Current and Past Pediatric Global Health Fellows
Sara Beste, MD, MPH
Sara Beste received her undergraduate education at Boston College, her MD from Creighton University, and completed her Pediatrics residency in NYC at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. During medical school, she had spent a summer working in a rural village in the Dominican Republic. After graduating residency, she moved to Malawi with her husband, where they both worked for Partners in Health in a rural mountain village for one year. In Malawi, Sara was the only pediatrician in their district, which included 2 hospitals and 12 health centers. She treated severe malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and other common childhood diseases.
During her Pediatric Global Health training, Sara spent 3 months interning at the World Health Organization in Geneva, working with Pediatric HIV experts to develop new practice guidelines for PMTCT She spent her abroad experience working in Mozambique, where she will worked in Beira with Health Alliance International on Pediatric HIV implementation. She was also able to lead a trip with 3 residents to Haiti for a month where they participated in mobile clinics and supported health care at an orphanage. Sara earned an MPH from UMass/Amherst during her fellowship.
Sara and her husband both were recruited to work with Partners in Health in Liberia for 3 years upon completion of their fellowships They are now faculty members at the University of Washington.
Rebecca Cook, MD, MSc
Rebecca grew up in Kenya and received her medical training at Vanderbilt University for Medical school, and completed a med-peds residency and chief residency at Mass General Hospital. Rebecca also had earned a MSCI degree from Oxford University, where she performed
Rebecca spent her abroad training in Liberia working with Partners in Health in rural Maryland County. Her research project involved looking at the diagnosis and treatment of Burkitt Lymphoma, which is prevalent Liberian children. Rebecca received a Thrasher Foundation young investigator award to pursue this research. Since she had already earned an MSCI prior to entering fellowship, she chose to pursue a DTMH at the Gorgas Institute in Peru during her time in fellowship training.
Upon completion of her fellowship, Rebecca was hired to work with Partners in Health in Liberia. She has also rejoined the clinical faculty at Mass General Hospital.
Nisha Fahey, DO
Nisha completed her undergraduate training at Boston University, where her passion for international health was cultivated. As an undergraduate, she co-founded a collaboration with Bhaikaka University (BKU), a tertiary care hospital and academic medical center in rural Gujarat, India in 2010. Nisha continued supporting this collaboration while finishing medical school at Des Moines University prior to joining UMass Chan Medical School for pediatric residency. Under Nisha’s leadership over the past decade, this research collaboration (RAHI) and bilateral exchange (SATHI) has thrived and supported more than ten research projects across various clinical specialties and involved numerous trainees and faculty from UMass Chan and BKU.
Nisha is currently pursuing an MSCI degree as part of her fellowship training. Her research interests include the use of novel approaches in epidemiology and mobile technology to understand and address disparities in health outcomes. She received a Thrasher Foundation Early Career Award to investigate the impact of Kangaroo Mother Care on growth and developmental outcomes among preterm neonates in rural Gujarat, India.
Undeterred by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on her global health training, Nisha used her additional time in the US to create a UMass pediatric COVID-19 registry that contributes data to an international pediatric COVID-19 repository in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital. Additionally, she joined the NIH-funded Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech Clinical Studies Core to support studies of novel SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests in various populations across the country. Upon completion of her fellowship in June 2021, Nisha will join the pediatric faculty here at UMass Chan Medical School where she plans to continue her work as a physician-scientist with a focus on health equity both nationally and internationally.
Emily Flynn, MD, MPH
Emily joined the global health fellowship after completing medical school and pediatric residency training at Drexel University. Emily had previous experience working on a neonatal resuscitation project in Guyana as a resident, which sparked an interest in global health
Emily pursued an MPH from UMass/Amherst during her global health fellowship training. Emily’s research interest was to study perceptions around pediatric palliative care in developing settings. With a travel grant from the AAP, she travelled to Queen’s Hospital in Malawi to study the palliative care program at this hospital. She then spent her fellowship abroad time in Liberia with Partners in Health, in rural Maryland county. Here she implemented a project which involved setting up focus groups to explore attitudes around palliative care. Emily received funding from the Healy fund at UMass to support her fellowship research and activities. Emily also helped to develop a rural home visiting program for premature infants post hospital discharge, which involved supporting breastfeeding and encouraging kangaroo mother care.
After completing the global health fellowship, Emily continued her training through pursuing a second fellowship in pediatric palliative care at Emory University. She remains on the faculty at Emory.
Michael Taylor, MD, MPH
Dr. Michael Taylor is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School and Pediatric Residency where he participated in the Global Health Track. He is a recipient of the Certificate in Tropical Medicine from the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Mike is also fluent in Spanish, and was very interested in pursuing abroad experience in Latin America.
During fellowship, Mike spent his abroad time in Zumbahua, Ecuador working as a pediatrician at the Hospital Claudio Bernard. His research work as a fellow in the Pediatric Global Health Fellowship involved working to address pediatric malnutrition, in the remote, mountainous communities of Zumbahua. Mike earned an MPH from UMass/Amherst while pursuing his global health training. Upon completion of his fellowship, Mike was recruited by the US Public Health Service to work in the Mariana Islands.