Baba Adejuyigbe

IGOT Research Fellow
2023-2024

Undergraduate: Human Biology at Cornell University

Medical School: David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles

Baba’s interest in Global Health is shaped by his upbringing and lived experiences in Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. While growing-up in an environment with limited resources – and accompanying his younger brother (who lives with chronic illness) to his scheduled health-visits – Baba became personally familiar with some of the disparities in healthcare related to access, quality, and cost from an early age. Since then, he has remained committed to improving healthcare in limited-resource settings. During his undergraduate years, Baba conducted research that involved designing medical diagnostic devices for limited-resource settings. In his gap years before starting medical school, Baba worked as a Public Health Fellow and in Diversity & Inclusion at Cornell, working to foster a healthier and more inclusive campus climate. During his first year of medical school, he continued to explore his interests in global health, working with UCLA’s Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine to assess the clinical impact of the installation of a Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry device at the Medical Research Council (MRC) in The Gambia. His interest in orthopaedic surgery stems from his time as an athlete on Cornell’s Football team. Since then, he has been fascinated with developing a deeper understanding into the mechanical and functional components of the human body. Upon seeking ways to combine his interests and passion for global health and orthopaedics, Baba discovered the IGOT Morgan and McClellan International Research Fellowship. “The IGOT program is an amazing opportunity to explore my interests in orthopaedics and global health. I am ecstatic to be working with some key stakeholders in the world of global orthopaedics, while building solid foundational skills in international surgical research. I am eager to further develop sustainable partnerships between The West and Africa where knowledge and resources are exchanged in non-paternalistic and non-colonial ways."

Francisco Gomez Alvarado

IGOT Research Fellow
2023-2024

Undergraduate: Biophysics, Biology, and Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania

Medical School: University of California, San Francisco

Francisco is originally from Durango, Mexico and grew up in Fresno, California. Growing up as an undocumented immigrant, he has first-hand experience with the difficulties faced by immigrants in under-resourced communities. Francisco has been involved in projects assisting asylum seekers and on-the-ground outreach in rural communities. In the year before medical school, Francisco was an English teacher in China. He has used this experience to advocate for the expansion of clinically relevant language education at UCSF. Francisco is privileged to have worked with amazing community and interprofessional partners throughout his endeavors. He appreciates the importance of stakeholder feedback in building community relevant interventions. He has been involved in translational surgical research during his undergraduate studies and in medical school. Francisco wishes to become an innovative physician who works towards building the relationships necessary to serve patients with the most need. He resonates deeply with the IGOT’s core mission and is looking forward to working with the leaders in the field.

Jamieson O'Marr

IGOT Research Fellow
2022-2023

Undergraduate: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Stanford University

Graduate Institution: Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Stanford University School of Medicine

Medical School: Yale School of Medicine

Jamieson was born and raised on California’s Central Coast before making the short trip up to the bay area to attend Stanford University. It was at Stanford that he was first exposed to the field of global health through his mentors and research experiences, which included two summers abroad working in Ghana and Costa Rica. It was the lessons he learned through these experiences about the importance of health systems that drove him to complete a Masters degree in Epidemiology at the Stanford School of Medicine before seeking a return to more patient-focused endeavors as a medical student at the Yale School of Medicine. At Yale he developed a passion for orthopaedic surgery and, seeking ways to combine orthopaedics and global health, discovered the IGOT Morgan and Madison McClellan International Research Fellowship. “The McClellan fellowship will allow me the opportunity to build a foundational skillset and forge longterm partnerships in global orthopaedics. I am extremely excited to work with and learn from many of the leaders in global orthopaedics at IGOT and their partners around the globe!”  Enjoy his 'Bone Deep' substack blog.

Patricia Rodarte

IGOT Research Fellow
2022-2023

Undergraduate: Biology-Immunobiology at Brown University

Medical School: Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Patricia’s interest in global health was shaped by her experiences living in a rural community on the U.S-Mexico border. While witnessing health disparities caused by lack of access to care, Patricia made it a mission to learn about improving health outcomes in resource-deficient settings. In her undergraduate years at Brown, she focused on HIV care by conducting research in the Philippines and in her hometown, El Paso, Texas, as well as completing an international course on HIV in Israel. In her gap year before medical school, Patricia worked with a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in evaluating and optimizing Hepatitis C testing and treatment in counties in West Texas, which validated the importance of site-specific health policies and local change. In this gap year, she also developed a passion for orthopaedics while working as a scribe for a local orthopaedic surgeon. Since then, Patricia has had the honor of working with orthopaedic patients in Rhode Island through medical school at Brown, and in Charlotte, North Carolina through the Nth Dimensions Summer Internship. “The Morgan and Madison McClellan Fellowship provides the perfect opportunity for me to combine my love for orthopaedics with my passion for global health. I’m eager to explore the intersection of global health and orthopaedic trauma!”

