The Network: Towards Unity For Health (TUFH)

William Burdick, MD, MSEd, is Vice Secretary General of The Network: Towards Unity for Health, an organization of community oriented health professions schools and Professor of Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. As the former Vice President for Education at FAIMER, he was responsible for creation of global faculty development programs for health professions educators. He has received awards for excellence in teaching, including the Lindbach Award and the Trustees Award in his capacity as Professor of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine. A graduate of Oberlin College, Weill Cornell University College of Medicine, and University of Pennsylvania, he completed residency training in Internal Medicine and is certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and American Board of Internal Medicine.

Rural Wonca

Dr Bruce Chater is the Chair of Rural Wonca, the Professor of Rural and Remote Medicine at The University of Queensland and a working rural doctor in a small rural community hospital and general practice 600km inland in Australia. He was the founding convenor of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and was involved in the establishment of many rural health initiatives.

The Network: Towards Unity For Health (TUFH)

Nicholas Torres (M.Ed.) is the Executive Director of TUFH and works at the cross section between the private sector, government, and not-for-profits and aligns them toward collective social impact goals and public policy. Nick has over 20 years of experience in executive management. Nick founded and currently leads a social sector “think-tank” organization; and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Univerisity of the Western Cape

Anthea Rhoda is the Dean of the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences and a Professor in the Department of Physiotherapy at the University of the Western Cape. She is a C1 South African National Research Foundation rated researcher. She is the current Chairperson of the South African Committee of Health Sciences Deans.
Professor Rhoda is also an active scholar with a research niche in the area of patients with neurological impairments, specifically stroke and spinal cord Injuries. She also conducts research in the area Faculty Development and Interprofessional Education. In her research area Prof Rhoda has secured research grants, published in peer reviewed journals and successfully graduated a number of postgraduate students.

Stellenbosch University

Ian joined Stellenbosch University as director of the Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health in 2016. He is a founding member of the Rural Doctors Association of Southern Africa (RuDASA) and past chair of the Wonca Rural Working Party.

University of Cape Town

Steve is a rural family physician, a medical educationalist, an academic at the University of Cape Town, and also a passionate musician and cyclist.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Western Cape Department of Health

Dr Saadiq Kariem was appointed as the Deputy Director-General: Chief of Operations for Western Cape Government Health and Wellness (WCGHW)on 1 May 2020. He is a qualified medical doctor who prior to this appointment was serving as the chief director
of the Emergency and Clinical Services Support component. Beyond his medical degree, he also holds the following qualifications: Master of Philosophy in Public Health, Executive master’s in business administration and Fellowship of the Colleges of Public
Health Medicine SA.

The Network: Towards Unity For Health (TUFH)

Aricia De Kempeneer, M. Sc., is the Operations and Programming Director for The Network: Towards Unity For Health. She is responsible for managing the annual conferences, virtual regional conferences, TUFH Symposiums and Workshops, TUFH Academies, ISAT, iSTEP, Digital Aspects, Social Media, Newsletter, Communications and Membership. In addition, Aricia is the liaison to the Student Network Organization.

Aricia holds a Masters in Health Education and Promotion from Ghent University and a Bachelor in Midwifery from Erasmus Hogeschool. She works as an independent midwife in Belgium and gives prenatal lessons, prenatal care, and postnatal follow-up.
Prior to The Network: TUFH Aricia worked as a midwife in Gambia, Finland, United Kingdom, and Belgium in low-risk birthing units. She co-founded and was the first president of the Student Network Organization in 2015. She has been attending TUFH annual conferences since 2012.

University of the Western Cape

University of the Western Cape

University of Cape Town

Klaus isbased in Cape Town, South Africa, where he work at the University of Cape Town as the head of the Division of Family Medicine. He completed my PhD in 2017 which evaluated the impact of family physicians within the district health system of South Africa. His research focuses on health service strengthening, health systems (especially human resources for health), as well as health professions education. My current volunteer activities include serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the South African Family Practice Journal, serving on the Council of the College of Family Physicians of South Africa and serving on the Education and Training committee of the South African Academy of Family Physicians.