Child Family Health International Announces Exemplary Alumni Advisory Board of Diverse Global Health Professionals

Representing a wide range of fields and disciplines, the new members of the Alumni Advisory Board will advance CFHI's mission and serve as the voice of the global health alumni community

CFHI Alumni Advisory Board

​​​​​​​Child Family Health International (CFHI), the leading nonprofit organization providing community-based Global Health Education Programs for hundreds of students and universities, today announced new members of its Alumni Advisory Board (AAB).

Members of the Alumni Advisory Board come from diverse personal and professional backgrounds and represent the uniqueness of the CFHI community. Together, they make up an accomplished group of global health leaders committed to advancing CFHI’s mission and supporting underserved communities both at home and abroad.

The 2020 Alumni Advisory Board members are:  

  • Board Chair: Gary Kirkilas, DO, Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Kirkilas is a pediatrician based in Phoenix, Arizona, who participated in CFHI Programs in Mexico from 2005-2007.​
  • Vice Chair: Rebecca Greene, CPNP, Cornell University. Rebecca is currently a Nurse Practitioner in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Newark Beth Israel, but she has been involved in global and community health since she was in high school. She participated in a CFHI Program in South Africa in 2010.  ​
  • Board Secretary: Abiola Samuel, MPH - University of Delaware. Abiola is Founder and Chair of ACOM Addiction Information Coalition and uses her position to help bring awareness about opioid abuse, substance misuse and addiction in the community. She participated in CFHI Program in India 2005. ​
  • Alumni Engagement Chair: Zainab Alam, M.Sc - University of Texas at Dallas. Zainab has a master's degree in Clinical Research Management from the University of North Texas Health Science Center and graduated with distinction. She participated in CFHI Programs in South Africa in 2013 and Ecuador in 2016. ​
  • Alumni Engagement Chair: Sara Aranda, M.Sc -  University of San Diego. Sara is a data science professional who works on clinical trials that support the development of new therapeutics to prevent HIV/AIDS. She participated in CFHI Program in Uganda in 2017. ​
  • Outreach & Communication Chair: Destiny Garcia, B.A. – Destiny recently earned her bachelor's degree in Evolutionary Anthropology from the University of California-Davis. She participated in the CFHI Program in Bolivia in 2017. ​
  • Outreach & Communication Chair: Prabhdeep Uppal, M.Sc - Notre Dame de Namur University. Prabhdeep is currently a 4th-year medical student at Midwestern University. She participated in a CFHI Program in India in 2010. 

"I’ve had a long journey with CFHI. From a student-learner back in 2005 to an in-country liaison for the Oaxaca program to a CFHI grant recipient to a member of the first alumni board in 2015. CFHI has shaped me in several ways and for that, I’m very humbled and grateful," said Dr. Kirkilas, AAB board chair. 

"This newly convened Alumni Advisory Board represents an impressive and highly committed group of leaders from a wide variety of fields and disciplines, committed to local and global health in a multitude of ways. Through their leadership, we are confident that CFHI will engage more deeply with our network of over 12,000 alumni and help many more students ‘let the world change them’ in the years to come,” said Robin Young, MBA, Managing Director of CFHI. 

As the leadership arm for the alumni community, the AAB will organize alumni gatherings, keep alumni engaged in global health happenings, and provide the alumni voice to CFHI's organization. They will be integral to fundraising for scholarships for incoming CFHI students.

For more information or to contact the CFHI Alumni Advisory Board, visit https://www.cfhi.org/cfhi-alumni-advisory-board-aab

Source: Child Family Health International