Michael Flores

IGOT Research Fellow
2021-2022

Undergraduate: Biological Engineering at Utah State University

Medical School: Yale University

Michael first became interested in global health as a Spanish-speaking missionary in Argentina after his first year of college at Utah State University. It was there that he discovered a passion for serving others and saw first-hand the disparities and challenges of healthcare in resource-limited settings. Upon returning to the United States, Michael returned to college and explored the field of medicine. That investigation led him to discover orthopaedic surgery and global surgery. As an undergraduate, Michael led multiple health-related trips to Mexico and Peru. He completed his undergraduate in Biological Engineering and was accepted to the Yale School of Medicine. As a medical student, his research has focused on improving health outcomes in orthopaedic surgery in Uganda. “I am very excited for this unique opportunity to pursue my passion for global health, build a solid foundation and skills in global surgery research, and collaborate with some of the top mentors in the field.”

Kelsey Brown

IGOT Research Fellow
2021-2022

Undergraduate:  Health and Human Biology from Brown University

Medical School:  Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Kelsey’s passion for global health stems from her experiences on a mission trip to the Philippines. Throughout her undergraduate career, she engaged in both coursework and research focused on global health as well as social determinants of health. She spent multiple summers in Ghana working at various medical centers shadowing and learning more about non-biological predictors of HIV treatment adherence. During medical school, she developed an interest in orthopedics which led her to found a chapter of Global Surgery Student Alliance at Brown, engage in global orthopedics research and ultimately, apply into the IGOT Morgan and Madison McClellan International Research Fellowship. “I’m ecstatic to be working with and learning from key stakeholders in the global orthopedics world!”

Mayur Urva

IGOT Research Fellow
2020-2021

Undergraduate: Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California

Medical School: New York Medical College

Mayur first became interested in global health and health disparities working with USC MEDLIFE, and as a medical student he decided to pursue an area of concentration in Global and Population Health. After developing an interest in orthopaedics during medical school, he decided to integrate these interests by applying for the 2020 IGOT Morgan and Madison McClellan International Research Fellowship. “The McClellan Fellowship has been an immensely enriching experience that has provided me with essential research skills as well as a passion for advancing musculoskeletal care and education through sustainable and equitable partnerships. Working with inspiring mentors and a global community of researchers, I’ve learned so much about the intersection of global health and orthopaedics and know that I will continue to draw from this experience throughout my career."

Abigail Cortez

IGOT Research Fellow
2020-2021
Funded by GloCal Health Fellowship

Undergraduate: Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley

Medical School: : University of California, San Francisco

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles

Abigail is the recipient of the NIH Fogarty UCGHI GloCal Health Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year with additional support from the National Institute for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. She has a strong interest in orthopaedic trauma research and completed the Clinical & Translational Research Pathway as a medical student at UCSF, working with Dr. Saam Morshed to study infection outcomes after the implementation of a screen-and-treat program for Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization in patients receiving operative fixation for traumatic fractures. She presented this important work as a podium presentation at the 2017 Orthopaedic Trauma Association annual meeting. This upcoming year she is excited to return to UCSF to join IGOT and expand her interest, gain new knowledge, and apply her research skills to the growing field of global orthopaedics. Her primary project involves assessing the long-term outcomes after the treatment of open tibia fractures with external fixation versus intramedullary nailing at the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Claire Donnelley

IGOT Research Fellow
2019-2020

Undergraduate: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University

Medical School: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at Yale University

Post-graduation, Claire spent ten months living in Malawi as the Charles P. Howland Fellow conducting field research on malaria during pregnancy in adolescent women. Inspired by the positive interventions that medicine could have within people’s lives, Claire returned to the US to pursue her medical degree. During medical school, she developed an interest in surgery, particularly global surgery, when she spent two months in Eldoret, Kenya at MOI Teaching and Referral Hospital as an IFAP surgical research fellow. Interested in further developing her global, surgical, and clinical research skills, particularly in the field of orthopaedics, Claire applied for the 2019 IGOT Morgan and Madison McClellan International Research Fellowship. “The McClellan Fellowship has been an unparalleled opportunity to collaborate with clinical researchers from around the world, to understand and investigate the state of orthopaedic surgery, and to develop lifelong best practices of clinical research that benefit and support the truly global community of orthopaedics”.

