Who We Are
MARK BISANZO, MD, DTM&H, FACEP – Mark is a board certified emergency medicine physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Division of Global Health at the University of Massachusetts. After graduating from Middlebury College in 1998 with a BA in Biochemistry, Mark attended Harvard Medical School and then completed residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program (HAEMR) based out of Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals in Boston, MA.
Mark first worked internationally during his fourth year of residency when he came to Nyakibale with Mission Doctors Association (MDA). After completing residency in 2006, Mark worked as an attending physician in Hartford, CT as an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut, and continued to volunteer at Nyakibale for three months each year, providing patient care, clinical instruction and assisting in the planning and opening of the Nyakibale Hospital Center for Emergency Care. In July 2009, Mark moved to Nyakibale to lead the intensive nine-month Emergency Care Curriculum, with the goal of training the staff nurses to independently assess and treat patients presenting with the entire spectrum of emergent conditions. In addition to international work, Mark’s other academic passion is evidence-based medical education. Mark is the President and co-founder of GECC. When not working, Mark and his wife, Sheila, spend as much time as possible outside running, backpacking, skiing, biking, and learning to surf.
HEATHER HAMMERSTEDT, MD, MPH, FACEP – Heather is a board certified emergency physician with Idaho Emergency Physicians in Boise, Idaho, where she practices clinically and participates in the training of family practice resident physicians and medical students. Initially trained in biochemistry at Bucknell University, she completed her medical studies at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia and did her postgraduate residency in Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess’ Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) program in Boston.
Her former attending physician position was as Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School in the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She has completed a Masters of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health within the Department of Population and International Health, with a concentration in international health sector reform, and a certificate in Humanitarian Studies from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. She is one of the founders of GECC, and currently has an ongoing clinical relationship with its Uganda project, Nyakibale hospital. She is a Vice President and the Secretary for GECC, and, while stateside, functions to coordinate volunteer providers and run daily nonprofit operations. She is married to Peter O’Connell, originally from Portland Oregon, whom she met when they were living, working, kayaking, skiing and smiling in Whitefish Montana, and they are both thrilled to be doing more of the same after their move back to the Northwest.
STACEY CHAMBERLAIN, MD, MPH – Stacey is a board certified emergency medicine physician who currently practices at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where she is the Assistant Director of the International Emergency Medicine and Health Fellowship Program. After graduating from Indiana University in 1995 with a degree in business management with an international studies concentration, Stacey joined the Peace Corps and volunteered in Senegal, West Africa and worked in Thailand before starting medical school at Northwestern University in Chicago, where she took an extra year of medical school to do overseas rotations. She graduated from medical school in 2003 and then completed the Emergency Medicine Residency Program in 2007, also at Northwestern.
After residency training, Stacey completed the International Emergency Medicine Fellowship at UIC and obtained her MPH. She has worked with several NGOs involved in global health work, spanning 4 continents, and is one of the founding members of GECC, currently serving as a Vice President and the Treasurer. Stacey and her husband, Michael Swaine, live in Chicago, and in her spare time, she enjoys traveling, long-distance bicycling and scuba diving.
SARA NELSON, MD – Sara is a board certified emergency physician and is on the academic faculty at Maine Medical Center in Portland Maine. Sara graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in biology modified with psychiatry and then attended Harvard Medical School. Sara completed her residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where she was a chief resident. Throughout her training she has been engaged in international medicine.
She has worked in Costa Rica, Honduras, Chile, Haiti, Zambia and Uganda, and she has a certificate in Humanitarian Studies from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. In residency Sara spent time at Nyakibale Hospital where she helped to open the Center for Emergency Care and attend to its first patients. Currently Sara serves as an advisor to GECC and is on the board of directors. Sara’s other academic interests are wilderness medicine and medical education, and she is on staff with the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS. In her free time, Sara enjoys running, cycling, hiking, cross-country skiing, and paddling her sea kayak in Casco Bay.
BRAD DREIFUSS MD- Brad is an attending Emergency Medicine physician and International Emergency Medicine (IEM) Fellow for the University of Utah’s Division of Emergency Medicine. As an undergraduate Neuroscience major at Kenyon College and EMT, Brad found a way to study abroad in Nepal during his junior year, focusing on health seeking behaviors and public health. His experience in Nepal solidified his passion for medicine and public health. He completed medical school and public health coursework at Oregon Health and Science University where he co-founded what is now the student body’s Global Health Alliance and was closely involved in OHSU’s development of a Center for Global Health. While at OHSU he spent a clinical/elective rotation in Sri Lanka at Colombo National Hospital and the Accident and Emergency Department. This is where Brad developed a keen interest in IEM Development, as he worked to help build a framework for Emergency Medicine as a formal medical specialty in Sri Lanka. After graduating medical school in 2007, Brad started Emergency Medicine residency training at University of Connecticut, where he became involved with GECC’s Nyakibale project in 2009. Brad is currently an advisor to the GECC Board of Directors and serves as the Co-Director of Research. As an International Emergency Medicine Fellow at University of Utah, Brad spends 2 months a year working with GECC in Uganda as well as the University of Utah and University of Michigan’s Ghana Emergency Medicine Collaborative. Brad is working to keep sustainable IEM development a lifelong career focus and his academic interests include Injury Surveillance/Prevention, sustainable IEM education, outcomes research, and program development/operations. When not traveling or working, Brad thoroughly enjoys playing in Utah’s great outdoors with his inspiring partner (Heather), precocious daughter (Kaya), and dog (Akina). Brad especially enjoys skiing, hiking, running and fly-fishing…and when he can fit it in, a surfing adventure.
SHEILA BISANZO, LICSW – SHEILA BISANZO, LICSW – Sheila is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with experience in human resources and social work. Sheila graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Psychology in 2001 and earned her Master of Social Work from Simmons College in 2006. Over the last 14 years, she has worked in a variety of settings, including special needs, higher education, foster care and adoption family services, the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital Boston, and with young girls at Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. In 2009, Sheila lived in at Nyakibale Hospital with her husband Mark, where she worked as a school counselor at Karoli Lwanga School of Nursing & Midwifery and Modern Primary School in Rukungiri, and assisted with visiting volunteer logistics.
In 2010-2011, Sheila served as GECC’s Volunteer Coordinator. Inspired by many female mentors and the women she has encountered around the world, Sheila is a passionate advocate for the health and human rights of girls and women. Sheila loves swimming, backpacking, biking, yoga, and winter sports, all of which are more fun alongside her husband, Mark..
GIAN (“JOHN”) BROWN – Gian currently serves as President & General Counsel of SAIC Venture Capital Corporation (SAIC-VCC), the corporate venture capital arm of Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI). After graduating from New York University and Fordham University School of Law, Gian practiced corporate law with two national law firms before joining SAIC-VCC. Gian and his wife live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and his outside interests include running, cycling and volunteering.
KELLY NICHOLS, BA – Kelly is a Wisconsin native who graduated from Middlebury College with a BA in Neuroscience in 2009 and plans to attend medical school and receive both an MD and an MPH. She has contributed to public health projects in Vermont, Chile and Madagascar.
Kelly is worked full time at Nyakibale Hospital in 2009-2010, and again as interim Program Director in the spring of 2011. In her role as Research Coordinator for GECC, she is collecting data to help Nyakibale Hospital evaluate the quality of care in the Center for Emergency Care. In her free time, Kelly runs, hikes, travels, and flails down snow-covered mountains.
