Global Health
Track Leadership
Huda Ayas, EdD, MBA, MHA
Track
Director
Dr. Ayas is the founder and Executive Director of the Office of International Medicine Programs; Director of the Global Health Track and Course Director of Interdisciplinary Medicine, in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences; and Assistant Professorial Lecturer of Global Health, in the School of Public Health and Health Services at the George Washington University Medical Center.
Dr. Ayas received her MHSA and MBA degrees from The George Washington University in 1993 and 1998 respectively. In addition, Dr. Ayas completed and received her doctorate degree from the GWU School of Education and Human Development in the summer of 2006. Dr. Ayas’ dissertation focuses on the impact of intercultural experiential learning on intercultural sensitivity in medical education and addresses the issue of how to adequately prepare physicians to provide culturally effective health care and treatment to the diverse patient population present in America.
As Executive Director of the Office of International Medicine Programs, Dr. Ayas has formed over 50 global strategic partnerships and affiliations and has developed and implemented many international medical educational and training programs. These programs include the International MD Program which allows non-US and non-Canadian students to study medicine at GWUMC and then return to their home country to practice; The International Observership Training Program which allows foreign physicians to come to the U.S. for up to 8 weeks of training in a specific area of medicine; The International Residency Training Program which allows foreign medical graduates to pursue their clinical training here in the U.S.; The International Clinical Electives Programs which allows the exchange of medical students with our affiliated institutes for 3rd and 4th year rotations; the Fellowship Program which was designed to increase the knowledge and skills of a physician in any subspecialty beyond that of residency training. She also founded and directs the Global Health Track, a program designed to increase GWU medical students’ intercultural sensitivity and awareness about international health systems as well as regional diseases while learning how to assess the specific health needs of countries at various stages of development. Her new educational initiatives include the formation of a global health track for residents; continuous global public health rotations; and interdisciplinary medical and surgical missions to include medical, public health, and physician assistant students.
Dr. Ayas is currently working on a “pilot project” to develop and implement a graduate medical education model in Asmara, Eritrea. The model calls for in-country training of Eritrean residents in pediatrics and surgery by placing U.S. trained physician on the ground for a minimum of one year. The pilot project was launched on October 15, 2007. Recently, Dr. Ayas additionally led a GW delegation to Saudi Arabia that resulted in a commitment of $8M from the Saad Group towards global humanitarian projects.
Dr. Ayas also coordinates and participates in leading numerous medical and surgical missions. She serves as a key representative for all international projects at GWUMC, and has traveled extensively throughout Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin American. Dr. Ayas has given presentations at numerous healthcare conferences and is a member of several professional affiliations. Dr. Ayas speaks fluently in Arabic and French.
Robert C. Morrow, MD, MPH
Dr. Morrow is a Board Certified Specialist in Preventive Medicine (Public Health and General Preventive Medicine), and Epidemiologist, who has been designing, supporting, conducting and evaluating bio-warfare and bio-terrorism exercises for the past 7 years. He has provided clinical scenario material and epidemiological input for various high level military commands, such as Joint Forces Command, US Central Command and Gulf States Coalition involving exercises in several regions, settings, and biological agents (tularemia, plague, botulism, anthrax, smallpox, and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers).
He has worked with Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in helping to craft scenario injects, observe, analyze and report on DHHS Smallpox exercises under the Assistant Secretary and Dr. DA Henderson in 2002, has developed clinical and epidemiological material for the current TopOff 3 national bio-terrorism training exercise, and has had analytical input into the evaluation of the DHHS Command Post Exercise of TopOff 3 in May, 2004.
These DHHS exercises involved intimate contact with Strategic National Stockpile assets and command and control at the Federal level. He currently provides Subject Matter Expertise to Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the development of Public Health and Clinical Care Capabilities Metrics for national preparedness that are closely tied to the National Planning Scenarios and the extensive Department of Homeland Security training and exercise programs. He is licensed to practice Medicine in the State of Virginia, and maintains active contact with academic institutions and with first responder communities in the National Capital Region.
Dr. Morrow has been involved in the development and promulgation of electronic reporting system within the Department of Navy and has done similar informatics development with the Government of Ecuador to enhance surveillance of emerging infections in the Amazon, having developed a Spanish civilian version of the US Navy’s electronic reporting software for which he was the Program Director.
He has employed field training exercises in several countries and cultures with various levels of participants, beginning in 1979 in Jamaica with the University of the West Indies medical students, and with graduate students in the establishment of the Masters of Public Health Program (Epidemiology) at Medical College of Hampton Roads in Norfolk VA in the mid1990’s.
In the early1990’s he completed course requirements for the Ph.D in Medical Anthropology at University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. He experienced first hand disease control and clinical care challenges as an isolated medical practitioner with the Indian Health Service, and as the Child Specialist for the Kingdom of Bhutan in the 1980’s. He also has maintained a part time clinical practice in urgent care in the community settings of Texas, Virginia, and Ohio. He has worked with State Health Departments in South and North Dakota, Vermont, Texas, and Virginia.
Katherine A. Douglass, MD, M.P.H.
Dr. Katherine Douglass is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University with a particular interest in global health and development. She has recently completed fellowship training in International Emergency Medicine at GWU which included a Masters of Public Health in International Health Promotion. Dr. Douglass is specifically interested in international emergency medical systems development with a focus on sustainability and cost effectiveness. She also focuses on the global impact of road traffic injuries, and implications for emergency medical systems development. She has worked extensively with international medical programs and policy initiatives, including projects in Peru, Ethiopia, Jordan, Colombia, and Turkey.
Dr. Douglass completed residency training at Drexel University College of Medicine in Emergency Medicine, after medical school at Georgetown University. She is board certified in Emergency Medicine. She was recently elected chair of the International Interest Group of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
Marilyn C. Jerome, MD
Dr. Jerome has practiced obstetrics and gynecology with Foxhall Ob-Gyn since 1982. She graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1974. She then attended the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and graduated in 1978. Dr. Jerome completed her residency at the George Washington University Hospital in 1982 and entered private practice. She served on the voluntary faculty of GW and taught residents and students as a Clinical Professor. In 1999, she joined the medical staff of Sibley Memorial Hospital and now admits patients there.
Dr. Jerome's interests outside of medicine include board membership of the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Children of God Relief Fund. She became President of COGRF in 2008. This organization financially supports programs in Kenya for children infected by HIV. She travels to Kenya yearly to provide oversight for thses programs. She is also a member of the Medical Reserve Corps of Fairfax County.
Alan Webb, MD
Myrna Charles, DO, MBA