Faculty & Speakers

Amanda Barnard

Professor Amanda Barnard is Associate Dean of the School of General Practice, Rural and Indigenous Health at the Australian National University Medical School, and Foundation Head of the Rural Clinical School. Prof. Amanda has practiced as a General Practitioner in both rural and urban areas, and commenced her academic career with the University of Western Australia in 1996. She established the Medical Women in Western Australia group that year, and has been involved with the Wonca Working Party on Women and Family Medicine since the initial meetings in Dublin in 1998, and became chair of the Working Party in July 2009. An awarded teacher and educator, Prof. Amanda currently serves on a number of state and national bodies with education, training, rural workforce and health system briefs, and tries to bring a gender perspective to her work on them.

Amanda Barnard
Associate Dean, Rural Clinical School
Australian National University
Australia

Ana Nunes Barata

Dr. Ana is a practicing Family Doctor from Portugal, a member of the executive board of the Portuguese Association of Family Medicine and also coordinates WONCA’s department of residents and young family doctors.

She has special interests in global health, health management, technology and health, palliative care and gerontology. Having acquired Master’s degree in Hospice and Palliative Care and am pursuing postgraduate specialization in Gerontology.

She has been working with WONCA and the 7 YDM in this project and experiencing first-hand how an ideal became true. A total of 325 inquiries were answered and, until now, 50 exchanges were certified. Seeing the number of young GPs that are benefiting from this program and reading through their experiences is truly motivating and rewarding.

Dr. Ana has also been collaborating with VdGM’s Equally Different group, advocating for gender equity in society.

Ana Nunes Barata
Young Doctor Representative
WONCA
Portugal

Anna Stavdal

Dr Anna Stavdal is a family medicine specialist, working for the past 30 years in Oslo’s inner city. Since 1996, she has been an Associate Professor at Oslo University, teaching undergraduate students and training family medicine residents.

Anna has, for many years, been active in public debate: a columnist, a speaker and a passionate advocate for family medicine. She has held leading positions in family medicine organisations for 25 years – at the national Norwegian level, the Nordic and European levels and now at the global level, as WONCA President elect.

In WONCA Europe, Anna served as vice president 2010 -2016, and then president 2016-2018. During the last decade, she built a strong relationship between WONCA Europe and WHO Europe, and is still tasked with consultative work with WHO Europe.

She was elected WONCA president elect in 2018, – and will take office as WONCA President, in Abu Dhabi, in November 2020.

A main area of interest for her is how, as family doctors, we can adapt to current societal trends, such as digital health, without losing sight of the core values of our field.

Anna Stavdal
Lecturer and Associate Professor, University of Oslo
President Elect, WONCA
Norway

Chris Van Weel

Chris van Weel (The Hague, 18 November 1947) has been professor of general practice from 1985 2012, and chair of Department of Primary and Community Care, at the Radboud University Nijmegen the Netherlands. Since April 2013 he is professor of primary health care research, Australian primary health care research institute, Australian National University, Canberra 2013 – 2014.

He was president of the World Organization of Family Doctors, Wonca, 2007 – 2010.

From 1973 – 1985 he was a full time general practitioner in Rotterdam, in the Community Health Centre Ommoord and did while in practice a PhD at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1981.

He brought the Department of Primary and Community Care to bridge the domains of public health and individual primary health care and engage in innovative regional health care reform in the ‘Leader Practices Programme”.

He built a research programme of longitudinal studies of chronic diseases in general practice Effective Primary Care as part of the Nijmegen Centre ‘Evidence Based medical Practice’. An academic practice based research network provides the essential data for this programme. This has resulted in more than 700 scientific papers published in international journals, and more than 65PhD theses.

He was a co-founder of the Netherlands School of Primary Care Research (CaRe).

He has contributed to the international development of primary care and research capacity building through Wonca, the Brisbane International Initiative and in collaborations in respiratory health (GOLD, GARD, ARIA).

