Team
The Imaging the World team is composed primarily of volunteers from all over the world—researchers, doctors, scientists, and corporations that are normally competitors—all working together to help save lives.
Kristen DeStigter, M.D.—Co-Founder
Kristen DeStigter received her M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University where she was involved in parasite research through the Division of Geographic Medicine (now the CWRU Center for Global Health and Diseases). She completed her Diagnostic Radiology residency training and Body Imaging fellowship at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Ater five years of private practice radiology in Michigan, she joined the faculty at the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care in an academic position. Dr. DeStigter has extensive experience performing ultrasound internationally, for both WHO-sponsored parasite research projects and medical outreach groups. She is is currently Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Radiology at the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care and is the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program Director. She chairs the Association of Program Directors in Radiology (APDR) Residency Restructuring Committee, and also sits on the ABR Maintenance of Certification and Small Programs Committees for the APDR. She is on the Executive Council of the New England Roentgen Ray Society (NERRS). She is also the President of the Vermont Chapter of the American College of Radiology (ACR), currently Vermont State Councilor to the ACR in Washington D.C. She is the mother of four children.
Brian Garra, M.D.—Co-Founder
Dr. Garra completed his residency training at the University of Utah and spent three years as an Army radiologist in Germany before returning to Washington DC and the National Institutes of Health in the mid 1980’s. After four years at the NIH, he joined the faculty of Georgetown University as Director of Ultrasound. In 1998, he left Georgetown to become Professor & Vice Chairman of Radiology at the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Healthcare. In 2009, Dr Garra returned to the Washington DC area as Chief of Imaging Systems & Research in Radiology at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In April 2010, he also joined the FDA as Associate Director in the Division of Imaging and Applied Mathematics/OSEL. His time is currently split between VA and FDA activities. His clinical interests include vascular ultrasound, GU ultrasound and breast ultrasound. His research interests include PACS, digital signal processing, quantitative ultrasound including Doppler, and ultrasound elastography. He was chair of the FDA radiological Devices Panel from 1999 to 2002 and has been involved in the approval of several new technologies including high resolution breast ultrasound, the first digital mammographic system, the first computer aided detection system for mammography, and the first computer aided nodule detection system for chest radiographs as well as the ultrasound contrast agent albunex. He also led the team that developed the AIUM breast ultrasound accreditation program, and helped develop the ARDMS registry in breast ultrasound. He is currently working on new applications of elastography, poroelastic imaging, ultrasound simulation systems for training and ITW projects.
Monica Parikh —Executive Director
Monica Parikh joined Imaging the World as Executive Director in January 2012. She has more than 25 years of experience in the private sector, creating and marketing investment strategies and providing economic, demographic and market research in the execution of client investment goals.
Prior to founding her own advisory firm in 2009, Ms. Parikh was Director of Research for a German-owned Metzler North America, an investment bank and advisor to European corporate and private clients. At Metzler Ms. Parikh was the publisher and editor of quarterly economic newsletters for a global audience. Before joining Metzler, for 16 years she served as Vice President-Portfolio Management for one of the nation’s largest institutional investment advisors, Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, Inc. Following graduate school, Ms. Parikh served with the Los Angeles County Treasurer’s Office and the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association.
She is a member of the Northwest Development Officers Association and is active with non-profit global health groups. She attended the University of Washington Evans Graduate School of Public Affairs and Seattle University, and participates frequently in community and educational advocacy boards and committees. Monica and her husband, Jay, are the parents of three children.
Asiimwe Allan—Information Technology Team Leader, Uganda
Asiimwe Allan Completed his bachelor’s degree from Makerere University Kampala in 2008 majoring in Human Resource Management and Information Technology.Following this, he worked for a German company called Maulbeur, contracted by the Ugandan Electoral Commission, in the IT department. He is currently consulting with Imaging the World Africa as an IT team leader for the pilot in Kamuli.
Matovu Alphonsus—Research Partner, Uganda
Currently he is the Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director at Kamuli Mission Hospital, having completed specialized training as a general surgeon from Makerere University in 2007. Dr. Matovu is also the Programme Manager for Imaging the World Africa. He has co-authored several journal publications and conducted recent studies in Public Administration and Management at Nkumba University. He is fluent in multiple African and European languages and enjoys playing musical instruments.
