Project Directors
Heather Aldersey
Associate Professor and Queen’s National Scholar – School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University, Canada Scientific Director – International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR), Queen’s University, Canada
Team Role:
Project Co-Director for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Queen’s University, Canada
Education:
- BA (International Studies/French); MS (Special Education);
- PhD (Interdisciplinary Studies)
Experience:
Dr. Aldersey’s research program focuses on the social construction of disability across cultures, support for people with disabilities and their families, public policy, family innovation, and family quality of life. Within this program, she has particularly focused on experiences of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families in African contexts.
The ultimate goal of Dr. Aldersey’s scholarship is to draw upon local strengths and capabilities to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and their families globally.
Dr. Aldersey is the Interim Director of the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR) at Queen’s University and, prior to the Ethiopia project, has worked with families and people with disabilities in Bangladesh, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania.
Contact information:
Email: hma@queensu.ca
Telephone: 1-613-533-6088
Molalign Belay Adugna (PhD)
Team Role:
Project Co-Director for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, University of Gondar, Ethiopia
Education:
- BA- Sociology and Social Anthropology with distinction, Addis Ababa University
- MA-Sociology of Health and Well-being, Addis Ababa University
- PhD-Rehabilitation Science, Queen’s University, Canada
Experience:
Dr. Molalign has 10+ years of teaching and administrative experience working for the University of Gondar in Ethiopia. Being born, raised, and educated in rural village of Ethiopia, he was engaged in farming activities and later local tour guiding until the completion of his university study. Dr. Molalign’s dissertation project is entitled ‘the Quest for Inclusion and Overcoming Stigma’ where he works with children with disabilities and their caregivers as well as policymakers and practitioners to inform disability awareness and inclusive education in Ethiopia.
He is the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship fellow who completed his public management and leadership at Bridgewater State University in USA. He is also the 2021 fellow of Stigma Research Training institute, Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Health, MD, US. Currently, Molalign is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and is the Director of the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Gondar. He also works for different local and international organizations as a volunteer trainer, guest speaker, and trustee.
Contact information:
Email: belay_molalign@yahoo.com |
Telephone: +251 913 245 800
Project Managers
Anushka Mzinganjira
Team Role:
change to read as outlined here Project Co-Manager for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Queen’s University
Education:
- Hons. B Sc. (Life Sciences)
- MSc. (Occupational Therapy)
Experience:
Ms. Mzinganjira is an Occupational Therapist with 10 years of clinical experience working with all age groups in community health settings. She has worked with adults with addiction issues in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and developed a program for individuals with workplace injuries who have chronic pain leading to high opioid use. She also helped develop and implement a program to support Ontario Pharmacy College registrants who require support for mental health and addiction issues.
Prior to her current role with Queen’s University’s International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR) as the Mastercard Foundation Ethiopia Project Co-Manager, Ms. Mzinganjira has worked to build occupational therapy programs in Ethiopia at the Amanual Hospital through the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration.
Contact information:
Email: aj74@queensu.ca
Meseret Kassie (PhD)
Team Role:
change to read as outlined here Project Co-Manager for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Queen’s University
Education:
- BSc- Geography at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
- MSc- Physical Geography and Environmental Studies at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
- PhD- Natural Resources and Life Sciences at BOKU, Vienna, Austria
Experience:
Dr. Meseret Kassie is a vibrant and dedicated senior staff at the University of Gondar. In her prior roles she was able to make a sizable impact by progressing the overall missions and vision of the University. She held high office previously as the Vice President of Business and Development of the University of Gondar and is an Assistant Professor of Natural Resource and Life Science.
Contact information:
Email: meseret.kassie@uog.edu.et or meseretkassie@gmail.com
Cell Phone: +251 912036874
Coordinators / Consultants
Sara Wolde
Team Role:
OT Program Coordinator, Mastercard Foundation Project, University of Gondar
Education
- BSc in Clinical Optometry (University of Gondar)
- MSc in Occupational Therapy (Queen’s University, Canada)
Experience:
Sara recently earned her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Queen’s University in Canada. She is currently working as a lecturer in the Occupational Therapy department at the University of Gondar. As part of her Community Development placement, she conducted a needs assessment to initiate occupational therapy services at the University of Gondar student clinic. Sara is passionate about establishing occupational therapy services to address various mental, physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges that students may encounter during their studies.
Before starting her occupational therapy journey, Sara worked as an assistant lecturer at the University of Gondar’s Department of Optometry for three and a half years. Simultaneously, she was actively involved in the Optometry clinic at the University of Gondar. Observing the diverse challenges faced by individuals with low vision motivated her to pursue a career centered around the needs of clients. Sara is now eager to use occupational therapy to make a positive impact on individuals’ lives, the community, and the country at large.
Bekele A. Worku (PhD)
Team Role:
Faculty development and Alumni Coordinator, Mastercard Foundation Project, University of Gondar, Ethiopia
Education:
LLB in Laws, LLM in International Law, Ph.D. in International Disability Human Rights Law
Experience:
After earning his bachelor’s degree in law From Addis Ababa University Dr. Bekele Worku served as a public prosecutor in Amhara Regional Justice Bureau for about 6 years. Then Dr. Worku Joined the School of Law in the University of Gondar and taught Law for about 8 years until he joined the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada to undertake his Ph.D. study in International Human Rights Law. Currently, he is teaching Law and serving as Faculty Development and Alumni Coordinator with the Mastercard Foundation Project at the University of Gondar.