Chris Van Weel
Emeritus Professor
Department Of Primary And Community Care, Radboud University Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Donald Li

Dr Donald Li is a specialist in Family Medicine, in private practice, and proprietor of a Family Medical Practice, in Hong Kong. He was elected as President Elect of WONCA in November 2016 and took office as President in November 2018. He was President of the WONCA Asia Pacific Region from 2007 to 2013 and a member at large of the WONCA World Executive from 2013 to 2016.

Dr Li graduated with his first degree (BA) from Cornell University, USA, followed by his second degree (MBBS) from the University of Hong Kong, in 1975 and 1980, respectively. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians (HKCFP), Honorary Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Dental Surgeons, Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and Honorary Fellow of the American College of Physicians and Royal Thai College of Physicians.

Dr Li is actively involved in medical organizations and councils in Hong Kong. He is the Immediate Past President of the Academy of Medicine of Hong Kong and Censor of the HKCFP. He is an active member and advisor of many Hong Kong governmental and public health bodies. Throughout his career, he has been a leading expert and ardent advocate in promoting better primary care and family health, in Hong Kong in China and internationally. He is actively involved in the healthcare reform in Hong Kong and is a member of the Working Party on Primary Care, of the Food and Health Bureau as well as the Manpower planning committee. He is advisor to the Society of General Practice of the Chinese Medical Association and has done a lot of work in promoting quality primary care in China through the training of Family Doctors.

He also dedicates much of his professional time to academia and teaching. Dr Li is an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong; and Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor in Family Medicine, as well as Public Health, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is Honorary visiting Professor at the Fudan University in Shanghai. Dr Li was a member of the Board of Directors of the Hospital Authority, is a member of the St John’s Ambulance council, and a member of the Council on Smoking and Health (COSH). Dr Li has been an invited speaker at numerous local, and international scientific meetings and has been visiting lecturer to many different areas in mainland China.

Dr Li is active in community work and is an Honorary member of the Board of Stewards of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, a philanthropic organization, with significant donations to support community projects in Hong Kong. Dr Li serves as Chairman of the Bauhinia Foundation Research Center, a leading independent think tank of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Dr Li is Chairman of the Sheng Kung Hui Welfare council, one of the biggest church lead social service organizations in Hong Kong and China. He is also a member of the Community Care Fund of the Hong Kong Government to alleviate poverty in Hong Kong.

Donald Li
President
WONCA World
China

Hassan Salah

Dr. Salah is a veteran of health system development; with over 20 years of senior government experience in managing medium to large-scale projects focused on family practice, public private partnership, cost effectiveness and resource allocation. He worked on designing global strategy plans for many regions and countries, in addition to implementing fundamental components of health sector reform programs with departments & ministries of health. His work included governance in health systems, hospital autonomy, cost effectiveness solutions, integrated district health system, optimal resource allocation and improvement of healthcare delivery.

Dr. Salah has several publications on lessons learned from implementing health reform programs, public/private partnerships, role of contractual arrangements in improving performance, mapping of healthcare finance, national guidelines for developing norms of essential services, and cost-effectiveness studies. Dr Salah is a Medical Doctor, with a Master’s Degree from Harvard School of Public Health.

Hassan Salah
Regional Advisor, Primary and Community Health Care
World Health Organization – EMRO
Egypt

Jacqueline Ponzo

I am Adjunct Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Republic (UDELAR), in Uruguay. In this role, I have coordinated the East Canelones Teaching Assistance Unit since its foundation (the university decentralization project and the interaction of the health system in local development processes).

I am also in charge of the residency program in Family and Community Medicine (FMC) in Uruguay, responsible for the courses of Methodology of Research and Epidemiology, for postgraduate FCM. I integrate the Health and Environment Group into the practice of Family and Community Medicine.

I am a researcher and have promoted both the development of research in the community space, and the training of young researchers. This has allowed the emergence of a Research Area in the Department of Family and Community Medicine of UDELAR.

I have been in regular clinical practice in the rural locality of Migues for 20 years, since being in residency there.

