Class of 2020

This year, of a total of 57 Mentees, we have 44 new Mentees, 5 “late joiners” and 8 Mentees from the Classes of 2018 and 2019 who asked to continue their mentorship for one more year.

Additionally, MultiPOD’s current cadre of 65 generous Mentors (37 Main Mentors and 28 Mentor Advisors) continue to provide their expertise and experience to our younger colleagues without financial compensation, and 85% of them have been with MultiPOD for two or more years.

Furthermore, when necessary, most mentors are willing to give their support to any Mentee who requests additional or more specific advice.
This is also a unique feature of our program, of which we are very grateful and proud.​

 
Class of 2020
 

Gender

This year, we continued to recruit more female mentors and we succeeded. Women now represent 48% and men 52% of all our Mentors. Among Mentees, the gender distribution is 82% and 18% respectively, of all Mentees. These gender disparities among older and younger generations reflect the opportunities and increasing success of young female students entering and working in the field of Global Health and Human Development.

Geographic distribution

In 2020, our 122 participants (Mentors and Mentees) were born or are currently residing in 78 different countries:​

  • Central and West Africa: Benin, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Rwanda, Togo​

  • East and South Africa:  Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia 

  • North Africa: Egypt, Tunisia​, Morocco

  • Middle East: Iran, Lebanon, Syria ​

  • North America: Canada, Mexico, United States​

  • Central America: Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama​

  • South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru​

  • English, French, and Dutch Caribbean: Haiti, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago​

  • Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland​

  • Northern Europe: Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom​

  • Southern Europe: Croatia, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain​, Turkey

  • Eastern Europe and Caucasus: Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Romania ​

  • Central Asia:  Afghanistan, Belarus

  • South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepa​l, Sri Lanka

  • South East Asia: Myanmar​

  • East Asia: China, Japan, Singapore

  • Oceania: Australia, New Zealand

 

Academic and Professional Background

As in previous years, more than 60% of our Mentors are physicians. Among the 57 Mentees tent are physicians and medical students and the remaining 47 young women and men have been trained in more than 49 disciplines.

Languages

40% of our Mentees are bilingual and 50% are fluent in three or more languages. Although English is our working language, MultiPOD Mentoring's Mentees and Mentors speak 50 languages. These include the six official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish), and other Asian, European, and African languages (Albanian, Amazigh, Aramaic, Bosnian, Burmese, Croatian, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Ewe, Farsi, Finnish, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Igbo, Igede, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Mina, Nepali, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Siswati, Slovenian, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Wolof, and Yoruba).

Values and Qualities

In 2020, we analyzed in detail the composition and characteristics of our accepted mentees and were pleasantly surprised by the results: There were no statistical differences by gender or geographic region regarding ethical values, logical thinking, gender issues, communication, and introspection.
Of the 58 (!) qualities that our mentees most admired, the five on top of the list were honesty, humility, passion, compassion and open-mindedness.

These qualities match MultiPOD’s values of integrity, solidarity, excellence and equity (acronym I SEE); strengthen our hope and confirm our faith in the success of our young people as Global Health and Human Development leaders and practitioners across the world. Most of all, we now know that we chose well and we are ready for the Class of 2021.

List of Mentors and Mentees

List of all the Mentees and all the Mentors that participated in the Class of 2020.

Peer Advisors (Former Mentees)

