Dr. Alexandra (A.J.) Mata Joins AMPATH as Reproductive Health Team Leader

Dr. Mata

Alexandra (A.J.) Mata, MD, just arrived in Eldoret to serve as the reproductive health team leader. Her role as AMPATH’s team leader is the final component of a two-year Global Women's Health and Equity Fellowship with the University of Toronto. She spent the first year providing care for refugee and underserved populations in Toronto and Northern Ontario. 

“I found that this program (at U of T) was the only one that really combined clinical and research work with a huge public health component,” Dr. Mata said. “The partnership with AMPATH was really unique to this fellowship and I was drawn to AMPATH's tripartite (care, training and research) approach and potential to become involved in community-based projects and research in addition to working clinically.”

“I was also very much attracted to the longstanding history of the AMPATH Kenya partnership and core values of the AMPATH Consortium,” Dr. Mata continued. The University of Toronto is part of the AMPATH Consortium of 15 universities around the world, led by Indiana University, that have worked in partnership with Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) to improve the health of people in western Kenya for more than three decades.

Dr. Mata is joined in Eldoret by her husband Domy, son Zony, and infant daughter Niaina. Zony is already loving school at Busy Bumble and has made many friends at IU House. Niaina has tried her first food upon moving to Eldoret--sweet potatoes after her Malagasy (Madagascar) nickname "bokala."

Prior to her medical training, Dr. Mata served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar from 2010-2014 and was based at a rural health center focused on trainings and collaborations with an existing network of community health workers. She then served as a Peace Corps response volunteer with the USAID Deliver Project in Madagascar's capital focused on the supply chain management of antimalarial commodities across the country, including a national bed net distribution campaign. 

Dr. Mata obtained a combined MD/MPH from the University of Miami and completed OB/GYN residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. While there, she conducted research in simulation-based laparoscopy training at Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais in Haiti and a clinical elective at Kijabe Mission Hospital in Kenya. 

“From my work in the US, Canada, Madagascar, and Kenya I've become fascinated with learning how different hospital systems function and how they reflect their local context. In this light, I am eager to get to know and learn from my reproductive health colleagues and patients at MTRH,” she added.

As a team leader, Dr. Mata will work with her Kenyan colleagues to provide clinical care at MTRH and teach Kenyan learners and visiting medical students and residents from AMPATH consortium institutions.

“I look forward to collaborating and expanding upon current efforts in the Reproductive Health Department to establish laparoscopy and hysteroscopy training curricula. I also hope to become involved in community-based projects, including supporting the OBGYN ECHO (digital education platform),” Dr. Mata continued.

“Dr. Mata’s extensive professional experiences in diverse settings around the world will bring a unique perspective and wealth of knowledge to trainees and clinicians,” said Dr. Bill Stauffer, executive site director for the AMPATH Consortium in Kenya. “We look forward to working and learning alongside her and welcome her and her family to Eldoret.”