As a Faculty Development and Alumni Coordinator, Dr. Worku assists Fellows and coordinates their affairs and activities in Ethiopia, and specifically at the University of Gondar.
Contact Information:
Email: Bekele.worku@queensu.ca or mcffdcoord@uog.edu.et
Fana Kinfe
Team Role:
Experiential Learning Coordinator, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, University of Gondar
Education:
- BA, Economics, Bahirdar University
- MA, Leadership and Good Governance, Ethiopian Civil Service University
Experience:
Mrs. Fana Kinfe joined university of Gondar as Experiential Learning Coordinator for the Mastercard foundation scholars program. Previously she worked as senior consultant in Ethiopian Management Institute and has served as Trainer, Researcher and Consultant (2014-2018).
Since February 2018, Mrs. Fana serves as Experiential Learning Coordinator for the Mastercard foundation scholars program at University of Gondar. She is responsible for providing coordination and management of the CBR experiential learning for undergraduate scholarship program. Managing the CBR experiential learning and collaborating and communicating with appropriate bodies.
Contact Information:
Email:fanikins@gmail.com
Cell Phone: +251 918719536
Kelly Emblem OT Reg. (Ont.)
Team Role: OT Program Coordinator, Mastercard Foundation Project, Queen’s University, Canada
Her duties include supporting Ethiopia OT students and OT faculty to enable success, supporting the logistics related to all of the Ethiopian OT clinical and community development placements in Africa, and coordinating the OT curriculum development efforts for the University of Gondar Undergraduate program. She will also be collaborating closely with the Ethiopia OT Coordinator, as well as with the OT curriculum development team.
Education:
• Hons. BA. (Environmental Studies, Archaeology & Political Science)
• MSc.OT (Occupational Therapy)
Experience:
Mrs. Emblem is a Western University graduate of the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MScOT) program, a registered occupational therapist and has employment experience delivering occupational therapy services in rural and remote communities northern Canada to indigenous communities and communities southern India and advocating for the profession of occupational therapy with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. She completed her BA in Environmental Studies, Archaeology, and Political Science at the University of Toronto.
Prior to her education in Canada, Mrs. Emblem lived in Vietnam for 8 years where she attended the United Nations International School of Hanoi. Prior to that she lived in Nepal, her second home country, for 6 years attending local Nepali schools and the British International School. Mrs. Emblem’s higher education in Canada highlighted the huge discrepancy between access to healthcare across the world, as well as within Canadian communities. Her upbringing instilled in her a strong moral duty to utilise the privileges that come with being Canadian to support low resource communities. Mrs. Emblem is passionate about using occupational therapy as a tool to affect change at the community, societal, and global scale.
Mrs. Emblem runs her own private OT practice in Ottawa serving military veterans, refugees, and other newcomers to Canada.
Contact information:
Email: mcfotcoord@queensu.ca
Jennie Griffin
Team Role:
Student and Faculty Liaison, Mastercard Foundation Project, Queen’s University, Canada
Education:
Hons. BA. (Sociology & Criminology)
BEd.
Experience:
After graduating from her Bachelor of Education, Jennie (Ms.Griffin) taught in England for a year before returning to teach on the school board in the Kingston area. Ms.Griffin then trained in teaching English language learners and worked at the Queens School of English. She created and taught lessons in different courses to university- aged students who were learning different aspects of English depending on their level. Through this Ms.Griffin was able to gain a lot of new experience working with international students and really enjoys learning about different cultures and traditions from around the world!
As the Student & Faculty Liaison, Ms. Griffin supports students, faculty and the Mastercard Scholars Program Leadership team. She assists UoG applicants and enrolled Mastercard Foundation scholarship recipients at Queen’s University in navigating the application process and the Queen’s University academic experience respectively.
Contact information:
Email : mcfsfliaison@queensu.ca
Phebe Palmer
Team Role:
Financial Coordinator for the MasterCard Foundation Project, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Education:
Business Administration Diploma, MAFP certificate
Experience:
Phebe has been at Queen’s for over 5 years and worked in the Financial Services Department in her previous role.
Her role included working in Financial Reporting, General Accounting and Research Accounting where she gained experience in all aspects of accounting including financial statement and budget preparation & account reconciliations as well as knowledge of the various accounting systems at Queen’s including PeopleSoft, Fast, acQuire and ERS.
Phebe interacted with various departments across campus as well as students and Research PI’s and their assistants.
In her current role she looks forward to working with the University of Gondar team as well as supporting the students at Queen’s and working with the MasterCard Foundation Team.
Contact Information:
Reshma Nuri
Team Role
Research and Learning Coordinator, Mastercard Foundation Project, Queen’s University, Canada
Education
- BSc. (Physiotherapy); MPH; MSc. (Rehabilitation Science);
- Ph.D. candidate, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University, Canada
Experience
Ms. Nuri is a physiotherapist with nearly 10 years of research, monitoring, and evaluation experience in the field of disability and Community Based Rehabilitation in low-and middle-income countries. Prior to her current role with Queen’s Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Ms. Nuri worked with the Queen’s International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation as Internal Evaluator and Gender Coordinator in Bangladesh for two years.
Ms. Nuri is finishing up her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science at Queen’s University. She is also a recipient of the SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship and the Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholars Network for Equity in Maternal and Child Health scholarships. Her doctoral research examines how the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh is working to meet the needs of children with disabilities and their families to ensure their fundamental human rights and dignity.
Contact information
Email: mcfrlcoord@queensu.ca
