Leaders Take on New AMPATH Roles
Over the next several months, the AMPATH Consortium will welcome leaders to new roles in Kenya including:
Kara Wools-Kaloustian, MD, MS—executive site director
Steven Hatch, MD, MSc—associate site director for infectious diseases
Etoroabasi E. Ekpe, MD, MPH—reproductive health team lead
Jason Axt, MD, MPH—surgery team lead
“This new team of AMPATH leaders brings a vast array of global health experience and expertise to these roles,” said Adrian Gardner, MD, MPH, executive director of the AMPATH Consortium of 16 universities around the world. “Working with their colleagues at Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the existing AMPATH team in Eldoret, they will advance AMPATH’s care, training and research missions.” The doctors will live and work full-time in Kenya.
Kara Wools-Kaloustian, MD, MS
While the role of executive site director is new for Dr. Wools-Kaloustian, she has spent her entire medical career as part of the AMPATH family.
Dr. Kara Wools-Kaloustian
She was in the first Indiana University School of Medicine residency class to complete rotations at Moi University in 1991 and the first fellow to conduct research as part of the partnership in 1992. She served as one of the earliest medicine team leaders from 1993-94 and, with support from the World AIDS Foundation, she established both an educational program about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV for health care providers, and an STI diagnostic laboratory in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences at Moi University. In 2003, she became one of the founding co-directors of field research in Kenya. Since 2019 she has been co-director of research for the AMPATH partnership and director of research for the Indiana University Center for Global Health Equity.
“Dr. Wools-Kaloustian has played a pivotal role in advancing our research initiatives, particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS, chronic disease care and reciprocal innovation,” said Dr. Gardner. “But her expertise extends beyond her research contributions. She has been instrumental in the design and implementation of comprehensive care programs that have significantly improved patient outcomes.”
“I am an AMPATH lifer,” said Dr. Wools-Kaloustian. “I was initially drawn to the work in Kenya because I am interested in improving care for marginalized and underserved populations. I am particularly drawn to projects that have an impact at a population level and preserve health as opposed to treating illness. The structure and philosophy at AMPATH supports development of such projects.”
Dr. Wools-Kaloustian’s goals in her new role include:
Optimize communication and collaboration between care, research and education so that all mission areas effectively support each other
Support of the further development of Kenyan leaders to feel empowered to address emerging challenges
Help the organization prepare for changing funding support
Continue to support development of a resilient learning health systems in Kenya
Dr. Wools-Kaloustian will begin her new role in early 2025. She will continue to serve as Principal Investigator of East Africa International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (EA-IeDEA).
Learn more about Dr. Wools-Kaloustian
Steven Hatch, MD, MSc
Dr. Hatch is completing a two-year role as the project director for the HIV team at the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN), an affiliate of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining HAIVN, Dr. Hatch served as the clinical team lead for the Diagnostic Microbiology Development Program in Cambodia, working with physicians, nurses and pharmacists to improve clinical microbiology diagnostics and infectious disease treatment in provincial Cambodian hospitals. He has also worked in healthcare settings in Micronesia, Mozambique, Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, and especially Liberia, where he was engaged in multiple efforts over a seven-year span from 2013-2020, including during the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014-15.
Dr. Steven Hatch
“Dr. Hatch will collaborate closely with our Kenyan counterparts to enhance the infectious diseases program at MTRH and surrounding health facilities,” said Dr. Gardner. “He brings more than 20 years of clinical and research expertise to the AMPATH partnership.”
His responsibilities will include:
supporting and improving formal antimicrobial stewardship efforts, nurturing existing relationships, and fostering new connections between AMPATH Consortium faculty and staff and Kenyan counterparts in infectious disease
supporting the implementation of an infectious disease consult service at MTRH
advancing progress towards the establishment of a formal infectious disease fellowship training program
and working with colleagues who lead AMPATH’s HIV care program.
Additionally, he will support the supervision and instruction of residents and medical students on clinical services from the AMPATH Consortium and Moi University.
“More than anything, it's the mix of different job responsibilities that most attracted me to this new role,” said Dr. Hatch. “I enjoy research but discovered during my postdoc period that I'm unhappy if I only do research; I like doing a little administration but wouldn't be happy as a full-time administrator; and so on. This work involves a great mix and does so against the backdrop of the work I am most passionate about, which is patient care and medical education.”
Hatch’s first time in Kenya and he is open to the many opportunities that exist. “As a physician with specialty training in infectious diseases, I am naturally drawn to infections, but I am excited about learning about AMPATH's work in other areas as well,” he said. “One topic that has interested me ever since my residency is how we incorporate technology into our diagnostics.”