Ericka Von Kaeppler

IGOT Research Fellow
2019-2020
Funded by Operation Rainbow

Undergraduate: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University

Medical School: Stanford University

Ericka defended her Ph.D. thesis (Interleukin 4 protects against post-traumatic osteoarthritis) in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University concurrently with her medical degree. “As an IGOT research fellow in 2019-2020, I am so excited to spend the year learning new skills about international orthopaedic research from the incredible IGOT team at UCSF. So far, I have completed coursework in biostatistical computing and applied these new principles to projects related to the burden and care of traumatic orthopaedic injuries in low- and middle-income countries. Though the learning curve has been steep, I have already gained so much valuable knowledge and am looking forward to continuing work on IGOT projects around the world.” 

Patrick Albright

IGOT Research Fellow
2018-2019

Undergraduate: Pre-professional studies and Business from the University of Notre Dame

Medical School: Western Michigan University Homer Stryker

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Minnesota

Patrick remained at Notre Dame to complete a Master of Science in Global Health in 2015. During his IGOT fellowship, Patrick travelled to Cuba and Mexico to assist with coordination and patient enrollment of a multi-center international orthopaedic cohort study involving IGOT partners across Latin America. “The McClellan Fellowship has been an outstanding opportunity for me to gain more exposure to the field of orthopaedics and global health, to learn how to perform high quality research, and to collaborate with partners from a diverse range of backgrounds and countries. I am even more confident in my desire to make global orthopaedics a part of my career not only to participate in clinical research, but also to participate in longitudinal partnerships that promote surgical capacity and education.”

Syed Ali

IGOT Research Fellow
2018-2019
Funded by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Undergraduate: Biochemistry from Washington and Lee University

Medical School: University of Massachusetts 

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco

Syed received a Doris Duke international clinical research fellowship for the 2018-2019 year to research at Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute in Tanzania. Syed’s primary projects involved setting up and implementing a randomized trial to reduce infection after open tibia fractures, and developing a registry to capture outcomes following total joint replacement surgery in developing settings. “Getting to conduct research on the ground, and participate in improving Orthopaedic care, in a low- and middle-income setting was an incredible opportunity. I learned just as much from my coworkers and the wonderful Tanzanian people as I did during my medical school coursework, and loved every day of the work we performed - despite the challenges of working in a resource-limited area.” Syed is planning to remain involved in global Orthopaedics research going forward. He found the clinical research, interpersonal, and managerial skills he developed during his year to be indispensable and highly recommends applying to all interested medical students.

Sravya Challa

IGOT Research Fellow
2017-2018

Undergraduate: University of Nevada, Reno

Medical School: University of California, San Diego

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard University

Sravya grew up in Hyderabad, India and moved to Nevada in High School. Sravya became interested in orthopaedic trauma while working in the ER as a college student and started working in the bone physiology lab at UCSD to study Acute Compartment Syndrome. When she got the opportunity to combine her goals for global health and orthopaedics through a research year at IGOT, she took time off between third and fourth years of medical school to pursue a year that has been a monumental milestone in finding what she wants to do with a career in orthopaedics. Sravya hopes to continue research in LMICs as an academic orthopaedic surgeon in the future. “As the McClellan fellow, I got to work with amputees in Tanzania and helped with the SMART courses in SF and Nepal, while gaining invaluable research and management skills.”

