International Team Members

Our international team is made of medical students, graduate students, junior doctors, researchers and fellows from 15 countries around the world.

Chairs

Prachi Patel (She/Her)
India

Prachi Patel is a Junior Doctor from India with a Master’s in Experimental Surgery from McGill University, Canada. Dr. Patel is a current Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto and works as a Research Collaborator with the Center for Global Surgery, at McGill University. She served as the Chair of the Canadian Global Surgery Trainee’s Alliance (CGSTA) for two years and successfully established the foundation of the trainee network in Canada. As the Chair of GEIGS this year, she is very excited to connect and collaborate with inspiring colleagues around the world and amplify the voices of gender equity and global surgery.

Riya Sawhney (She/Her)
India

Dr. Sawhney is a graduate student and Jean-Martin Laberge Fellow in Global Paediatric Surgery at McGill University. Currently, she also serves as the Student Lead of the Association of Academic Global Surgery’s Advocacy Committee. She is a former Vice Chair of InciSioN UK and a Royal College of Surgeons of England prize winner for her elective in global surgery. She is also currently a Global Surgery Research Fellow with the WHO collaborating enter for surgical care delivery in low-and middle-income countries, India. Riya has keen research interests in pediatric surgery, global surgery, innovation in surgery, and surgical education

Betel Fenta (She/Her)
Ethiopia

Betel Fenta is a medical doctor and aspiring surgeon from Ethiopia. She received her Master's in Global Health Delivery, Gender, SRH track from University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda. She is currently a Research Collaborator at the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, and a Global Health Research Fellow at Kids Operating Room. Dr. Fenta has served as the CEO of Ethiopian Medical Women's Association and Chair of the Ethiopian Medical Association - Junior Doctors Network. She is passionate about improving women and children’s health through safe surgery and advancing gender equity in the global health landscape.