TAYLOR HARRIS
EMMA SOO
Co-Conference Director
Emma is a medical student, who has recently graduated with a BSc in Imaging Sciences. She is passionate about global health and health policy, but is currently exploring all areas of medicine.Emma is currently a researcher under Polygeia, exploring the effects of the Defamation Law on medical publications. She also leads the student team of the Advocating a Behavioural Change: AMR conference, working closely with PHE. In LonWHO 2017, Emma represented the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea and was awarded “Best Delegate” for the SEARO/WPRO region. Emma also acts as Co-President of UKWHO.
TAYLOR HARRIS
Co-Conference Director
Taylor Harris is the Partner Director of UKWHO, where she supports new WHO simulations around the world. She recently graduated from the EuroPubHealth programme with a Master of Public Health from the University of Sheffield and a Master of Health Promotion from the University of Granada. Taylor was on the founding committee of SheffWHO and founded GranWHO, the first WHO simulation in Spain. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Ecuador as a Community Health Worker, where she taught sexual education, nutrition, and hygiene to vulnerable populations. Previously, she taught English in South Korea.
BRIAN WONG
Director General
Brian is the Chief Executive Chair of UKWHO and a clinical researcher with the Medical Research Council Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, a PhD candidate in Cardiovascular Science at UCL and an London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine alumnus. He is also an active participant in global health case competitions and hack-a-thons, and is highly involved with social entrepreneurship. Brian’s first foray into the realm of Model WHO was OMWHO 2013 in Toronto. Since then, he has attended a total of 27 Model WHO conferences (and counting) in both delegate and chair capacities.
COMMS TEAM
An East Londoner, Dani is a former correspondent for the Biotech and Pharma industry. Dani is now on the part-time Public Health programme at LSHTM and works for an NGO that coordinates emergency medical donations from industry to countries affected by conflict. Having also worked and volunteered in India and Afghanistan, she is exploring the power of mixed-method research and is undertaking a Polygeia project on gender-based violence.
DANI BANCROFT
LEAD
From Nigeria, Nwokedi has over a decade of experience for programming in Sub-Saharan Africa, specializing in TB/HIV and health systems strengthening. He holds a postgraduate diploma in reproductive health from LSTM and an MPH from LSHTM. His professional experience includes implementation of a variety of projects in: TB/HIV programming; family planning; maternal and child health capacity building; quality assurance; and results management. He is currently working to bring about transformational leadership and change within the local non-profit space in Nigeria.
NWOKEDI NDULUE
From Sri Lanka, Deena is a PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and holds a Master’s degree in Global Health and Management. She is a Health Ambassador at the Soapbox Collaborative, an NGO working on child and maternal health. At the same time, she is also the Vice-Chair and Councillor for George St Community Council, and Vice-Chair for the Aberdeen Labour party, campaigning for equality in health. Deena has also been involved in a number of health projects globally, including war zone volunteering and humanitarian disaster relief missions in Sri Lanka.
DEENA TISSERA
From the United States, Romi is a PhD candidate in Cancer Epidemiology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and holds her MPH in Epidemiology from Saint Louis University, MO.
The background of her work is in improving cancer outcomes for those that face economic, regional, and educational barriers to care. Her future focus will be on improving health policy for cancer care in her hometown of Washington, D.C.
ROMI CARRIERE
DESIGN TEAM
VOLUNTEERS COORDINATOR
Marine is an MPH candidate at UCL from France. She holds a dual bachelor in biology and political science from Sciences Po Paris and Sorbonne Université. Having worked for the European Commission and in various French institutions, she is mostly interested in health policy, particularly when it comes to AMR and access to medicines. After having been part of the ParisWHO OC, she is excited to have joined the LonWHO OC to help make more ModelWHO simulations come to life and bring together public health students of different countries. She also acts as one of the two Liaison Officers for UKWHO.
MARINE DELGRANGE
Beth works in the Global Health Research team at NIHR in England. She completed her Masters in Public Health at LSHTM last year. Before that she completed a degree in Biomedical Science and worked in Health Protection.
She has a wide range of Public Health focused interests and hopes to complete the Faculty of Public Health training
scheme in the future. Outside of public health she enjoys volunteering at music festivals and loves a good musical.