Deborah Babirye—Sonographer, Uganda
Debbie is a backscanner at Nawanyago for the Imaging the World project. Debbie has a bachelors degree in Medical Radiography from Makrere University and a diploma in ultrasound from ECUREI. She is currently in her second year of medical school. She currently serves as an Imaging Technologist and Assistant Lecturer at ECUREI. In the past she has served as a trainer on the Portable Maternal Ultrasound Project collaboration between UW and the Millennium Villages project. She currently serves as a trainer and back-scanner for the Imaging the World project at Nawanyago.
Sue Benzonelli-Blanchard—RDMS, RDCS Training Group
Sue Benzonelli-Blanchard received her BS degree from Seattle University in Diagnostic Ultrasound, and holds a certificate in Project Management from the University of Washington. Sue is also a registered Diagnostic Sonogragher in both radiology and cardiac applications. In addition to her career in the clinical field, Sue has also worked in the commercial healthcare industry. Sue worked at Siemen’s Ultrasound as an R& D Product Specialist for three years before joining Philips Healthcare in 1998. While at Philips, Sue held positions as Senior Product Specialist, Training Manager, and Global Training and Education Program Manager for General Imaging and Women’s Healthcare. As the Global Training and Education Program Manager, Sue managed a team of technical writers to produce international training material for Philips Ultrasound products. This included customer education CD/DVDs, web training, and hands-on classroom training. Sue became a member of Imaging the World in early 2008. In August 2008, she was part of the Belize Field Test team. Sue is currently, an ITW training team member. Sue lives with her husband in Issaquah, Washington. She enjoys gardening, bicycling, and loves to cook for family and friends.
Kristin Bravo—General Electric Development Group
Kristin Bravo received her BS degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute where she studied Biomedical Engineering. After graduating from WPI, Kristin joined the GE Healthcare Edison Engineering Development Program where she held design roles in magnetic resonance imaging, advanced applications for cardiac computed tomography, and ultrasound. In 2006, Kristin joined GE’s Life Sciences business as the Global Marketing Manager for Pre-Clinical Imaging managing a multi-modality portfolio of small animal imaging devices. After two years in Pre-Clinical Imaging, Kristin returned to her passion, clinical ultrasound. Today, Kristin is the Americas Marketing Manager for GE Healthcare’s General Imaging Ultrasound business. Her most recent focus has been around improving patient management and interoperability for breast imaging. Kristin lives in Wisconsin where she enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and son.
Brandon Chapman—Research Group
Brandon Chapman obtained his Associates Degree in Radiologic Technology at Aims Community College in 2004 and worked as an x-ray technologist while obtaining his Bachelors Degree in Health and Exercise Science in December 2006 and his Masters Degree in Biomedical Sciences in August of 2008 at Colorado State University. He is currently in his fourth year of medical school at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and joined the ITW team in August of 2009. He was involved in the image quality study at Kamuli Mission Hospital in Uganda the summer of 2010. He continues to be involved in ITW and will be presenting “Incorporating Global Imaging in the Medical Education Curriculum” at the World Congress Ultrasound in Medical Education conference in South Carolina April 29 – May 1, 2011. Outside of school, he enjoys being active, going to the gym for a workout, a run outdoors, hiking and spending the summers at the lake boating and wake-boarding.
Kelly Cunningham—Research Group
Kelly is originally from Toronto, Ontario and will be graduating from medical school at the University of Vermont in 2012. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a double major in Human Biology and Environmental Science and participated in an exploratory research project in rural Guatemala in the summer of 2006. Subsequently, she received a Master’s degree at Columbia University in 2007 from the Climate and Society program where she focused on the health impacts of climate change. While at Columbia, she did an internship at Environmental Defense researching the spread of West Nile virus in the continental U.S. She worked briefly as an Environmental consultant in Western Canada prior to starting medical school. Since entering medical school she has worked on an NIH-supported clinical trial for a dengue virus vaccine and has functioned as the AMSA Health Policy Coordinator for the UVM chapter. Her involvement with Imaging the World began in 2009 as a participant in the Image Quality Study. She joined the team in Uganda in 2010 as a trainer for the ultrasound protocols. She continues to be actively involved in the Image Quality Study and presented the preliminary findings at the UVM Student Research Conference in April 2011. Kelly was the co-founder of the UVM Environmental Health Interest Group, has traveled to 5 of 7 continents, speaks French fluently and enjoys playing volleyball.
