OUR TEAM
Board Members
Dr. SALOUM CISSE
Saloum Cisse has more than 25 years of experience in the health field. He is a family medicine doctor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Prior to his current post, he worked at the Family First Healthcare Center in Raymond, MS. He received his family training from the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar and went on to complete another medical degree and Masters of Public Health (MPH) at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Cisse is a member of the American Medical Association and an Assistant Professor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC).
Ms. CHIKA ODUAH
Chika Oduah is one of the most prominent international journalists on the ground in Africa, recognized for her compelling ability to capture stories with humanity.
As an award winning reporter, foreign correspondent, photographer and writer, Chika maintains a keen focus on covering current affairs in Africa.
For the past 18 years, Chika has worked as a reporter, foreign correspondent, television news,producer, cinematographer, scriptwriter and photojournalist in the United States and across Africa.
Her reporting has been published and featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, the BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Quartz Africa and Other international news outlets.
Chika is a Nigerian-native who studied cultural anthropology, film and journalism at Georgia State University in Atlanta and received a Master of Science degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, one of the highest rated journalism degree programs in America.
A proud pan-Africanist, Chika has previously lived in Kenya and Nigeria and has reported from multiple African countries. She is currently based in Dakar, Senegal where she works as a TV news foreign for the New-York based news company VICE. Her lifelong dream is to see Africa prosper.
Ms. AWA DIAW
Awa is a Senegalese-American entrepreneur and HR professional. Awa graduated from Bowdoin College with a major in Africana Studies and a minor in French. She later received an M.A. in Education Policy and Social Analysis from Columbia University followed by an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Her post-college career was in the education sector driving diversity and inclusion initiatives, resource reallocation in low-income neighborhoods, and policy and program management, evaluation, and implementation for various non-profits and educational institutions. This has made her extremely passionate about program and project management, strategy development and implementation, as well as using data to inform and make strategic decisions. Awa has been at Microsoft for about five years and is currently a Senior HR Business Program Manager for the Global HR Organization where she drives efficiency and agility across key HR themes and provides internal and external communication support to the CVP and leadership teams. She is currently based out of Paris.
Dr. CHRISTIAN RUSANGWA
Christian Rusangwa, MD is a trained physician with passion for global health working for Muso as the Director of Technical Assistance where he leads the organization’s vision for an improved access to care with speed and quality at national scale in Mali and Ivory Coast. He is also spearheading advocacy for community health workers recognition and payment on the national budget. Prior to joing Muso Christian worked for Partners In Health as a Deputy Chief Medical Officer in charge of Chronic Care and Health System Strengthening respectively. Where he supported health facilities and district health systems that were serving over 1,000,000 people. In addition he was in charge of leading a cancer center of excellence in Butaro the only cancer center in the region to provide completely free cancer diagnosis and care.
In the above mentioned roles he has also been a member of the senior management team at Muso and Partners In Health; where he is responsible for providing strategic leadership and guidance in the expansion of health activities in Rwanda, then currently in Mali and Ivory Coast through collaboration with central level stakeholders to ensure that there is alignment with the Ministries of Health and Public Sector Strategic orientations as well as and other government and non government actors.
Dr. MAIMOUNA DIOP LY
Maïmouna Diop Ly is a medical doctor specialized in public health with more than 28 years in the health and nutrition sectors in line with the global Universal Health coverage and inclusion agenda. The last 28 years she has been leading projects, programs at national and international levels on health including neglected tropical diseases, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and child survival as well as supporting strategies and policies development. She has worked as civil servant with the ministry of health of Senegal at the National Food and Nutrition Service and as Head of the health Department for the Senegalese Red Cross and Chief Health and Social Protection for the African Development Bank. She is currently Senior Advisor on Public Health Policy and Financing with Speak Up Africa supporting their policy on health and gender in line with related SDGs. She has served as a board member of the Regional Public Health Institute -Benin (IRSP) and Uniting to Combat NTDs-UK (UTC). She holds a medical degree, a master’s degree in public health (D.E.A), a master’s degree in management (D.E.S.S), a postgraduate degree in tropical medicine & parasitology and in Dietetics and Nutrition Pathology respectively from University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar-Senegal, Institut Supérieur de Management -ISM Dakar-Senegal, University Paris VI-France and University of Rennes -France.
Mr. MAME MASSAR DIENG
Massar Dieng is an experienced scientist with over 17 years of experience in biomedical research, including pediatric cancer, immunology, and infectious diseases. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a Master of Science degree in Immunology and Vaccinology from Francois Rabelais University in Tours, France, and an Advanced Graduate Diploma in Drug Development from the University of Montreal.
With a strong track record in developing and managing research projects in resource-limited settings in Sub-Saharan Africa, Massar has held research scientist positions at New York University, Abu Dhabi, and the C. Charles Bruneau Cancer Center in Montreal. He brings a wealth of knowledge in project management, biomedical research, data analysis, and epidemiology, as well as a passion for global health and health equity.
By joining FOHSEN, Massar aims to use his extensive experience to provide technical, operational, and programmatic support to high-impact projects, driving progress in global health and promoting health equity.
Mr.PHILLIP HUPPE
Phil Huppe has been a professional fundraiser for the past 8 years at both Convoy of Hope and Columbia Business School. Additionally, Phil started his own non profit fundraising consulting practice and has been working closely with executive directors and board members helping them build their fundraising programs. Phil started his career as a management consultant with Accenture in San Francisco. Phil also has a Masters Degree in Public Policy and International Development from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a degree in economics from UC Davis. He is thrilled to be serving on the FOHSEN board and excited to bring healthcare to the most vulnerable across Senegal. Phil shares his life with his wife Jen and two boys James and Daniel in Northern Virginia.
Mr. ABDOULAYE KANTE
Abdoulaye Kanté is a senior specialist in innovation and digital transformation of development organizations.
Professionally, he has more than fifteen years of experience inICT for development (ICT4D) design and program management for development aid agencies such as USAID, the World Bank, UNDP and the EU. He has also worked on behalf of NGOs and Foundations operating in the African Zone and particularly in the WAEMU Zone.
Among these organizations: the organization Enda Tiers Monde, the Terre des hommes Lausanne foundation, the Trade Point Senegal Foundation, the American NGO Root Capital. He held the position of Technical Advisor Number at the Ministry of ICT of Senegal and was able to participate in the definition of ICT public policies on behalf of the Government.
In the specific field of health, he is a member of several networks working on health digitalization issues and had to intervene as a consultant for the Ministry of Health and Health in the capacity building of the Ministry’s IT teams in the digitalization of health.
He holds an engineering degree in ICT with a specialization in design and implementation of digital public policies from Paris Nanterre University in France several certifications in data management and artificial intelligence.
He currently holds the position of Digital Innovations & Solutions Specialist at RTI (Research Triangle Institute) as part of the USAID – Feed The Future Senegal program.