BETH WALTERS
Sarah is a final year medical student at KCL, is exploring the world of public health, teaching and babysitting her way across London. She is currently working with a team of psychiatrists to create an educational podcast on the hidden challenges around medical encounters in mental health. She has previously teamed up with a local humanitarian group to develop a health camp programme in a regional slum of Southern India, focusing on education and improving access to health services.
SARAH ARUNACHALAM
OPERATIONS TEAM
ZARA BROOKES
Zara is an NHS Graduate Management Scheme Trainee with a focus on policy and strategy. She has a Masters in Public Health from Sheffield, where she was first exposed to model WHO simulations, and was on the OC for the first SheffWHO. She is now undertaking a part-time Masters in Health Policy, with an interest in exploring health inequalities and inequities within an international context, and its implications for service implementation.
LEAD
FARISHTA LILA
Farishta is a Canadian studying the MSc Public Health at LSHTM via distance education. This opportunity has meant she has been able to continue being a full-time caregiver to her Fiancé. It was only through his rare diagnosis that Farishta realized how truly interesting the study of disease is, and he became the main topic of her studies – a guinea pig Fiancé!
KATHERINE ALLSOP
Kitty is a 4th year medical student at KCL with a passion for global health and health policy. She is currently juggling med school with work, tutoring and multiple research papers focussing on refugees and the impacts of climate change on healthcare. As an attendee of LonWHO2018 and AmWHO, Kitty is hoping to inspire more medical students to explore the world of global health.
OMAR ZAKIEH
Omar is a student in medicine at Imperial College, aspiring humanitarian surgeon and fond eater of falafel wraps. He involves himself in public health and surgical research, and is a part-time onsite Arabic translation volunteer fo refugee camps in the north of France. His career ambitions lie in orthopaedic trauma and war surgery, and his general interests in travelling and adventure means he is always looking to hear your stories.
THEME TEAM
LonWHO 2019 Organising Committee
LEAD
ABDULKARIM EKZAYEZ
Abdulkarim is a Syrian medical doctor and has an MSc from LSHTM. In 2013, his residency in neurosurgery in Aleppo was interrupted by the war. As a result, he moved to the emergency field hospitals in North-West Syria, where he led the Save the Children health response until 2017. He is now a Research Associate and PhD candidate at the Research for Health in Conflict in the Middle East (R4HC) programme at KCL. He is involved in projects at LSHTM, Chatham House and the American University of Beirut, and is a board member of three NGOs; Shafak in Syria and Turkey, Eye to the Future in the US and Refugee Trauma Initiative in the UK.
LEAD
AMMAR SABOUNI
Ammar is an academic FY2 at the University of York. Born in Syria, he started a medical degree in Damascus during the war before being displaced,eventually qualifying at the University of Cairo. Before the Lancet-AUB Commission, he worked for Cochrane UK, building his interest in systematic reviews on health and armed conflict, and is involved in the International Society of Health and Armed Conflict.
AQSA
TAHIR
Aqsa is a third year medical student at UEA in Norwich. She has a BA in Human Sciences from Oxford, which is where her interests in global health first began. Aqsa has carried out ground-level research focusing on barriers to healthcare for women in Pakistan and intends to further her interests in this area of global health. Outside of medicine, Aqsa enjoys travelling and is currently trying to teach herself how to play the piano.
Claudia is a strategy consultant with almost 10 years of experience and is part of the Health Industry advisory team at PwC Switzerland. Her focus lies on market access strategy, stakeholder engagement and innovation in medicine (including equity of access to digital health globally).
Before moving to consulting, she worked as a clinical trial manager at the University of Zurich. Claudia holds a PhD in Neurobiology from Basel and a Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology from Torino. She is currently studying Public Health at the LSHTM and has two boys, age three and six.
CLAUDIA
VITTORI
Aso Dzay is from Kurdistan and a graduate of the Hawler Medical University in Erbil, Iraq. Aso practised as a clinician for 2 years before joining the International Medical Corps to work as an Emergency community health officer in refugee and IDP camps in Mosul.
During his time in displacement camps, Aso developed a real passion for humanitarian work, and that inspired him to study Public Health at LSHTM. Aso wants to pursue a career in humanitarian emergencies wherever there is a need in the world.
ASO
SHERWAN
Zahra is an experienced Consultant Gynaecologist with over 10 years clinical experience. Having qualified at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Medical School, she covers services including Obstetrics, Gynaecology, and Medical Education. She is passionate about global health, having worked with and consulted for the WHO in Geneva, and is an active advocate for women's health education and rights.