Chris Duncan—Research Group
Chris Duncan is in his third year of medical school at the University of Vermont where he is actively involved in improving medical education through the use of dynamic peer-created study resources. Hebegan working with Imaging the World in early 2011 with a focus on expanding research in the U.S. regarding protocol efficacy. In his ever-dwindling free time he enjoys skiing, reading, and traveling. He hopes to pursue a career that involves extensive work in global health outreaches and to continue working with Imaging the World.
Dr. Helen Feltovich—Maternal/Fetal Specialist, Development Group
Helen Feltovich became interested in global healthcare while working as a secretary for an Infectious Disease doctor who sent her on a research mission to rural Brazil. One afternoon, in a hospital where no one understood her protests because of the language barrier, she was mistaken for a medical resident and ushered into a room where she delivered a couple of babies. After she recovered from the shock, she was hooked on maternal healthcare and returned to the University of Iowa to pursue an M.D. and M.S. in Public Health. In 2003, after an Obstetrics & Gynecology residency at Oregon Health & Science University, she did her Maternal-Fetal Medicine (high-risk obstetrics) fellowship at the University of Vermont, where she met Brian Garra. She is now a clinical MFM with Intermountain Healthcare in Utah and is also research faculty in the Medical Physics and Obstetrics/Gynecology Departments at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research involves development of ultrasound technology for cervical microstructural evaluation, to understand and develop novel approaches to preterm delivery. As an obstetrician, she sees what marked change simple ultrasound diagnosis at the point of care can bring about, which is why she is so happy to be a part of Imaging the World. Helen lives in Park City, UT with her husband, two daughters and puppy, Blue.
Gwen FitzGerald—Research Group
Gwen Fitz-Gerald is a third year medical student at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, Vermont. She graduated from the University of Vermont (UVM) in 2008 with a B.A. in sociology before doing a year of clinical research at Fletcher Allen Health Care and UVM. She worked on two projects: promoting oral feeding in premature infants and helped to develop a breath controlled video game for children with cystic fibrosis. She became involved with ITW in the fall of her first year in 2009 and helped to validate the training protocols by participating in the UVM Image Quality Study and then learning how to train others in the protocols as well. Gwen traveled with the team to Uganda and participated in the Pilot Project during the summer of 2010 training local nurse-midwives in 5 ultrasound protocols. She presented the preliminary results of the Uganda Pilot Program, “Field Testing a New Method for Performing Obstetric Ultrasound in Uganda”, at the World Congress on Ultrasound in Medical Education in the Spring of 2011 in Columbia, South Carolina. She’s looking forward to continuing to work with ITW on the Uganda project in the future.
Catherine Forrester—Technical Group
Catherine Forrester completed her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of British Columbia, working as a Clinical Lead/ Trainer in Pediatric Intensive Care at B.C. Children’s Hospital. Following she completed her Masters in Business Administration at the Ivey School of Business, in London, Ontario. She was a consultant in Health care for several years, eventually joining the Richmond Health Services Organization to lead the Administration of Patient Care, and becoming the Director of Strategic Initiatives, focused on Clinical Practice Improvement, Information Systems Implementations, and regionalization initiatives. In 2002, she joined 3M Health Information Systems in Salt Lake City, Utah where she held positions in marketing, ran a business unit and led the Health Care Division roll out of Six Sigma as a Black Belt and Design for Six Sigma Marketing lead. In 2005, she joined McKesson Medical Imaging Group in the product management group for the Radiology PACS. She is a lead in Radiology reporting and workflows and is currently focused on initiatives related to imaging analytics and appropriateness. Catherine lives in Vancouver B.C. with her husband and 3 sons enjoying the West Coast lifestyle with lots of camping, sailing and skiing.
Owani Collins Frank—Logistics Coordinator, Uganda
Mr. Frank completed his bachelor’s degree at Makerere University, Kampala, majoring in organizational studies and philosophy. Following this he started working for a private company in Kampala as a sales executive, Gromup Uganda Limited. He comes from a family of 5 kids in a rural region of northern Uganda called Dokolo and is a member of the Langi tribe. Currently he lives in Kampala. Collins has been consulting for imaging the World in Uganda since September, 2009, and is the co-leader of the ITW Logistics Team directing the pilot project based in Kamuli District.
