Who We Are
 President:
Deborah Chong M.D. was born and grew up in Kingston,
Jamaica. She completed her medical degree at Boston University
and her residency in OB/GYN at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami,
FL. She then worked at the University of California, Davis for
three years as Assistant Clinical Professor in the department
of OB/GYN. While at UC Davis, she founded MIA in 2005 with Karolynn
Echols, M.D. After leaving UC Davis, she started donating most
of her time to the organization. She currently works in California,
dividing her time between practicing medicine and developing MIA.
She envisions expanding the program to include additional countries
of extreme poverty as well as improving the care in the countries
MIA currently serves.
 Vice President:
Karolynn Echols M.D.is a native New Yorker. She
completed her medical training at Temple University School of
Medicine and finished her OB/GYN residency at Jackson Memorial
Hospital in Miami where she first met Debbie. She went on to complete
a Urogynecology fellowship at LSU in New Orleans and then worked
as an Assistant Professor and Chief of Gynecology at LSUMC in
Lafayette, LA for three years. She is now on faculty at Cooper
University Hospital(UMDNJ) in Camden, New Jersey. She travels
annually to Niger, Africa and Jamaica as a medical volunteer.
 Director of Missions Development:
Lise Rehwaldt, M.D. grew up in Minnesota. She
graduated from the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison,
Wisconsin and completed her Residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology
at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City in 1993. Since
completing her residency, she has worked at Queens Hospital Center
in NY. Dr. Rehwaldt was the Director of the Department of Ob/Gyn
at QHC and the Residency Program Director of the Mount Sinai School
of Medicine, Jamaica Program. She recently decided to step down
in order to have more time to devote to international medical
work. She is currently an Attending at Queens Hospital Center
and Mount Sinai but continues to travel extensively to Jamaica,
Nicaragua, Niger, Liberia and Tanzania. She has been involved
with Medicine in Action since the inaugural trip in December 2005.
 Resident and Medical Student Advisor:
Elaine Waetjen, M.D. Dr. Waetjen received
her BAs from UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz and her MD from
Northwestern University in Chicago. She did her Obstetrics and
Gynecology Residency at the University of Pittsburg, Magee-Women's
Hospital and completed a fellowship in Epidemiology/clinical
research and Urogynecology at UC San Francisco. She is currently
an Associate Professor at UC Davis School of Medicine in the
Department of OB/GYN. Dr. Waetjen has published numerous research
papers focusing on the epidemiology of urinary incontinence
and menopausal symptoms. She has traveled extensively in Africa
and Central America. She lived in Kenya and South Africa as
a child and worked in Uganda and Niger. She joined Medicine
in Action in 2007 and has been both to Tanzania and Jamaica
with our team.
Secretary:
Ann Leber Ph.D Secretary When Ann met Debbie Chong as a patient at UC Davis, she immediately wanted to help support Medicine in Action. Ann had always wanted to be part of a group that had a global medical mission. She was thrilled to find out that her own OB/Gyn was the founder of such an organization. The two became friends and now Ann is an indispensable part of the organization.
Ann is a psychotherapist that works for the Sacramento County Office of education. She is also in private practice, specializing in working with children and adolescents. She is as tireless in her devotion to these children as she is to Medicine in Action.
Board of Advisors
Clyde Jacob III M.D. practices in New York.
He completed his medical degree at the University of Medicine
& Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark and his residency in
OB/GYN at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, NY. He went
on to become Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is presently Attending
Physician at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. He recently
traveled to Tanzania for the first time. Seeing the desperate
need of the population first hand, and his ability to make a
difference there he became committed to the work that MIA does.
As a result, Dr. Jacob helps coordinate missions to Tanzania
and participates in development for Medicine in Action.
 Ambereen Sleemi, M.D. grew up in Maryland.
She graduated from George Washington University School of Medicine
with an MD and she also completed a Master's in Public Health
concurrently in Maternal and Child Health. She completed her
residency at Louisiana State University-Charity Hospital in
New Orleans in Obstetrics and Gynecology and moved to New York
City as a US Public Health Scholar Physician. She subsequently
completed a fellowship in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic
Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY where she
is currently an attending physician. She has traveled and worked
extensively in medical settings in Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras,
Niger and Nigeria with various medical groups. She has been
involved with the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) over
the last 5 years with projects in Northern Nigeria and Eritrea.
She joined MIA in Jamaica in February 2008 and worked in Tanzania
this past September.
Mr. Mike Burns went to Boston College for his undergraduate studies. After graduation, looking for a way to feel like he was making a difference in the world, Mike went to Jamaica to teach. Mike taught high school in Kingston, Jamaica at Debbie Chong's old high school as part of the International Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He spent a year there and became friends with Sugar Chong and the entire Chong family. His interest in Medicine in Action stems from this time he spent in Kingston and his affection for the country and its people. After he left Jamaica, Mike went to law school at the University of San Francisco and is now a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in San Francisco, California. Mike has been working with MIA since 2008 and now sits on their Board of Advisors. In addition to doing pro bono work for Medicine in Action, Mike specializes in the practice of traditional labor and employment law.
Honorary Board
Elaine Chong: Volunteer Coordinator
Mary Jo Sullivan, M.D.
Junior Board:
David Chong: Creative Director
Scott Hughes: Webmaster
David Waetjen: Database Manager
|
