The coronavirus pandemic currently prevents AMPATH’s North American faculty from travelling to Kenya, but new pediatric team leader Dan Guiles, MD, MPHTM, serves the IU community while eagerly anticipating the day he can commence in person collaboration with colleagues at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) and Moi University School of Medicine.
Guiles, an Indiana University-trained physician specializing in medicine-pediatrics, was drawn to his new role by AMPATH’s unique partnership model. ”AMPATH’s collaborative approach that seeks to build and continually refine truly bidirectional global health partnerships with patient care at the center of all its activities made a huge impression on me and shaped my worldview of appropriate and effective global health practice,” said Guiles who completed the global health residency track and a two-month rotation in Eldoret during his med-peds residency at IU School of Medicine. “It has been a dream of mine to work for AMPATH, and I am excited about the team leader role as it combines all three aspects of the tripartite academic mission: patient care, training, and research,” he continued.
In addition to developing a passion for global health partnerships during his residency rotation, Guiles also met his wife, Stephany. She was an IU neonatology fellow at the time and was piloting a neonatal nurse training program at the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital in Eldoret.
Guiles currently works with IU’s COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, develops global health educational curricula for medical students and residents, and will practice primary care internal medicine and pediatrics at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis. He also looks forward to educational activities in Eldoret with both U.S. and Kenyan medical trainees as well as working with the population health programs to continue to develop his public health knowledge and skills. Guiles earned his masters’ in public health and tropical medicine degree at Tulane University and spent two years working in Mbarara, Uganda with Massachusetts General Hospital’s global medicine program. He most recently served as the co-director for both Vanderbilt University’s Integrated Science Course in global health and the internal medicine residency’s global health pathway.
Guiles added, “I love the collaborative aspect of global health. It allows for unparalleled opportunities to work with talented individuals from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences. Using our combined knowledge and experience to assess needs, develop interventions and evaluate their effectiveness is both challenging and incredibly rewarding. I also really enjoy working with students and medical residents who are interested in engaging with global health to some capacity in their future careers. Whether it’s through one-on-one mentorship, classroom discussion, or through clinical/research related work, it’s great to help medical trainees wrestle through what it means to engage appropriately with global partners.”
Kelly and Hunter-Squires Continue as Team Leaders
Surgery team leader JoAnna Hunter-Squires, MD, and medicine team leader Caitrin Kelly, MD, continue in their roles for a second year. Faculty members from IU School of Medicine and other AMPATH consortium members have served as full-time team leaders in Kenya since the advent of the Kenyan partnership in 1990. When in Kenya, team leaders serve as faculty for their respective departments at Moi University. They live at IU House and provide orientation, information and serve as a resource for visiting learners, fellow faculty members and AMPATH guests.