April Hatterick—Web Editor
April is an Administrative Coordinator and Web Editor at Fletcher Allen Health Care. She has worked in health care for nearly 20 years. April is also an adult educational instructor at the Northwest Technical Center in St. Albans, Vermont. She created the curriculum for a Medical Office Practice course and has taught this course, along with a Medical Terminology course for the past seven years. April is a self taught web editor and enjoys working on websites in her spare time. She lives in a rural town in Fairfield, Vermont with her daughter and husband of 25 years, and enjoys playing flute with her daughter and camping with her family.
Dr. Sally Herschorn—Research Group
Dr. Sally Herschorn received her MD degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada where she also completed a residency in Diagnostic Radiology. She did a Fellowship in Cross Sectional Body Imaging at the University of Vermont before returning to Montreal as an Assistant Professor of Radiology in Body Imaging at McGill University. Sally has worked in Radiology at the University of Vermont, Fletcher Allen Health Care since 1990. She is now their Director of Breast Imaging and Associate Professor of Radiology. Under her directorship, the Breast Imaging Division has received the Breast Imaging Center of Excellence Accreditation and Accreditation for Breast MRI from the American College of Radiology. Sally is an advocate for patients and their breast health; having given interviews regarding mammography and breast imaging and written several blogs for patient information. Sally joins ITW along with a multidisciplinary breast cancer team to hopefully make a difference in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in the developing world. Her mother died of breast cancer at a very young age, and so she empathizes with her patients who share her fears of contracting this disease. She lives in Burlington, Vermont with her husband and two children.
Benjamin Johnson—Research Group
Benjamin Johnson is graduating from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in June 2011, when he will begin an internship in general surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Following internship, he will begin a residency in diagnostic radiology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Originally from a small town in West Virginia, he moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with his family for work reasons in 1994. He attended the International School of Kuala Lumpur through graduation in 2000, when he moved to New York to attend Columbia University. After graduating in 2004, he joined Teach For America, and taught high school science at Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles. During that time, he decided he wanted to attend medical school, and after falling in love with the ocean, moved to San Diego to attend UCSD in 2006. Since entering medical school, Benjamin has been active in community outreach projects in both San Diego, and across the border in Tijuana. He has also been active in radiology research, and between his 3rd and 4th year in medical school, he earned a Masters’ Degree in Clinical Research from UCSD. He has worked with ITW’s partner organization, RAD-AID, and is an active volunteer in ITW’s ongoing project in Uganda.
Anne M Jones—Training Group
Anne graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina @ Greensboro with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing where she was awarded the Academic Award for Excellence in Nursing. After graduation, she became a Charter Member of the Gamma Zeta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the Nursing Honor Society. Anne moved from clinical nursing to research in the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest University Medical Center as a neurovascular sonographer where she worked on carotid ultrasound clinical trials and ultrasound education. During her career in vascular ultrasound, Anne has served as President of the Society for Vascular Ultrasound (SVU), Chair of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and founding member of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories. She is a Fellow of the Society for Vascular Ultrasound. Her most recent passion has been to serve as an educator and quality assurance consultant to several clinical trials using transcranial Doppler to prevent strokes in children with Sickle Cell anemia. Anne is currently serving on the Advocacy Committee of SVU and as a Clinical Instructor in Neurology and Neurosciences at the Medical College of South Carolina, Charleston.
Dr. Michael Grace Kawooya—Research Partner, Uganda
Michael graduated from Makerere University with MBChB. Five years later, he completed his postgraduate training in Diagnostic Radiology at the same University. He then undertook 18 months of intensive radiology training in the University Hospital of Tubingen in Germany, returning to Uganda to take up a place as a lecturer in the Department of Radiology at Makerere University. Michael has recently completed his PhD in Health Sciences Research, [Makerere University and McMaster University (Canada)]. He has attained full Professorship in Radiology at Makerere University. He is a founder member and current Director of Ernest Cook Ultrasound Research and Education Institute ( ECUREI) located in Kampala City, Uganda and affiliated to Thomas Jefferson Research and Education Institute in Philadelphia USA. He is also the Director of the Kampala World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) Centre of Excellence. Michael has published widely in several international peer reviewed journals and Co-authored chapters in books such as Mason’s Tropical Diseases. He has lectured on two occasions on the ISR Virtual Congress. His main areas are gastrointestinal and tropical disease ultrasound including HIV/AIDS. He has a passion for teaching ultrasound and an advocate for diffusion of ultrasound and other appropriate imaging methods to hard-to –reach rural areas of Africa. Michael is also founder member for Pan African Congress of Radiology and Imaging (PACORI) and African Society of Radiology (ASR). He is editor for several medical journals such as African Health Sciences.
