About Us
About APHN
APHN is a student/faculty run association established in 1991 at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Our mission is to create a platform for education, collaborations and building a community to strengthen public health knowledge and practice in Africa.
We are privileged to continue having Bill Brieger, Professor in Health Systems Program (Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University) as our support.
Meet the E-Board
Be the Change you want to see in the world!
President - Ukeme Essien
Ukeme Essien is a medical doctor passionate about closing health disparities through preventive medicine and mobile health. Her research interests include chronic disease prevention, and translational research. Her personal mission is to equip individuals with tools, resources and education for living healthier lives. When she is not studying, she spends time working with entrepreneurs, to help build Africa-focused businesses through an Initiative called The Beta Collective. For fun, she loves travelling and is an absolute coffee-nerd so she travels to coffee farms, for the farm to cup experience! She looks forward to meeting more of the students and faculty at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Kemish Kenneth — VP Operations
Dr. Kemish is a physician and MBA/MPH candidate with experience in clinical and public health fields. His
passion lies at the intersection of clinical practice and public health, specifically in translational science, program design and implementation, health economics, quality improvement approaches, and data analytics. He intends to influence public health practice in his Country, South Sudan, and other resource-limited settings. Before joining Johns Hopkins, Kemish worked in clinical care and, most recently, with humanitarian agencies (Jhpiego and UNICEF) implementing health programs in South Sudan. He brings this passion and enthusiasm to the African Public Health Network (APHN) to further collaborations and knowledge sharing on Africa’s public health issues.
Kene Ezeigwe — VP Network x Events
Kene is in the MPH program and part of her reason for pursuing the program was to reconnect with her African roots, learn more about public health issues affecting her people and connect with like-minded people invested in finding solutions to these issues. Prior to the school of public health, she completed her third year of medical school at JHU and plans to apply to Emergency Medicine residency programs after the MPH. In the field of Public health, she is interested in healthcare access and delivery and has also found herself drawn to the field of Injury Prevention since starting her MPH. Outside of her studies, she enjoys being home with her family, she loves learning new languages, French, Spanish and most recently Korean, though she is not fluent in any of them yet. She also loves learning new skills — most recently she learned how to make face masks. Kene looks forward to the year ahead with APHN board and members, feel free to reach out to her with any ideas/events you would like to see from APHN.
General Secretary- Aisha Liman
Aisha is a humanitarian worker and a second year MAS Global Health Planning and Management student at JHU with interests in health equity, health systems and primary healthcare. She is a medical doctor who has found her niche in the humanitarian sector after taking assignments in a number of countries globally, she is presently posted to Afghanistan and loving it! Aisha also runs her NGO (www.primarycompassionatecare.org) which seeks to mentor students interested in public health and supports to fund a community project idea developed by the mentees at the end of the mentorship period. She is passionate about promoting SDGs 3, 4 and 5 and is an advocate of compassionate actions. Outside of work, she does lots of arts, craft, recycling and is a lover of all things incense and culture. She hopes to strengthen external connections through her role in APHN and showcase the diversity of the African continent in the practice of public health in Africa.
Web x Social Coordinator — Lorene Cudjoe
Lorene is a full-time MPH student and also currently in between her third and fourth years of medical school. She joined APHN as a first generation Ghanaian- American hoping to create and be a part of a community of Africans looking to make a difference through public health. Her interests include Women’s Health, health disparities, diversity and inclusion, and cultural humility. Her research interests include maternal mortality, and sickle cell disease.
Web x Social Coordinator — Jonta Kamara
Jonta Kamara is a first year epidemiology student in the infectious disease track and she is very passionate about strengthening healthcare systems in African countries and collaborating with local actors to develop programs. Her research interests include maternal and child health, public health surveillance, outbreak response, and preparedness. She is always eager to learn about what is happening in public health on the continent. In her free time, she enjoys modelling, travelling, and cooking.
Alumni Realtions Officer — Bolanle Akinyele
Bolanle is a full-time MPH student and a fourth year cardiology fellow at Hopkins. As a Nigerian with interests in health care disparities, improving cardiovascular care and access globally, she joined APHN to foster and collaborate with a network of people that aim to advance public health in Africa. Outside work and class, she loves spending time with her family especially her three kids.
Event Coordinator — Chisom Azodoh
Chisom believes that for Africa to be better, the unique role of medicine, business, and innovation as key drivers of the future of healthcare and development must be recognised. As a Nigerian, her MPH/MBA journey was born out of a dream to create sustainable innovation hubs and cities across Africa with safe, affordable, family owned homes where workers can live while earning a living to support themselves and their families.
This was largely driven by the ongoing crisis of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) owing to the boko haram crisis in Northern Nigeria. She is also very passionate about improved access to as well as affordability of health care and social impact in low to middle income countries. She believes that the African Public Health Network will create the right avenue to start building the Africa of our dreams.
Event Coordinator — Anushruti Gupta
Anu is a first year MSPH student in School of Public Health with concentration in Global Disease in Epidemiology and Control. She believes health inequities and disparities are plaguing our system, and she joined APHN to try and lessen these disparities in Africa. In her free time, she likes to dance and bake.
Treasurer — Hamdiyya Mohammed
Hamdiyya Mohammed is a Medical Doctor and a Hopkins MPH student with concentration in Adolescent and Child health.
She’s currently practicing in Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana with the Department of Child Health as a medical officer.
Her primary focus is help improve patient outcomes especially with maternal and child health and most importantly minimize the menace of maternal mortality, malaria and malnutrition.
