Health Equity, where he supports the expansion of PEN-Plus and NCD services in southeastern Africa.

Dr Ruderman honed his expertise in NCDs, PEN-Plus, and mental health implementation during his six years as the manager and director of NCDs and mental health for Partners In Health in Malawi. There he played a pivotal role in developing and launching the PEN-Plus program in Neno, Malawi, and collaborated with the Ministry of Health on the national scale-up of PEN-Plus. In addition, he has directed research, policy development, and grant management in NCDs and PEN-Plus in Malawi.

Dr. Ruderman completed his medical training and internal medicine residency at the Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine in New Jersey. He continues to work as a hospitalist in Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Shela Sridhar

Shela Sridhar, MD, MPH, serves as the NCDI Poverty Network South Asia Regional Advisor. She is a dual-trained physician in internal medicine and pediatrics and a global health systems researcher. She completed a Global Health Service Delivery Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, during which time she worked as a Pediatric Clinical Advisor at Partners In Health, Rwanda, focused on quality improvement and health systems strengthening at the hospital level.

Dr. Sridhar has also served as an NIH Fogarty Fellow and spearheaded studies evaluating adolescent malnutrition at a community level and referral systems to tertiary hospitals for children with malnutrition in Zambia. She continues to work closely with colleagues in Zambia to improve community-based nutrition, optimize data systems, and measure clinic outcomes to address gaps in care delivery.

She is committed to improving access to and the quality of healthcare globally with a focus on translating research into actionable, scalable protocols. After completing a residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin, she received a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a Clinical Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Collin Whelley

Collin Whelley, MA, is the Associate Director of Data Systems and Monitoring & Evaluation for the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Whelley has more than 15 years of experience working in the United States and abroad to strengthen health and homeless response systems through research, evaluation, monitoring, and data system development.

Piniel Nadege Ade

Piniel Nadege Ade joined the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as policy coordinator in October 2024.

Ade is a health systems specialist with 13 years of experience dedicated to strengthening health systems across the African continent. She has collaborated with African ministries of health and international organizations such as UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank on initiatives to improve health information systems at the district level and to develop more evidence-based national health strategic plans. She has also contributed to programs aimed at aligning development assistance for health with countries’ national health plans, adhering to the principles of “one plan, one budget, one report.”

In addition to her technical work, Ade has been deeply involved in advocacy, working for many years with the Engage Africa Foundation to promote awareness and support evidence-based interventions addressing noncommunicable diseases across the continent. Her passion lies in advancing health equity, health justice, and realizing health as a fundamental human right.

Ade holds an MSc in Global Health and Public Policy and a bachelor’s in medical science from the University of Edinburgh.

Mike Lawrence, MA

Mike Lawrence, MA, is the Communications Manager for the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Lawrence joined the team in September 2024 after spending three years in local government for the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, as administrative manager in the Health Department and city spokesperson in the Mayor’s Office. He spent the previous four years on the marketing and communications team for Partners In Health. As a senior writer, he focused on the organization’s work to strengthen health systems and advance health equity in Rwanda, Malawi, and Lesotho.

In the fall of 2022, Lawrence had a significant medical scare involving heart disease, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. While his experience was a fraction of the lifelong challenges faced by the people whom the NCDI Poverty Network serves, the world-class care he received at Brigham and Women’s Hospital—and the fact that he was able to be med-flighted there from his hometown—made global inequities even more apparent. Everyone should have access to high-quality care, in emergency situations and in daily life. The experience has made him even prouder to advocate for that care in places where it does not exist, or is not accessible.

Earlier in his career, Lawrence spent more than 12 years as a newspaper reporter and editor in Colorado; Shenzhen, China; and his native New England. He has a bachelor’s in philosophy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and a master’s in journalism from the University of Colorado.