2013; Volume 14, No 3, March
Palliative Care Leaders in Developing Countries
This section features participants to the International Leadership Development Initiative and the International Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program at the Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice, under the leadership of Doctors Frank Ferris, Shannon Moore and Holly Yang.
We have created this space in our Newsletter to recognize their work, effort and commitment to improving palliative care in their countries.
Agnès Calsina Berna, MD
A graduate of the International Leadership Development Initiative at San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine.
Dr. Agnès Calsina Berna is Attending Physician at the Institut Catal? d’ Oncologia (ICO) in L’ Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona.
She is a graduate of the Masters in Palliative Medicine program at Universitat de Barcelona. She is currently collaborating in a research project called NECPAL that is studying the needs of patients who require palliative support and are admitted into a tertiary hospital.
Dr. Calsina has always had the desire to treat the ‘whole’ patient rather than just a disease. This desire led her to seek out the International Fellowship program at San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine. Dr. Calsina is particularly interested in and sensitive to the death and dying experience in different cultures.
To learn more about Dr. Calsina, visit the International Palliative Care Resource Center website here.
Zipporah (Zippy) Ali, MD
A graduate of the International Leadership Development Initiative (LDI) at San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine.
Dr. Ali is the Executive Director, Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association and a member of the IAHPC Board of Directors.
While a participant at the LDI program, Zippy was:
- able to influence the Ministry of Health in Kenya to integrate palliative care services into the services provided by government hospitals
- able to influence the nursing and medical training curricula of most training institutions to include palliative care
- invited to be the guest speaker at several conferences
- the lead person for palliative care when developing Kenya’s first National Cancer Control Strategy.
Since her graduation from the LDI program, Zippy has:
- Successfully advocated for palliative care to be integrated into Kenya Health Care System
- Successfully advocated for palliative care to be included in medical and nursing curricula
- Advocated for pediatric palliative care in Kenya
- Successfully advocated for a Diploma course to be started at the Kenya Medical Training College.
“I want to state that I did not achieve all this by myself. My colleagues at KEHPCA have been very supportive, and whatever I achieved, was because of a shared vision; dedication; determination and hard work.” Zipporah Ali, January 8, 2013
To learn more about Dr. Ali, visit the International Palliative Care Resource Center website here.