Fred Kirumira—Research Partner, Uganda
Mr Fred Kirumira is an Administrator for Ernest Cook Ultrasound research and Education Institute Located in Mengo Hospital Kampala, Uganda. Fred has over 10 years experience in Supervisory management and administration six of which have been with ECUREI (A health training, Imaging service provider and Research Institution for Higher Learning).and the rest acquired prior to joining ECUREI in Australia with Luxottica Australia Ltd (a leading designer eyewear company in the world). With ECUREI, Fred has had 5 solid years of experience with project administration under a Government of Netherlands and Government of Uganda funded project (ORET Project) conducted jointly by ECUREI and Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) and others which include the Portable Maternal Ultrasound Initiative conducted with the University of Washington (Rad Dept). Fred is currently the Project Officer for a USAID funded Ultrasound integrated with Antenatal Carer outreach project conducted by ECUREI and UW (Rad Dept) in Mpigi District Uganda. With Imaging the World, Fred is the link person in administration on the side of the ECUREI team working with ITW. The ECUREI team consists of Ultrasound trainers, back scanners and a team of Radiologists reporting in the various studies under IRB, plus a Principle Investigator.
Kyle Lawton—Outcomes Group
Kyle has diverse and distinguished 20 background in radiology, beginning as a radiographic technologist and culminating in his present position as CEO of peerVue, the thriving radiology IT innovator he co-founded in 2002. After launching his career as a hospital-based technologist, Kyle took advantage of his vision of how technological innovations could enhance healthcare workflow and firsthand understanding of the radiology field in roles of increasing responsibility for successful radiology IT vendor IDX. There, he moved rapidly through positions that included software designer, team leader for the company’s third party integration department and product manager for the full IDX integration and product line. Later, Kyle held various management positions with Amicas, another major radiology IT vendor. Capitalizing on that experience, in 2002, he co-founded peerVue, a start-up dedicated to developing and marketing intelligent workflow and communication solutions that enable healthcare organizations to improve patient care and safety, while reducing risk and simplifying processes. With his keen eye for the needs of the marketplace, drive for achievement and management skills, he grew the company in ten years from a single-employee startup to a thriving internationally known vendor with a with staff of more than 25 professionals and a reputation for excellence. Under Kyle’s guidance, peerVue has maintained its dedication to bridging critical workflow and communication gaps in healthcare. Last year, peerVue ushered in a new product category in healthcare IT offerings, QICS (Qualitative Intelligence & Communications Systems). Today, under his leadership peerVue’s QICS is enjoying a growing reputation for its ability to successfully transform existing healthcare data into qualitative intelligence and solve longtime healthcare problems, as Kyle continues to transform the firm into a major force in the healthcare IT arena.
Dr. Ginger Merry—Research Group
Ginger Merry received her M.D. and M.P.H. degree from Emory University. Her M.P.H focus was global health and her thesis work involved training and evaluating medical staff at a clinical trial research and clinic site in Lusaka, Zambia. Ginger is currently a radiology resident at University of California San Francisco and has been accepted as a breast-imaging fellow at Northwestern University. Ginger joined the Imaging the World team to help implement breast ultrasound as a tool for improving breast cancer detection in resource-limited settings.
Gabriel Eli Morey—Outcomes Group
G. Eli Morey received his BA in chemistry from Brigham Young University, following which he moved to Denver to work in biomedical research at National Jewish Health for a year and a half. Eli moved back to Utah to pursue his Master of Public Health, also at BYU. His internship work was completed at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he worked several months as a clinical trials coordinator for asthma and COPD studies. Upon graduation, he was hired as an environmental epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health in Salt Lake City, where he investigated cancer clusters related to environmental chemical exposure and researched methamphetamine contamination of properties. During this time, he served as health department representative to the Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence Council and as a Utah representative on the Cancer Content Workgroup for ATSDR/CDC. Eli has a passion for disease prevention and an interest in diagnostic medicine, which has led him to join the Imaging the World team as a lead researcher on the outcomes team. Prior international experience includes two years as a public health volunteer with an international NGO in Russia and Belarus, performing a traveling puppet show teaching the dangers of smoking, alcohol and drugs to school-aged children. Eli is currently attending medical school at the University of Vermont, and he loves hanging out with his wife, son and daughter, doing amateur photography and directing his church choir.
