Our Team

A Committed Team To Make a Difference...

The PECC-Kenya medical team includes representatives from the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta National Hospital and AIC Kijabe Hospital in Kenya, and University of Washington Department of Pediatrics and Seattle Children’s Hospital. In addition to this dedicated group of doctors collaborating to improve outcomes for critically ill children in Kenya, a team of over 100 volunteer faculty from over 40 institutions assists in providing live virtual lectures for our PECC curriculum.

Past and Present Internal Advisors

Bhupi Reel
MD, Lecturer, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Consultant Pediatrician/Pediatric Critical Care, University of Nairobi, Kenya

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Dr. Reel obtained his Medical Doctorate from Boston University School of Medicine and then underwent Paediatric residency training at Miami Children’s Hospital. He spent the following three years at the University of California, San Francisco, in Paediatric Critical Care sub-specialty fellowship. He holds American Board Certification in both Paediatrics and Paediatric Critical Care. On completion of his training in critical care, Dr. Reel worked in London with the Children’s Acute Transport Service and at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the Paediatric and Cardiac Intensive Care Units. He gained experience in Anaesthesia at King’s College Hospital and Paediatric trauma at The Royal London Hospital. Dr Reel is a Lecturer in Paediatric Critical Care at the University of Nairobi, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and consults for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s MP Shah Hospital.

Mukokinya Kailemia
MBChB, MMed, Consultant Pediatrician/Pediatric Critical Care and Emergency Medicine Specialist, Kenyatta National Hospital

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Dr. Mukokinya Kailemia is a Pediatric Intensivist and Emergency Specialist at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). She completed her pediatric residency and fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care and Emergency Medicine at the University of Nairobi. She is involved in running the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of KNH where she reviews and manages critically ill patients in addition to training nurses, medical officers, pediatric registrars, pediatric emergency clinical officers and pediatric emergency critical care fellows. She also chairs the pediatric medical errors/ risk management committee and continuous medical education committee at the KNH. She is passionate about research, training and quality improvement of pediatric critical care in Kenya.

Arianna Shirk
MD, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, AIC Kijabe Hospital, Kenya

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Arianna Shirk is currently a Pediatric Consultant at AIC Kijabe Hospital and is the head of the Inpatient Medical Subdivision. She graduated from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2007 after spending a year study the interaction of culture and medicine in Taiwan as a Luce Scholar. She completed her Pediatrics Residency, a chief resident year, and her Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship training at the University of Alabama-Birmingham from 2007-2014. Since moving to Kenya, she and her colleagues have cofounded the Fellowship for Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care through University of Nairobi as well as a diploma level training program for clinical officers in Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care through Kijabe College of Health Sciences. She holds Adjunct faculty positions at University of Alabama-Birmingham and Wake Forest University in pediatric emergency medicine and at Kabarak University and Kijabe College of Health Sciences in Pediatrics.

Rashmi Kumar
MBBS, MD, DAA, Lecturer, Department Of Pediatrics and Child Health, Consultant Pediatrician/Pediatric Critical Care, University of Nairobi, Kenya

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Lecturer, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Consultant Pediatrician/Pediatric Critical Care, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Dr. Rashmi Kumar is a lecturer and Pediatric Intensivist at the Kenyatta National Hospital, University of Nairobi. She was the first pediatric intensivist in Kenya and instrumental in starting Kenya’s first Pediatric Critical Care Unit in the largest public tertiary care hospital in the country. She is an Executive board member of the Kenya Pediatric Association, Antibiotics Consensus Society of Kenya and Critical Care Society of Kenya. She is involved in bringing up the care of critically ill children through CME talks at various forums including the training of nurses. Dr. Kumar has been one of the key motors in starting the Fellowship Program in Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care at her institution.

Amélie von Saint André-von Arnim
MD, Seattle Children’s Hospital/University of Washington

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Credentials: Associate Professor in Pediatrics/Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Adjunct Associate Professor in Global Health, University of Washington (UW) and Seattle Children’s

Dr. von Saint Andre – von Arnim is a Pediatric Intensivist at Seattle Children’s. Her academic focus is to improve outcomes of critically-ill children in limited-resource settings through education, research and advocacy. She has been involved in the development and implementation of the PECC fellowship since its inception, and serves as the UW director of PECC-Kenya activities.

Emily Hartford
MD, Seattle Children's Hospital/University of Washington

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Dr. Emily Hartford is faculty in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Washington and works primarily in the Seattle Children’s ED. She completed her pediatric residency, pediatric ED fellowship, and global health MPH at UW. She lived and worked in Maputo, Mozambique directing an academic partnership to strengthen pediatric education and clinical care at Maputo Central Hospital and has worked in collaborative educational partnerships in Kenya and Liberia. She joined the PECC Kenya team in 2017 and works on the PEM curriculum as well as quality improvement and research mentoring.