John Ibrahim

IGOT Research Fellow
2017-2018
Funded by UCSF rAPTR

Undergraduate: Neurobiology and Healthcare Management from the University of Pennsylvania

Medical School: University of California, San Francisco

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia

John received the UCSF Yearlong Inquiry Program research grant (2017-2018) and worked on two main projects based at the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute (MOI) in Tanzania. The first project is the Gentamicin Open Tibia- Randomized Control Trial of Local Antibiotics vs. Control (GO Tibia) project. With Dr. Shearer, Dr. Haonga, and Dr. Ndalama, he created the GO Tibia research question and grant proposal, protocol, and IRB/NIMR ethical application. The second project is the K-Wire vs. Flexible Nail for Pediatric Femur Fractures study. Under the guidance of Dr. Curran and Dr. Shearer, John spent 2 months in Tanzania developing the standard operating procedure and REDCap data collection system with the pediatric orthopaedic fellows and research coordinators at MOI. “The research year and my time in Tanzania demonstrated the impact that finances can have on health. Low-income families and countries have fewer resources to address diseases. My time with IGOT, however, showed me that strong research partnerships and surgical education are a successful and sustainable method for addressing many of these problems. It has inspired me to continue working with under-resourced communities to find effective, yet cost-conscious, ways to prevent and treat orthopaedic diseases.” 

Devin Conway

IGOT Research Fellow
2016-2017

Undergraduate: Biological Sciences from Louisiana State University

Medical School: Tulane University

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at Yale University

Devin was born and raised in Louisiana but spent a few years living in Jamaica as a child. This early exposure to live in a less-developed country was very formative in his eventual career goals. He obtained his Masters in Public Health & Tropical Medicine concurrently at Tulane University. During medical school, Devin spent some time volunteering in Tanzania prior to beginning his fellowship with IGOT. “My experience with IGOT has helped grow my interest in research and fueled my passion for global health. I hope to further my interests during residency, and already have some international experiences currently being planned.”

Hao-Hua Wu

IGOT Research Fellow
2015-2016

Undergraduate: Biological Sciences and East Asian Area Studies from the University of Southern California

Medical School: University of Pennsylvania

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco

Hao-Hua is an orthopaedic surgery resident at the University of California, San Francisco with a strong interest in medical education and global health. “As an orthopaedic surgeon with a passion for global health, the McClellan Fellowship was my most meaningful year during medical school. The Fellowship not only equipped me with the skills required to successfully conduct a prospective cohort study in Malawi but also enabled me to stay actively involved in global research and education as a current UCSF resident.”

Max Liu

IGOT Research Fellow
2015-2016
Funded by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Undergraduate: Chemistry from Duke University

Medical School: Stanford University

Max received the Doris Duke international research fellowship for 2015-2016 year. During his research fellowship with IGOT, he led the largest randomized trial in orthopedics in East Africa at the time with 267 patients over 2 years. This project required an international team of 7 physicians, 3 research staff, and 50+ hospital personnel. Max was also involved in the design and implementation of 3 other novel clinical trials in Tanzania. After the research fellowship, Max obtained a Masters of Business Administration at Stanford University alongside with his medical degree.

Kushal Patel

IGOT Research Fellow
2013-2014

Undergraduate: Molecular Biology from Washington University of St. Louis

Medical School: University of Illinois

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Illinois

Fellowship: Hand & Upper Extremity at Harvard University

During medical school, Kushal took a year to pursue his interest in creating human equity globally through research and education as IGOT’s research fellow. During his time with IGOT, he worked with IGOT’s partners in Ghana working on various research projects and quality improvement projects. During his orthopedic surgery residency, Kushal was the Chief Resident and served as Chair of the AAOS Resident Assembly Education Committee. Kushal hopes to work with IGOT on furthering its mission of improving musculoskeletal care globally. “During my research fellowship year, I found mentors that not only inspired me, but also supported me in my interests in global health. I also learned how to build capacity for musculoskeletal care in a sustainable manner through partnerships. This, together, solidified my desire to continue pursuing global health work.”

Iain Elliot

IGOT Research Fellow
2012-2013

Undergraduate: Molecular Biology from Washington University of St. Louis

Medical School: University of Illinois

Residency: Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Utah

Fellowship: Orthopaedic Traumatology and Spine at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle Washington

Iain was an engineer prior to medical school and decided to pursue a year of research with the Morgan and Madison McClellan Fellowship with IGOT. I gained a tremendous amount from my time with IGOT, including how to approach research, how to fit global health into orthopaedics, and my time there ultimately opened doors into orthopaedics at a high level that would not have been opened otherwise. I met people who will be my mentors throughout my career, and continue to inspire me as I progress through training. I continue to have a love for global health, and look to incorporate it into my practice in the future.