Meet the 2020 WiSA Board Members
The WiSA Board is comprised of the Chairperson, Vice Chair, Secretary General, Treasurer, Administration Officer, and Conference Officer.
Chairperson – Dr. Mumba Chalwe
Dr Mumba Chalwe is a Consultant Urological-Surgeon: a surgical sub specialty focused on men’s health as well as the urinary systems in both men and women. She holds a Master of Medicine in Urology (MMED- Urol) and has vast experience working in both local and international healthcare settings. Dr Chalwe’s clinical practice spans over the last 10years and has ranged from day to day patient care, surgery as well as teaching in the academic Hospital setting.
Dr Chalwe boasts of several awards and recognition from various organizations worldwide. She is a fellow of the College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, and was awarded the Gold medalist status by the same college for academic excellence in 2018. Additionally, she is recognized as an Associate Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Mumba continues to strive for academic excellence in the field of surgery, through research and data driven practice. she is passionate about championing causes that promote continued education especially for females in the STEM fields; with the overreaching aim of working towards the UN SDG 5 of promoting gender equality. Dr Mumba Chalwe is among the few female surgeons in Zambia and is the first Female Urologist in the country.
Vice Chairperson – Dr. Fortunate Mudede
I am Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon (trained by COSECSA) of Zimbabwean Origin based in Zimbabwe. I work at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare, Zimbabwe as a senior registrar in the Department of Surgery. With quite a few females in this department, statistically, i am currently the youngest Surgeon and the second ever female Orthopaedic Surgeon in my country.
In December 2022, I started my journey as the WiSA Vice Chairperson. My passion for influencing females to join surgery keeps growing since i joined WiSA. WiSA has supported me to attend my MCS and FCS exams as well as the WiSA annual meetings during these years, through the COOL Oxford grant and the RCSI grant.
I dream of an Africa in which gender is not a limitation to an African Girl Child. Through this role, i will work as hard as i can to ensure that barriers to training a female surgeon are broken.
Dr. Patricia Shinondo – Secretary General:
Patricia Shinondo is a COSECSA fellow in Paediatric Surgery since 2019 and also completed her MMed Paediatric surgery with the University of Zambia in 2018. She is a proud recipient of the COSECSA-ACS grant 2019. She is the first Zambian female paediatric surgeon and head of paediatric surgery unit at Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia.
Dr Shinondo is part of the Global Initiative for Children’s surgery (GICS) seeking to improve access to children’s surgical care and provide safe surgery for children in LMICs. She is an advocate for safe children’s surgery in Zambia through her role as Secretary General of the Zambian Association of Paediatric Surgeons.
She has had roles as vice president of the Resident Doctors association of Zambia, and chairlady of the business advisory committee for the Zambia Medical Association, that have given her a strong desire to see increased female representation in key decision making roles.
Twitter Handle: @p_shins
Treasurer: Dr, Francoise Mukagaju
Graduated December 2022 as the first female Plastic Surgeon in Rwanda, and won the first Jimmy James Prize of the best Plastic Surgery examination candidate. Graduated in General Surgery by the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa in 2017 and worked as a General Surgeon at King Faisal Hospital before pursuing a training in Plastic Surgery.
Attended the Medical school at the University of Rwanda and she has been fascinated by Surgery since her internship time to date. Other qualifications include SHARE Global fellowship by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Research and publications on burns and Rwanda National Surgical, Obstetrics and Anesthesia Plan.
Passionate about teaching, inspiring and motivating younger doctors and students especially women and serves as the vice chair of Rwanda Women Surgeons and she is newly appointed Treasurer of the Women in Surgery Africa.
Member of Rwanda Surgical Society, College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Plastic surgeons, Rwanda Women Surgeons and Women in Surgery Africa, International Plastic Surgery Resident Group, Second Chance and Rwanda Medical and Dental council.
Wife and mother of two. Outside the hospital, she enjoys spending good time with her family and friends, discover new places and play tennis.
Education & Conference Officer: Dr. Mwamba Josephine Chiteba Mulenga BScHB, MBChB, MMed Orth, FCS ECSA (Orth)
Dr. Mulenga is a Consultant Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgeon based at The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka. She qualified as a specialist in 2020 after completing her Master of Medicine in Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery. She also holds a Fellowship in Orthopaedic Surgery from The College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) which she obtained in 2022.
She is also currently serving as Orthopaedic and Trauma surgery coordinator for the Specialist Training Program (STP) at UTH under Zambia Colleges of Medicine (ZACOMS) since January 2022. In addition to this, she currently serves on two (2) professional bodies, The Zambia Orthopaedic and Trauma Association (ZOTA) as Secretary General and on Women in Surgery Africa (WiSA) as the Education and Research Officer since 2022.
With over 10 years clinical experience, having worked in both rural and urban areas she has served her patients diligently and gained experience through mentorship from various professionals in the medical field. This has fostered her passion for teaching postgraduate students and mentoring female surgeons and would be surgeons.
Other than her passion for education, she is currently pursuing another interest which is clinical research so as to improve her skills in the field as well as offer guidance to others with similar interest.
She is highly driven and motivated to always improving her clinical experience as well as professional development. This ensures provision of safe surgical care to her patients.
Administration Officer: Dr. Lydia Nanjula
Lydia Nanjula: MD, MBA, MCS-ECSA is a COSECSA neurosurgery resident at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda.
She was recently appointed secretary for Women in Surgery Africa for her outstanding service. Dr. Nanjula is the founder of the WiSA Uganda chapter and spear-headed a charity drive to raise funding for female medical student mentorship in Uganda. She is a winner of the Lindsay Stewart award for original research and also was fortunate to receive the 2016 research based WiSA travel grant award.
She has served as head of residents at the neurosurgery residents at Mulago national referral hospital for the past four years; during which time she also speared headed research projects on traumatic brain injury, consent and burnout among residents.
As an academician, she has published papers on resident education (the herniorrhaphy prototype), the statistical cost of life during electricity failures and traumatic brain injury across the lifespan at Mulago national referral hospital.
Over the past 5 years, she has actively organized neurosurgical camps to deliver services to those that are in hard to reach areas in Uganda.
Ms. Ronny Mollel – Administration Assistant Officer:
Competent Office Administrator with an Enthusiastic ambitious and professional individual who has a proven track record of achieving results in highly competitive environment. A true professional who is mentally resilient to push past a rejection point in order to achieve Result. Ronny is a talented individual who can enhance the performance and efficiency in any organization by using her focus, energy drive and commitment to success. Her performance is a result driven and as quick learner she is fast enough in absorbing new ideas and adapting in changing scenarios.
Past WiSA Board Members
2019 – 2022
Dr. Agneta Odera – Chairperson
Dr. Wairimu Ndegwa – Treasurer
Dr. Busisiwe Mlambo – Education and Conference Officer
2015 – 2019
Ms Faith Muchemwa – Chairperson
Dr Agneta Odera – Vice Chairperson
Dr Ainhoa Costas Chavarri – Secretary General
Dr Pamela T K Samoyo – Treasurer
Dr Chiku Clara Mpanga – Membership Officer