  • Alexandria San Jose, United States

  • Anna Frühauf, Germany/Sierra Leone

  • Charli S. Zhang, China

  • Jonathon Gruba, United States

  • Juan Carlos Rivillas, Colombia

  • Matthew Hughsam, Canada

  • Michele Matta, Lebanon/France

  • Niina Nissinen, Finland

  • Sabrina Ebert, Germany

Returning and Continuing Mentees

  • Diana Lupu, Romania/Spain

  • Elom Aglago, Togo

  • Jovana Ilkic, Serbia

  • Julia Selea, Germany

  • Katharina Wabnitz, Germany/United Kingdom

  • Miljana Jovanovic, Serbia

  • Rawan Taha, Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Zambia

  • Xyomara Chavez-Pacheco, Peru/France

New Mentees of 2020

  • Alexandra Kulinkina, Belarus

  • Ali Akbar Datoo, United Kingdom

  • Allison Wu, United States

  • Ana-Marija Meglic, Serbia

  • Angela Esade, Benin

  • Ankur Chhabra, India/Canada

  • Awa Njie, The Gambia

  • Basna Yahya Morsy, Egypt

  • Christos Tsagkaris, Greece

  • Claudia Batz, United Kingdom

  • Danielle Edge, New Zealand

  • Dareen De Silva, Sri Lanka

  • Desirée LaGrappe, United States

  • Emily Balcke, United States

  • Harpreet Kaur, India

  • Haruko Yokote, Japan

  • Ines Böhret, Germany

  • Israel Herrera, Mexico

  • Jessica Diez, Austria

  • Julie Roelandt, Belgium

  • Landy Ductan, United States

  • Laura Eggerichs, United States

  • Laura Jung, Germany

  • Layal Barjoud, Syria

  • Lena Feige, Germany

  • Lola Ahmed, Somalia/Germany

  • Mara Franke, Germany

  • Mariana Rodriguez de la Cerda, Spain

  • Marie Claire Nishimwe, Rwanda

  • Mariel Aybar, Peru

  • Maxime Mistretta, France

  • Meghan Melnick, United States

  • Natalina Sutton, United Kingdom

  • Nsisong Asanga, Nigeria

  • Phyllis Isaiah, Kenya

  • Priyanka Shrestha, Nepal

  • Razan Agha, Syria

  • Rebekah Erickson, United States

  • Regina Singer, Germany

  • Saad Uakkas, Morocco

  • Sabere Traore, Ivory Coast

  • Sadime Basak Kisi, Turkey

  • Sharifullah Wahdati, Afghanistan

  • Sheetal Kandola, United States

  • Sofía Cortes, Mexico

  • Uju Mabel Onyes, Nigeria

  • Valeria Cattaneo, Italy

  • Zera Ong, Singapore

  • Zoe Dlamini, Eswatini

Continuing Mentors

Principal Mentor

  • Fernando Zacarías, Mexico/ United States

Special MultiPOD Advisors

  • Greg Martin , South Africa/Ireland

  • Julian Kickbusch , Germany

Main Mentors

  • Alberto Concha-Eastman, Colombia

  • Antonio Gerbase, Brazil, Switzerland

  • Arletty Pinel, Panama

  • Barbara de Zalduondo, United States

  • Cesar Gattini, Chile

  • Christian Darras, Belgium

  • Claudia Dima, Romania

  • Diogo Martins, Portugal

  • Firdosi Mehta, India/Canada

  • Giorgi Pkhakadze, Georgia

  • Hernán Rosenberg, Chile

  • Jacobo Finkelman, Mexico

  • José Romero Keith, Mexico

  • Juan Manuel Sotelo, Peru, United States

  • Kofi Adasi, Ghana

  • Leena Indamar, India

  • Mariela Contreras, Honduras

  • Marilyn Rice, United States

  • Matilde Ner, Italy

  • Olaf Kelm, Germany

  • Pia Vracko, Slovenia

  • Rachel Jean Baptiste, Haiti/United States

  • Rafael Mazín, Mexico, United States

  • Stephen Corber, Canada

  • Sue Griffey, United States

  • Trupti Desai, India

  • Yorokee Kapimbua, Botswana

Mentor Advisors

  • Ann Marie Kimball, United States

  • Antonio Hernandez, Colombia

  • Arjeta Spahiu, Kosovo/Macedonia

  • Elizabeth Mason, United Kingdom

  • Farley Cleghorn, Trinidad and Tobago

  • Gerardo de Cosío, US-Mexico Border

  • Habib Latiri, Tunisia

  • Jai Prakash Narain, India

  • Katina García Appendini , Mexico

  • Maka Tsulukidze, Georgia

  • Marc Steben, Canada

  • Michelle Amri, Canada

  • Nazem Matta, Lebanon

  • Paul Nguewa, Cameroon, Spain

  • Ricardo Mexia, Portugal

  • Rodrigo Palacios, Switzerland

  • Ronald Mora Castillo, Costa Rica/France

  • Rubén del Prado, Suriname, Nepal, Bhutan

  • Stanley Blanco, Bolivia

  • Veronica Foubert, Switzerland

  • Marcelo D'Agostino , Argentina

New Mentors of 2020

Main Mentors

  • Ann Canavan, Ireland

  • Annette Ozaltin, United States/Mozambique

  • Bernadett Nádasy, Hungary

  • Daniel Lopez Acuña, Mexico/Spain

  • Elizabeth Anderson, UK-Scotland/Canada

  • Erma Manancourt, France

  • Gustavo Marin, Argentina

  • Julia Valderrama, Spain/Angola

  • Justyna Jarzabska, Poland

  • Ronald Anderson, Canada

Mentor Advisors

  • Agnete Nørrelund, Denmark

  • Alena Petrakova, Czech Republic

  • Claudia Castillo, Honduras

  • Colleen Burgess, United States

  • Jose Maria Paganini, Argentina

Principal Mentor is also the Program Coordinator and mentors from eight to twelve Mentees per nine-month cycle.
Special MultiPOD Advisors mentor returning and continuing Mentees and participate in technical and professional development webinars directed to Mentors and Mentees.
Main Mentor is assigned one or two Mentees for nine months.
Mentor Advisor is available for specific consultations in area of expertise, institutional affiliation, geographic location, etc. from one to four hours per mentoring year.

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Class of 2019
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Class of 2021