Interestingly, I am one of four members of the first group of residents of FMC in Uruguay (1997-2000), and as such was founder and first president of the Association of Residents and Postgraduates (ARPMEFYCU). I participated actively in the process that gave rise to the current Uruguayan Society of Family and Community Medicine (SUMEFAC).

Recently, I was elected to be president of WONCA Iberoamericana-CIMF region for the period 2018-2020. I was a member of the Board of Directors of CIMF (2012-2016) and president of the 4th Ibero-American Congress of Family and Community Medicine that took place in Montevideo in March 2015, with 1,600 participants from 26 countries. We held this conference without support from the pharmaceutical industry. Since 2014, I have been coordinator of the Ibero-American Research Network in Family Medicine (IBIMEFA).

I hold a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology from the Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and am currently completing a doctorate in Collective Health, Environment and Society at Universidad Andina Simón Bolivar (Ecuador).

I have also held management positions since 2001, at governmental and university levels, in the departmental, national and international space: positions such as Director of Residents of FCM (2001-2003), Director of Environmental and Occupational Health of the Ministry of Public Health (2003- 2005), Director of Health Promotion in the Departmental Government of Canelones (2005-2010), Counselor of Faculty elected by the Order Graduates (2010-2011), Coordinator of the Academic Committee of Primary Health Care of the Association of Public Universities of Southern Cone (AUGM) (2010 to 2016).

Jacqueline Ponzo
Adjunct Professor, Family and Community Medicine
Faculty of Medicine of University of the Republic (UDELAR)
Uruguay

Laurence Dorman

Dr Dorman is a GP partner in Mourne Family Surgery, Kilkeel and has been appointed Chair of RCGPNI in November 2019 prior to which he had served as Deputy Chair. He has a particular interest in palliative care and communication between doctors.

Throughout Dr Dorman’s tenure he is keen to focus on interface working, an area that focuses on building stronger relationships between hospital-based staff, GPs and allied health professionals. Over the past year Dr Dorman has led on the development and publication of ‘Professional Behaviours & Communication Principles for Working across Primary and Secondary Care Interfaces in NI’. This document is endorsed and supported by all the Royal Colleges in Northern Ireland.

As a GP with former roles in GP appraisal and Newry Hospice, Dr Dorman is also keen to focus on palliative care, cancer care and the early diagnosis of significant disease. Dr Dorman is also a strong supporter of the GP Federations and the plans to implement Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDT) in practices. In 2017 he became Chair of Newry and District Federation of Family Practices and was heavily involved in the establishment of this Federation.

Laurence Dorman
Chair
Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)
Northern Ireland

Mohammed Rasoul Tarawneh

Dr. Tarawneh is currently the Secretary General of High Health Council. He was Ex-director of Primary Health Care administration, Planning Administration, NCD Directorate, Cancer Prevention Directorate, Medical Training and Education, Chief of Family Physicians and FPTP.

Dr. Tarawneh earned his MD from Leningrad Medical Institute in 1985. He was certified by the Jordan Medical Board in Family Medicine in 1994, and received a high Diploma in Community Medicine – Epidemiology from Jordan University in 1997. In 2001 received his post graduate Diploma in Diabetes from Cardiff University –Wales / UK.

He has led a number of major projects within the Ministry of Health, including: National Nutritional Survey, National Newborn Screening Program, Community-Based Diabetic Clinics. Dr. Tarawneh also established and worked for National Breast Cancer Screening Programme and National NCD strategic plan.

Dr. Tarawneh is the author of over 35 peer-reviewed publications and has delivered numerous scientific presentations at notable national and international conferences. Currently he is the president of Jordan Society of Family Medicine, President of Jordan Society of Health Care Staff Protection, member of the Jordanian Society for the Care of Diabetes, member of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), member in the International Advisory Board of the Research for Health in Conflict in the MENA region, member of Editorial Board MEJ Medical Journal. He has been awarded several awards of recognition throughout his career.

