Uganda Course Instructors
Amy C. Finnegan, Ph.D.
Amy is a sociologist and professor at the University of Minnesota-Rochester. She completed her Ph.D. from Boston College where her dissertation focused on insider and outsider activist efforts for peace in northern Uganda. She also has an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. As a practitioner/activist, she has worked on anti-war and peacebuiliding, HIV/AIDS, and human rights in the United States and Uganda. Her teaching and research interests include social movements and social change, peace and conflict, service-learning, medical sociology, and race relations. Along with Julian Atim and Michael Westerhaus, she developed and directs Beyond the Biologic Basic of Disease: The Social and Economic Causation of Illness.
Michael Westerhaus, MD, MA
Michael is an internal medicine primary care physician at the Center for International Health in St. Paul, MN, which provides care to refugees and immigrants. As a member of the Global Health Faculty at the University of Minnesota, he works both in Minnesota and in northern Uganda to improve community-based primary care delivery, teach about the social determinants of health, and build partnerships based upon respect and equality that advance health for all. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 2006 and completed the Global Health Equity residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2010. He also received a Master’s in medical anthropology from Harvard University in 2005 and currently conducts ethnographic research on the intersection of primary care delivery, global health, and the intersection of structural forces with the personal lives of patients and health workers.
Phyllis Kisa, MD
Dr. Kisa is currently completing her surgery specialization at Mulago Hospital in Kampala. She completed her internship training at St. Mary's Hospital Lacor and served as a medical officer there for several years.
Openy Betty, MD
Dr. Betty attended medical school at Gulu University and completed her residency at St. Mary's Hospital Lacor. She currently serves as a medical officer in Lacor's internal medicine department.
Ngecpe Agnes, MD
Dr. Agnes attended medical school at Gulu University and completed her residency at St. Mary's Hospital Lacor. She currently serves as a medical officer in Lacor's pediatrics department.
Ndayisaba Sylvester, MD
Dr. Sylvester attended medical school at Gulu University and completed his internship at St. Mary's Hospital Lacor. He currently serves as a medical officer in Lacor's OB/GYN department. He is happy to have been part of the course and to participate in teaching students about the social, political, and economic factors in disease.
