MissionPOCUS_Haiti

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Welcome to the POCUS Certification Academy: #MissionPOCUS^™ Haiti

The POCUS Certification Academy is going to Haiti.

The Mission: Improve the health of Haiti through training in the proper use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS).
Train 15 practitioners. Scan 100 patients. Touch countless lives

Meet the MissionPOCUS Team:

James A. DellaValle, MD

Dr. DellaValle is a 1977 graduate of The Medical College of Pennsylvania (now known as the Drexel University School of Medicine). He trained in Family Medicine at the Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, Pennsylvania and has been licensed to practice Medicine since 1978. His professional activities have been focused on those who live in rural areas and underserved populations while practicing Emergency and Family Medicine. His current practice of Emergency Medicine is in an urban environment caring for those who have limited access to health care. He has served as medical adviser and a member of the Board of Trustees of Hands Together, an NGO working with the poorest of the poor in the Republic of Haiti for the last 15 years. He is certified by ARDMS in Abdominal, Cardiac and Vascular Ultrasound.

Gédéon GELIN
Gédéon GELIN is a Haitian physician trained in Haiti from 1985 to 1992. He made his postgraduate studies in Belgium (2000-2001) in tropical medicine. He also had the chance to be trained in clinical ultrasound in this country. He is currently working in Haiti as a General Ultrasound Practitioner at Eau-de Vie Hospital in Fonds-Parisien and at Clinique Universitaire Saint_jean Baptiste de Pernier. Dr Gelin is also a Diabetes and Hypertension practitioner. Until 2008 Dr Gelin has been teaching epidemiology and public Health in many universities in Haiti . He is the co-founder with Professor Lora Ianoti from Washington University in St Louis of the first school of Public Health at Université Publique du Nord in Haiti. Dr Gelin opened the first school of Ultrasound in Haiti in December 2017 to train Physicians and Nurses. It is a private but non-for-profit school. He is currently the only instructor as there is no other ultrasound instructor in the country. His goal is to make ultrasound services available (including Echocardiography) all over the country mainly in poor rural Haiti.

James Day, RDCS, RVT

James has been a cardiac sonographer since 1992 who, was also a clinician at an urban teaching hospital in the Philadelphia metro region. He was a Medical Science Liaison for Cardinal Health, and in clinical applications with GE Healthcare. As a clinical trial manager for Dermasonics, a start-up company utilizing ultra-low frequency ultrasound to deliver drugs via transdermal pharmaceutical patches, James was involved with human pilot studies on both coasts and overseas. While at Thomas Jefferson University Medical College, James managed 40 simulation programs and taught all modules of POCUS, including Anatomy & Physiology, Gross Anatomy, Physical exam lectures, Gel rounds, Resident orientations, Ultra-Fest in Philadelphia, as well as private workshops. He’s worked tirelessly to integrate POCUS into medical school curriculums. James is presently involved with Innovation and The Pocus Certification Academy^™ at Inteleos (formerly ARDMS) as a Clinical Ultrasound Specialist. James is an avid snowboarder, sailor, and part-time musician.

Victor Rao, MBBS, DMRD, RDMS

Victor is a radiologist by training and is one of the pioneers to introduce and develop Point of Care ultrasound learning content for medical students, PA students and residents and CME content for physicians at the USC School of Medicine in Columbia. He was the director of ultrasound education at USC School of Medicine from May 2008 to Aug 2018. He also trained physicians overseas in Tanzania and Philippines to establish POCUS programs. He loves teaching ultrasound and to travel. He has written some chapters in POCUS ultrasound textbooks and in an upcoming eBook. Victor has also worked as a primary care physician in mission hospitals overseas where he enjoyed seeing patients in the clinic and also managed inpatients and performed deliveries, C-sections and minor surgeries. Victor will be helping us with our clinical content strategy and will focus, among others, on education, practical assessment, case development, and the development of new certificate assessment programs. Victor is presently involved with Innovation and The Pocus Certification Academy^™ at Inteleos (formerly ARDMS) as a Global Clinical Content Manager. Some of his interest include travel, photography, fishing, flying drones and fixing things.

Rubens Pessanha, Ed.D., PMP, GPHR, SPHR, SPHR-I

Rubens is the global director of certificate assessments at Inteleos. He has more than 25 years of global experience in marketing, education, strategic organizational development, project management, and market research. He has presented at conferences and has been engaged with global development in North America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and South America. A production engineer with an MBA, he completed his doctorate in Human and Organizational Learning at The George Washington University. As a hobby, Pessanha teaches project management, risk management, business ethics, corporate strategy, leadership, marketing and communications. He is married and has one child. He is both a soccer and a surf fan.

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