Pierre M. Barker, MD
Director, IHI South Africa
Dr. Pierre M. Barker is Medical Director of clinics at the Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Pulmonologist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He is the Director of IHI's HIV/AIDS improvement projects in South Africa, and works at a variety of health care facilities, ranging from urban tertiary care to deep rural primary care. Pierre grew up in Durban, South Africa, and returned to South Africa on sabbatical leave in 2004-2005 to establish IHI's projects in his native country. Outside of his IHI work, Pierre is interested in pediatric lung diseases, is an attending physician for pediatric pulmonology, and leads health care system transformation projects for UNC at Chapel Hill.
Brandon Bennett, MPH
Project Manager, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Brandon Bennett works with two rural health districts in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to improve HIV services in 15 hospitals and the primary health care clinics they support. In addition to health care improvement in South Africa, Brandon is interested in the link between poverty and disease, and the associated impacts of treating one, the other, or both. He is also interested in how models of care can be made sustainable and how they can allow for responsible leadership to grow within a community. Prior to working with IHI, Brandon was a program manager for a small NGO (Reach Out Mbuya) targeting people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
Cathy Green, BSc, MBA
Project Manager, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Cathy Green, originally from England, moved to Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005 to join the IHI global team. In addition to her improvement work, Cathy is interested in culture, the psychology of change, and leadership. She works across tertiary, secondary and primary health care facilities, and in both urban (Johannesburg and Cape Town) and rural (Eastern Cape and North West Province) settings. Before working with IHI, Cathy was a senior civil servant in the UK Department of Health, working in health care improvement at a regional and then national level. Her last substantive post was Acting Director of Partnership Development for the Modernisation Agency, an organization similar to the IHI.
Charles Makwenda, Dip. Lab Tech and BSc Enviro/Process Engineer
Program Manager, Lilongwe, Malawi
Charles Makwenda grew up in the southern and central region of Malawi but has lived mostly in the southern region, along the lake town of Malawi. He currently works under The Health Foundation Consortium (see Malawi Homepage), an organization working to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates in the three districts of the central region in Malawi. Charles works with quality improvement teams in the nine collaborative facilities plus the 32 health centers, teaching improvement methodologies, and mentoring and coaching the staff. Before joining the Collaborative’s work in Malawi he worked as a Medical and Industrial Laboratories Technologist focusing on quality management aspects. He also worked as Quality Manager and Process Engineer for Lafarge Cement South East Africa and as Quality Manager for Malawi Blood Transfusion Service.
Patty Devine Webster, MPH
Project Manager, Gauteng, South Africa
Patty Webster is originally from the US and has lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, since July 2006. She currently works in urban Johannesburg with local clinics and NGOs to help improve HIV care in tertiary, secondary, and primary health care settings. Before joining IHI, Patty conducted research for health education campaigns (HIV and child obesity) for a health communications firm, provided program management for a health care research/consulting firm, and provided technical assistance and training on patient- and family-centered care to hospitals. She is especially interested in ensuring patients and families are active participants in systems improvement efforts and promoting family-centered care practices.
Michéle Youngleson, MBChB BSc (Hon)
Project Manager, Western Cape, South Africa
Dr. Michele Youngleson is a South African medical practitioner who completed her medical training in Cape Town. She works in Cape Town in a variety of settings, including: urban/peri-urban antiretroviral (ARV) clinics at public tertiary and secondary hospitals, as well as primary health care clinics. Michele has an interest in the psychosocial aspects of chronic illness and the opportunity illness presents for personal growth. In addition to her improvement work with IHI, she has a private medical practice with a special interest in psychotherapy.
Karen Askov Zeribi, MHS
Program Manager, Lilongwe, Malawi
Karen Zeribi works and lives in Lilongwe, Malawi. Currently, she works in the nine referral hospitals in three districts that have quality improvement teams working to improve maternal and neonatal care; half of these hospitals are rural or semi-rural and the other half are in urban areas. In addition to the clinical facet of the improvement work, Karen is also interested in improving the cultural appropriateness of care and incorporating local beliefs into the health care delivery system. She believes this to be especially important in Malawi, where traditional beliefs are very strong and a primary reason why women do not go to health facilities for childbirth. Prior to working for IHI, Karen worked in quality improvement for a variety of programs with roles as the Project Director for a pediatric specialty care project on Epilepsy with NICHQ, Project Evaluator for the use of Bright Futures in Head Start and Early Head Start with the University of Washington, and Quality Improvement Specialist with the Latin America Maternal Mortality Initiative, Quality Assurance Project.
