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Schulich - Global Health

Faculty and Staff

Dr. Neil Arya

Director

Dr. Arya has an extensive background in global health promotion. He is a family physician in Waterloo, Ontario, and holds an adjunct professorship in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies and in Health Studies and Gerontology at the University of Waterloo, where he taught courses in global and environmental health. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University where he taught peace through health. Here at Western, he holds an Adjunct Professorship in Family Medicine.

Dr. Arya is involved in numerous international projects in El Salvador, Guatemala, India and Israel/Palestine. He also served as President of Physicians for Global Survival and Vice President for North America International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. He has also spoken about peace, global health, and environmental issues around the world. 

His awards include the Kitchener/Waterloo YMCA Peace Medallion in 1998, USC Teaching Honour Role at UWO in 2006-2007, part of the Ontario College of Family Physicians Family Practice of the Year in 2007, the Geeta Gupta Award for Equity and Diversity in 2009, an honorary doctorate of letters at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2011, and the American Public Health Association mid-career award in International Health in 2011.

Dr. Leah Mawhinney

Associate Director - International/Elective Program

Dr. Mawhinney is a Family Physician and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Western University. She has a Master’s of Science in Microbiology/Immunology and has completed enhanced clinical training in International Women’s health and Obstetrics through Western University. She is passionate about the health and safety of women and children worldwide and has been involved in research and clinical care internationally, primarily focused in Zimbabwe. Her responsibilities at the Office of Global Health include teaching the global health curriculum and coordinating international health electives.

Dr. Rob Alder

Associate Director - Research

Dr. Alder an epidemiologist and the Director of Canadian Epidemiology Services. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) as well as a Partner and External Scholar with the WHO Collaborating Center for Health Workforce Planning and Research. He is currently collaborating with Ugandan researchers in evaluating the Master in Public Health Leadership Program of the Ugandan Christian University, a program which aims to reduce maternal mortality in Uganda and other East African countries. Rob’s main area of expertise is the evaluation of health programs, health systems and health legislation. In developing this expertise, he has gained substantial experience collaborating with researchers and government officials in developing countries.

Dr. Natalie Lovesey

Associate Director - Local/Marginalized Communities

Dr. Lovesey is a Family Physician and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at The University of Western Ontario. Her interests include refugee and immigrant health, women's health and medical education. Her focus at the Office of Global Health is the administration of local activities which relate primarily to Marginalized Communities in the area.

 

 

Ellena Andoniou

Conference Planner/Event Organizer

Ellena is a Western Health Sciences alumna and earned her master's degrees, in Public Health from Lakehead University and the other in Health Geography from Western. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography. In 2006, she first served as a Western Heads East (WHE) intern in Mwanza, Tanzania  - the project is Western’s community response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. For the last five years, her work has focused on this project which is a research and service-learning program that partners with women’s groups in East Africa to introduce probiotic yogurt that helps address the social, economic and health impacts of the illness.

Shauna Solomon

Administrative Assistant

In her position, Shauna brings experience in research, community development, outreach, and administration.  Prior to working at the GHO, Shauna completed her MA in Anthropology (Environmental Science) at UWO where she investigated the impact of deforestation on lemur groups in northern Madagascar.  She has had the opportunity to work and volunteer on a number of international projects related to the environment, health, and education.  She also holds a Bachelors of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo.  In her spare time, Shauna is an active board member at Hope’s Garden and enjoys spending time with family and friends, running, soccer and being outdoors.

Hélène Lau

Administrative Assistant

Prior to working at the Office of Global Health, Hélène completed her MSc in Neurosciences at McGill, where she investigated the neurobiology of addiction in humans. She has then been involved with various research projects with clinical applications. She also completed a program in Behavioural Sciences, during which she had the opportunity to work in Psychiatry, with teenagers suffering from mental health disorders, and in a school setting with children with autism. In her spare time, Hélène volunteers at Carrefour des Femmes, and enjoys biking, playing squash, and cooking.

Mariel Angus

Administrative Assistant

Originally from Ottawa, Mariel is a recent graduate of the Masters in Public Policy and Public Administration (MPPPA) program at Concordia University in Montreal. During her studies, she completed an internship placement on community energy integration with Natural Resources Canada. Prior to graduate school, she worked in the non-profit sector, focusing on policy issues related to poverty in Canada. She holds a BA (Hons) in International Development from the University of Guelph, and has engaged in a number of cross-cultural exchanges to Latin America and the Caribbean. In her spare time, Mariel enjoys running, baking and travelling.

Jennifer Long

Administrative Assistant

Jennifer completed her PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology here at Western. She obtained her Masters in Development and Social Transformation at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England and has spent a year living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands for her PhD research concerning social integration of Muslim minority communities. Jennifer hopes to work in Corporate Anthropology or follow her dream to become a full-time professor at a Canadian University. 

 

Sandra Rao

Global Health Student Assistant

Sandra is currently a 4th year student in the Health Sciences program and is also minoring in French studies. Her career interests involve medicine and clinical practice with the hopes of participating in international health initiatives in the future. She performs a variety of administrative tasks as an assistant in the Office of Global Health. 

 

 

Kristin Neudorf

Research Associate

Kristin recently joined the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry to contribute to research projects at the Office of Global Health. Prior to joining the Office of Global Health, Kristin worked as a researcher in east and southern Africa, with much of her work focusing on health programs for women and children. In addition, Kristin has worked with grass-roots organizations in Canada and Africa to address issues such as gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS. Kristin holds an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a BScH in Biology from Queen’s University.

Melissa Whaling

Assistant

Melissa has been an assistant with the Office of Global Health, SSMD and now works as international student volunteer for Kivulini. She has an undergraduate degree in geography with a minor in English.  She also has a master's degree in health geography from the University of Western Ontario.  Melissa’s background in international health includes work in Tanzania for over a year with Western Heads East, doing both her Master's Research and acting as a in-field project coordinator. She has also been a part of the WHE Fundraising and Education Committee for over four years and continues to act as a volunteer coordinator as she assists interns with pre-departure training and Swahili language lessons.

Language Instructors

Melissa Whaling - missywhaling@gmail.com

Swahili - Online course, taught in Mwanza Tanzania in the summer

Yahya Kharrat - ykharrat@yahoo.com

Arabic

Jinhua Huang - jhuang366@yahoo.com

Mandarin

Jinhua is an experienced language teacher with a diploma from Nanjing Teacher's College in China.  She has many years of middle school teaching background back in China.  In the London Chinese community, she had been teaching Mandarin for elementary school students  for several years. She is currently teaching Mandarin for medical students at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at UWO, and tutoring Mandarin privately. Besides Mandarin teaching, she also enjoys working with younger children as an early childhood educator. 

Andrea Martinez - onlyspanish@hotmail.com

Spanish

Originally from Mexico City, she holds a BA Degree from La Universidad Iberoamericana with a major in International Relations .

She has taught Spanish at different levels at Continuing Studies at UWO for over ten years. She has also been an entrepreneur providing Spanish courses to different corporations in London such as Labatts Company, Better Living Products, and ICORR Properties.