Dr. Hatch received his MD at University of Cincinnati, his internal medicine residency at Tufts Medical Center, and his ID fellowship at UMass Medical Center in Worcester. Dr. Hatch has written extensively about the practice of medicine for both clinicians and popular audiences.
“On a personal level, I'm hoping to become at least a little functional in Swahili, and I hope to adopt some cats, as I have lived with cats almost my whole life but had to put that on hold in Southeast Asia due to the landlord's policies!” Dr. Hatch assumes his new role in September.
Etoroabasi (Etoro) E. Ekpe, MD, MPH
Dr. Etoroabasi (Etoro) E. Ekpe
Dr. Ekpe is the Global Health Fellow from the University of Toronto and is the reproductive health team lead as part of the second year of the fellowship. She is a board eligible obstetrician and gynecologist and completed her residency at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in Chicago. She obtained her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. She also obtained her MPH at Columbia with a concentration in Family and Population Health. She aspires to work in underserved areas in her future career by integrating both her interests in medicine and global health.
“The ideals and values that the AMPATH partnership models align with my goals,” said Dr. Ekpe. “I believe that as a medical practitioner, availability, accessibility, and quality care are of major importance both inside and outside clinical settings.” Dr. Ekpe previously worked in Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Israel, India, and on breast cancer research at Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi.
“As a daughter of immigrant parents, I acknowledge my privilege and therefore my responsibility to give back and become the leader my parents have raised me to be,” Dr. Ekpe continued. “Overall, I want to be a doctor that inspires change globally, and I am eager for the next steps in my journey.”
As the reproductive health team lead, Dr. Ekpe will join the other team leaders in teaching the current residents at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and rotating residents and medical students from AMPATH Consortium universities. She will also be a part of the ongoing laparoscopy curriculum and other research projects and initiatives with Kenyan colleagues that aim to improve and reduce the inequities in care that women face in western Kenya.
“Dr. Ekpe’s interest in health equity and the role of social determinants of health such as employment and education align well with the AMPATH vision and values,” said Dr. Gardner. “She understands that it takes a lot more than medications and procedures to care for patients and we look forward to her contributions to our mission over the next year.” Dr. Ekpe has already joined the AMPATH family in Kenya.
Jason Axt, MD MPH
Dr. Axt is a pediatric surgeon and joins AMPATH as the surgery team lead later this fall after serving as pediatric surgeon and assistant program director for the Pediatric Surgery Residency at Kijabe Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, for the past four years.
Dr. Jason Axt
He trained in general surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he also earned a master’s degree in public health. He trained in pediatric surgery at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. He has significant research contributions in the realms of global surgery and the treatment of Wilms Tumor in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to receiving his MD from Northeast Ohio Medical University, Dr. Axt worked as a registered nurse and flight nurse.
“Dr. Axt’s experience as a surgeon and healthcare leader in Kenya will be a huge asset to AMPATH’s growing surgical collaborations,” said Dr. Gardner. “We welcome Dr. Axt and his family to our AMPATH family.”
“I have long known some of the leaders at MTRH particularly within pediatric surgery, and have wanted to be part of improving the system overall and education, clinical work, and research there,” said Dr. Axt. “In particular, I would like to develop multi-institutional quality improvement projects. My hope is that these will impact the areas of pediatric oncology and surgical education.”
In a letter to supporters of his work at Kijabe, Dr. Axt said, “AMPATH is one of the case studies in sustainable development done well. We hope to learn from those lessons and continue the job of locally led, sustainable, and smart development.” He believes that development initiatives should be primarily within public institutions and that that development should be driven by in-country stake holders.
“I love that within Kenya there is such a community attitude about health care,” he continued. “The costs and the burdens of care are shared among family and friends. This characteristic of communities supports resilience and allows small interventions to have potentially multiplicative effects.”
Dr. Axt is the father of four children and has a graduate of theology degree from the Calvary Bible Institute. He will begin his role in the November.
With these new roles, Dr. Hatch and Dr. Axt will join the IU School of Medicine faculty.
Asante Sana
“We are grateful for the leadership of Dr. Bill Stauffer, Dr. Sophia Abdulhai, Dr. Lu’aie Kaliani and Dr. Jenny Morgan during the last several years,” said Dr. Gardner. “As they move on to new professional challenges, they will remain important parts of the AMPATH family.”
Dr. Wan-Ju Wu (adolescent health), Dr. Zach Gitlin (medicine/pediatrics) and Dr. Brittany McCoy (adolescent mental health) continue in their leadership roles with the AMPATH Consortium in Kenya.