Joyce Naiga—Sonographer, Uganda
Joyce Naiga is a third year medical student at Makerere University College of Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine in Kampala. Prior to this, she did her Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Radiography and then completed advanced diagnostic ultrasound training at ECUREI under the directorship of Professor Michael Kawooya. She has been at ECUREI since 2007 and works there as a sonographer when she has time in between medical school requirements. Since July, despite her many obligations to school and work, she has volunteered with the ITW project.
Nicolate Nekesa—Outcomes Group
Nicolate Nekesa graduated with a bachelor’s degree in environmental management in 2003. She worked as a community worker in 2004 in the rural areas of Kamuli District. Since 2007 she has been working as a research assistant investigating HIV/AIDS in Uganda as part of a Walter Reed Project with the Infectious Diseases Institue at Makerere University. She is currently pursuing a masters degree in gender studies which she hopes to complete in 2011. She is married with one child and lives in Kampala. In her spare time, she volunteers her research expertise for the ITW Outcomes Working Group, studying the impact of the ITW ultrasound model in rural Uganda.
Andrea Newton—Administrative Group
Andrea Newton was the initial Executive Director of Imaging the World joining in January 2009 as a consultant hired to lead organizational development, and becoming the Executive Director in October 2009. She stepped down to take extended maternity leave in 2012. From 2005 until 2008, she held the position of Vice President of the Western Region at Resource Real Estate in Philadelphia, where she directed a 17-state territory. In this position, she raised over $150 million in capital and traveled extensively through the western United States speaking at major events and conducting educational investment seminars. Prior to her position at Resource Real Estate, Andrea held numerous positions at Kennedy Associates (now Bentall Kennedy), a pension fund advisory firm, from 1996 until 2004. There she held positions in marketing, finance and asset management, helping to raise and effectively invest institutional capital in commercial real estate. Andrea has served on numerous boards and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the PCC Farmland Trust, an organic farmland preservation organization. She has a BA from the University of Montana, and graduated from the Fundraising School at the Center of Philanthropy at University of Indiana, Purdue. She lives in Seattle with her husband and enjoys mountain climbing and cycling.
Sister Mary Angela Njeri—Nurse Midwife, Uganda
Sister Mary Angela Njeri is a catholic nun from the congregation of Daughters of Mary Bwanda (Uganda). She completed training as a midwife at Kamuli training school of midwifery in 2001, after which she worked for 2 years in Kitovu Hospital. She continued her education at the Rubaga school of midwifery and nursing and graduated with a diploma in 2005 and then worked in Western Kenya as an in-charge for 4 years. In 2010 she was appointed to work in Nawanyago as the in-charge, where she became involved with the ITW research project. She feels proud to work with ITW which has really which has brought hope to the rural community by saving lives of mothers and babies.
Shadrack Picho—Logistics Coordinator, Uganda
Shadrack is from Kampala, and he received his Bachelors in Arts (Hons) from Makerere University with a major in Communications and a minor in Organizational studies. In 2004, he worked as a researcher for 3A Strategic Management Consultancy LTD. In 2005, he conducted research for World Food Program, monitoring communities, visiting health facilities in Kapchrowa district, and educating mothers about child nutrition. Shadrack joined Imaging the World in 2009 as a Logistic Team Leader in Uganda. He enjoys traveling and making friends with people from diverse cultures.
Monica Ramsey—Development Group
Inspired by the scope and mission of ITW, Monica Ramsey joined Imaging the World in May 2009. From 1990 through 2001, Monica was founder and CEO of U|P Creative Inc. an award winning group of marketing companies that specialized in branding and high tech marketing consulting. In 2001 Monica moved into the world of public broadcasting as a Director of Development and marketing consultant for Seattle’s KEXP and NPR. As a marketing consultant for NPR stations she worked nationally to help brand and fundraise for local stations and was a national speaker for innovative fundraising and community engagement. Monica moved on to the PBS side of the industry as the Executive Director of Development and on air host for KCTS 9 with an emphasis on community building and advocacy. In this position she was responsible for over $21 million dollars of revenue annually. Monica has served on many different non-profit boards and currently is a founding board member for The Gift of Giving Foundation. She has a BA from the University of Washington and lives in Seattle with her husband and two children. She enjoys anything that has to do with snow, water, books, writing and food.