Mohammed Rasoul Tarawneh
Secretary General, High Health Council
President, Jordan Society of Family Medicine
Jordan

Nagwa Nashat

Nagwa Nashat Hegazy is an assistant professor in Family Medicine, Family medicine department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Egypt since February 2018. She is the chair of the medical education and human resources center in the faculty of medicine, Menoufia University. She holds a Professional diploma degree in research methodology and program evaluation from the AUC. She is an AKT and Scientific Board member of the Egyptian Family Medicine team of the MRCGP (INT). She is an executive editor of MMJ and associate editor in EFMJ. She is the treasure and an Executive Board Member of Egyptian Family Medicine Association (EFMA) and is Immediate past chair of Al Razi Movement.

Nagwa Nashat
Assistant Professor, Family Medicine
Menoufia University
Egypt

Nick Guldemond

Dr. Guldemond is currently Professor Integrated Care and Technology at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. He is advisor for the Dutch House of Representatives and board member of the Innovative Medical Device Initiative IMDI.nl and member of the commission on the national eHealth implementation agenda.

He is coordinator of EIP-AHA A2 Action Group Falls Prevention and associated with thematic networks ProFouND, E-NO-FALLS. Nick was trained in Engineering (electric engineering) and medicine (clinical physiology). He worked at various universities and hospitals as researcher, coordinator and principal investigator in projects regarding healthcare innovation, medical technology and eHealth. As founder and CEO of the ‘Medical Field Lab’ he received great acknowledgement for creating business through public private partnerships by the Ministry of Economical Affairs. He obtained his PhD with a focus on orthopaedic complications due to diabetes in 2008.

Nick Guldemond
Professor Integrated Care and Technology
I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University
Russian Federation

Pramendra Prasad Gupta

Dr. Gupta is Associate Professor in Department of General Practice and Emergency Medicine, B.P.Koirala Institute of Health Sciences and also working as Medical coordinator, BPKIHS eHealth and Telemedicine Unit and Chair of Wonca Working party on Digital Health.

Pramendra Prasad Gupta
Associate Professor
B.p.koirala Institute Of Health Sciences
Nepal

Raman Kumar

Dr. Raman Kumar holds a longstanding interest in making a contribution to primary care. A graduate of Patliputra Medical College Dhanbad Jharkhand India, he is one of the first generation residency trained board qualified (Diplomate of National Board) family physicians in India. Dr Kumar is the founding president of the Academy of Family Physicians of India (AFPI), which is spearheading the movement for return of trusted family doctor tradition in India. AFPI is an academic association of family physicians with a membership base across India and function through several state chapters. Dr Kumar is credited with creating a large pool of young doctors eager to purse vocation in family medicine (Primary care practice).

Dr Raman Kumar is also the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (JFMPC), peer reviewed PUBMED indexed journal. He also has been conferred with several awards and recognitions which include Healthcare Leadership Award 2012 India and Montegut Global Scholar Award 2013 by American Board of Family Medicine. He represented all young family physicians on the executive board of the WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) from 2013-2016. Earlier he was chair of the Spice Route Movement, the South Asian movement of young doctor. He has worked at several public and private health institutions throughout his career.

A native of Bihar one of the most under developed states in India Dr Kumar has championed the cause of rural population and under privileged section of the society.

Raman Kumar
President
Academy of Family Physicians of India
India

Ryuki Kassai

Prof Kassai is a founding Professor and Chair of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Japan Primary Care Association and acts as Senior Advisor of its International Committee. He graduated from Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, and completed a residency training in family medicine at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1996 he founded the Hokkaido Centre for Family Medicine (HCFM) and started the first formal family medicine training program in Japan. After having made the HCFM a successful model of Japanese residency program, Dr Kassai moved to Fukushima to found the first medical school department of community-based family medicine in Japan at Fukushima Medical University in 2006.

Ryuki Kassai
Professor and Chair, Department of Community and Family Medicine
Fukushima Medical University
Japan

Shabir Moosa

Prof. Shabir was born in Durban and studied at the University of Natal Medical School, a hotbed of anti-apartheid activism. After graduation, Prof. Shabir started private general practice from 1990 in Kokstad, a small rural town near Transkei. He quickly became involved in ANC political activism at a senior level but turned down a seat in the first parliament of 1994, opting to remain a rural general practitioner.