Matthew Rielly—Philips Healthcare Outcomes Group Leader
Matthew R. Rielly was born in Walsall, England. He received a B.Sc. degree in physics with astrophysics from the University of Leeds England, in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Bath, England in 2001. His research centered on both theoretical and experimental investigations of nonlinear propagation of ultrasound through tissue mimicking media. He joined Philips Healthcare, Bothell, WA in 1999 where he currently manages a systems engineering group in the Philips Ultrasound R&D group. His team’s main responsibilities include defining product architectures, creating system design specifications and review and approval of system requirements, and feature design specifications. During his time at Philips he has also been a project manager responsible for ultrasound applications on premium ultrasound products. He is also involved in cross business research portfolio management and has authored several patents relating to ultrasound system design and transducer design. Matthew Rielly has also been an active participant in international standards committees relating to ultrasound output and control, serving on both IEC TC87 and IEC MT34.
Gail Rouillard—Training Group Leader
Gail Rouillard graduated from the Maryland General Hospital Radiology Program in Baltimore Maryland in 1977. Shortly thereafter Gail trained in Diagnostic Ultrasound in one of the first programs offered at Johns Hopkins University in 1980. Gail is registered in multiple specialties in Ultrasound as well as Vascular Technology from the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers since 1981. Gail was employed in ultrasound in both hospital and diagnostic centers until 1992, then joined a colleague in forming Sound Impressions, Inc. the first per diem ultrasound company in central Florida. In 1997 Gail became sole proprietor providing ultrasound per diem staffing, accreditation and consulting services, and continuing education serving Orlando, Florida. The company had developed and maintained the ultrasound services of both the Orlando and Viera Veteran’s clinics for 17 years, proudly serving the needs of Veteran’s for general, vascular and cardiology ultrasound. In 2002 Gail relocated to Vermont and was employed as Sonographer Advisor at Fletcher Allen Healthcare. In 2007 Gail was invited to join the co-founders, Dr. Destigter and Dr. Garra in developing the Imaging the World (ITW) model. Gail has since actively participated in the development, training and research of the ITW protocols. Gail was the training coordinator of the Belize Pilot in August 2008, and Uganda in 2010 and is currently the leader of the ITW training group. Recently Gail relocated to Maryland where she is the Supervisor of the Perinatology Ultrasound services of Washington Hospital Center in Washington D.C. In addition, Gail graduated with honors from Reformed Theological Seminary with a masters in Mental Health Counseling. Gail has practiced counseling part time and has formally served as a volunteer hospice chaplain in Central Florida. Gail travels to Florida frequently where she enjoys the company of her two children, three grandchildren and former Sound Impressions colleagues as often as she can.
Mary Streeter—Research Group
Mary received an Allied Health degree in Radiology from the University of Vermont in 1985, a Bachelors degree in Professional Studies from Johnson State College in 2009 and a Master of Science Degree as a Radiologist Assistant in 2011. She has worked in the radiology department at Fletcher Allen Health Care/University of Vermont for over 25 years in clinical, research and administrative roles; she also holds a faculty position at the University of Vermont. Through out Mary’s career she has carried a passion for empowering people in regards to their health. She became involved with ITW research team in 2009 as a trainer and is currently involved in multiple research projects in the U.S. focusing on new protocol development and protocol efficiency.
Malka Stromer—Training Group
Malka is a registered diagnostic medical sonographer whose clinical skills were fostered at the University Health Network and Mount Sinai’s Center of Excellence in Obsterical Ultraound, in Toronto, Canada. Malka has spent the past 5 years of her career sharing her enthusiasm for sonography as a professor, first at her alma mater, Mohawk College (the collaborative Mohawk-McMaster Institute for Applied Health Sciences) and now as clinical coordinator at Gateway Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Education from York University in Toronto, Canada. Malka has spoken at various professional events and educational institutions on topics including sonography of the bowel and her research in the ethics of obstetrical ultrasound.
MacKenzie Walker—Research Group
Mackenzie Walker is currently a senior undergraduate student in the College of Agriculture at UVM. She is Chief Research Associate in charge of the ITW study as part of the Emergency Medical Research Associate Program at UVM. She is majoring in Nutrition and Food Science, minoring in Chemistry and is also premed. She grew up in Jeffersonville, Vermont.