Prof. Shabir was involved in the development of district health services in East Griqualand and served as town councillor in Kokstad and chair of a regional independent practitioners association (IPA), affiliated to KZNMCC. He completed his postgraduate training in family medicine whilst in Kokstad, based on the distance-teaching module operative at the time in South Africa. Prof. Shabir moved to Johannesburg in 2004 to take up a post at the Department of Family Medicine, University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to develop full-time postgraduate training in Wits.

Prof. Shabir project-managed the development of District Departments of Family Medicine across Gauteng and led the Department of Family Medicine in Johannesburg Health District from 2006 to 2011, completing an MBA in that time with research on GP contracting for National Health Insurance (NHI) in South Africa. He has been deeply involved in development and research around family medicine and community-oriented primary health care (COPC) in Africa. His publications are online. Prof. Shabir completed his PhD in 2015 on the emergence of family medicine in Africa. He continues to practice as a family physician in Soweto, building Chiawelo Community Practice, as a COPC model for primary health care within NHI. In 2018 he was tasked by National Treasury to design NHI contracting for GPs to test for feasibilty.

Shabir is currently President of Wonca Africa (2018-2020). He is very active online with his own blog www.ProfMoosa.com and social media posts.

Shabir Moosa
Family Physician and Associate Professor
Johannesburg Health District and University of Witwatersrand (Wits)
Regional President, WONCA Africa
South Africa

Sir Andy Haines

I am Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health with a joint appointment in the Dept of Public Health, Environments and Society and in the Dept of Population Health. I was previously Director (originally Dean) of LSHTM for nearly 10 years up to October 2010, having previously been Professor of Primary Health Care at UCL between 1987-2000. I worked part-time as a general practitioner in North London for many years.

Between 1993-6 I was on secondment as Director of Research & Development at the NHS Executive, North Thames and I was consultant epidemiologist at the MRC Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit between 1980-7. I have also worked internationally in Nepal, Jamaica, Canada and the USA.

I have been a member of a number of major international and national committees including the MRC Global Health Group ( chair) and the MRC Strategy Group. I was formerly chair of the Universities UK Health and Social Care Policy Committee and a member of the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research. In recent years my research focus has been on the effects of environmental change on health and the impact of policies to adapt to or mitigate these changes. I was a member of Working Group 2 of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the second and third assessment reports and review editor of the health chapter in the fifth assessment report. I chaired the Scientific Advisory Panel for the 2013 WHO World Health Report on Research for Universal Health Coverage. In 2014/2015 I chaired the Rockefeller Foundation/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health and I co-chaired the development group for the Health Knowledge Action Network of Future Earth.

Sir Andy Haines
Professor, Environmental Change and Public Health
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
United Kingdom

Val Wass

Dr. Val Wass is currently Head of Keele University School of Medicine in the West Midlands, UK; a new medical school placed in a region where there are high levels of health deprivation. They have a new curriculum designed to train excellent clinicians who we hope will stay to work in the region.

Previously, Dr. Val worked at Manchester Medical School as Professor of Community Based Medical education (2003-2009) and Guy’s, Kings and St Thomas’ Medical School (1995-2003) in the Academic department of Primary Care) alongside my clinical work in General Practice.

Dr. Val finds herself as a relative rarity within the UK Medical School Council (MSC) of 34 deans where there are only two women and only two are GPs! She is therefore delighted to be active member of the MSC as an elected member of the Executive and I chair the MSC education committee. She is also the nationally elected chair of the UK MSC Assessment Alliance of all 34 medical schools who now work to develop shared assessment questions and methodologies.

Assessment is her area of academic expertise. Her PhD in Maastricht Netherlands centered on assessment methodology. Her research, which also encompasses cultural diversity within medical training, professionalism and the development of health care education to meet the needs of globalisation, has been widely cited.

Val Wass
Head, Keele University School of Medicine in the West Midlands
Executive Member-at-Large 2018-20 & Honorary Treasurer, WONCA
Chair, WONCA WP on Education
United Kingdom