Peter Kyalo
Executive Director
Peter Kyalo is Executive Director of the Beit Trust CURE International Hospital of Zambia. He has served more than 10 years with CURE International and has held key roles, from financial controller to executive director, throughout CURE’s hospital network in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. He earned his MBA from the United States International University and his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya.
Harold Haamumba
Spiritual Director
Harold Haamumba is the spiritual director at the CURE Zambia hospital, where he has served since the hospital opened in 2006. “I and my wife, Rev. Namangolwa Ngonda Haamumba, always saw our calling as working with children. So when Beit CURE Hospital of Zambia opened its doors, we were excited to be part of the team,” he said. Harold received his theology training at Theological College of Zimbabwe, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in missions. Prior to joining CURE, Harold helped start the first ever English-speaking Brethren in Christ Church congregation in Zimbabwe. Harold and Na have three children: 7 year old Moses and a pair of twins, a girl named Tabo and a boy named Tebuho. Incidentally, Harold also has an identical twin, his brother Heath.
Kachinga Sichizya
Staff Neurosurgeon
Dr. Kachinga Sichizya serves as one of two neurosurgeons at the Beit CURE International Hospital of Zambia. Kachinga received his medical training at the University of Zambia and then went on to the University of Cape Town, South Africa for his neurosurgery training.Kachinga lives in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, with his wife Sunkutu, a radiologist and has three children. Kachinga, a marathon runner and boxer, also loves mountain climbing and has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise funds for CURE and awareness for children with physical disabilities in the developing world.
Giorgio Lastroni
Medical Director
Dr. Lastroni graduated from Milan University in Italy in 1997, always dreaming of working in Africa, with specific interest in paediatric orthopaedics. During his postgraduate training, he had the opportunity to work in Uganda with Dr. Norgrove Penny in 2001 while setting up the first Ponseti clubfoot project in the third world. After completing his education at the Institute for Orthopaedics “Gaetano Pini” in Milan, he started working as orthopaedic consultant in a public hospital in Italy in 2002, where he could be exposed to a wide spectrum of orthopaedic and trauma surgery. During those years he was in charge of trauma, paediatric orthopaedics and foot surgery. In 2009 he was able to spend three months with Dr. Mark Myerson at the Institute for Foot and Ankle reconstruction in Baltimore and had the chance to meet Dr. John Herzenberg, one of the first surgeons utilizing the Ponseti method for club feet in the US. He moved to Zambia in June 2009 and started working as a volunteer at the CURE Hospital in Lusaka. In June 2010 he assumed the role of Medical Director for this facility.Arnold Jacobs
Medical Director
Dr. Arnold Jacobs serves as Medical Director for the Oasis Hospital, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. He graduated from the Free University of Amsterdam in 1968 and, following completion of his residency in ObGyn in 1981, he worked as Chef de Clinique for five years in a hospital in the eastern part of Holland. In 1985, Dr. Arnold took up the position of Consultant ObGyn in North Yemen where he remained for five years. In 1991, he moved to Saudi Arabia where he worked until 2001 as ObGyn Consultant in the Military Hospital in Taif. For a period from 2001 to 2003, Dr. Arnold lived with his family in the Philippines. In February 2004, he took up the position of Consultant ObGyn at Oasis Hospital, Al Ain, UAE, and was made Head of Department in 2005. Shortly after that, in October 2006, he was appointed Medical Director. Dr. Arnold is a Member of the Royal Dutch College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and his interests are focused on obstetrics.
Tim Mead
Orthopedic Consultant
Dr. Mead has served as the medical director of the CURE hospital in Kenya since 1999. He is a U.S. board certified orthopedic surgeon from Muskegon, Michigan with specialized training in pediatrics. He has developed the first pediatric residency program in Kenya through the College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA). The COSECSA program consists of a five year program in pediatric, adult and trauma orthopedic training. Prior to joining CURE, Dr. Mead ran an orthopedic practice in western Michigan providing a broad range of surgical reconstructive services including joint replacement and arthroscopy surgery.
Trey Hulsey
Vice President of Patient Relations
Trey Hulsey is the Vice President of Patient Relations at CURE Oasis. He earned a BA in Biblical & Theological Studies from Gordon College in Wenham, MA. He then earned a MA in Religious Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying Early Christianity and its Jewish Matrix; following this he went on to Duke University and earned an MA in Religion, focusing on 1st century Judaism. Trey and his wife Jessie went to Bethlehem in the West Bank to work with an NGO in the areas of community development and relief in 2007. In 2010 he joined CURE Oasis. Trey speaks Hebrew and Arabic.
Julie and Derek Johnson
Executive Director
Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Derek currently calls Uganda “home” as he serves as Executive Director of CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda. In the states for his wedding in August, Derek and his new wife, Julie (Friesen) Johnson, will return to Uganda in January 2012.
Derek joined CURE full-time five years ago, but his passion and love for the people of Africa developed earlier when he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe.
Remembering his time there, Derek said, “One of the lasting memories I have from Zimbabwe is of a young man who lived near my village struggling to travel the 12 kms to the bus stop because he fell victim to polio as a child. My heart did and does go out to those in this world that, through no fault of their own, struggle to merely provide for themselves and get through life like the rest of us. I vividly recall wondering what we could do to help him better his life. At CURE, I knew I found an organization tangibly doing something about it.”
Derek returned to the U.S. but the people of sub-Saharan Africa were never far from his mind. While working at a pharmaceutical company, he met Andy Mayo, executive director of CURE Clubfoot Worldwide, and first heard about the work CURE was doing internationally. As they say, the rest is history.
Julie’s shares the same passion for the people, the weather and the country of Uganda and hopes to use her doctorate in physical therapy to reach out to mothers and children there. Coming from a family who started a marriage and family therapy ministry, Julie is equally focused on being a wife and friend to their colleagues in Uganda.
CURE is blessed to have Derek and Julie Johnson as part of our team and is grateful for their devotion to helping children suffering with disabilities.
John Mugamba
Medical Director
Dr. Mugamba serves as the medical director and neurosurgeon at CURE Children's Hospital of Uganda. He has been a practicing neurosurgeon for seven years following his graduation from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Dr. Mugamba worked for one year as a pediatric neurosurgery fellow under Dr. Ben Warf before taking over as medical director. Before he received his training in neurosurgery, he was a general surgeon at Mulago Referral Hospital in Uganda.
Miriam Ongom
Spiritual Director
Miriam Ongom has been with CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda since 2000, but her commitment to serving Uganda’s children stretches more than 20 years. Miriam began her career as a children’s minister at the Chrisco Church in Mbale. In 1988, she became head of the children’s department and a leader in the women’s ministry. Miriam also trained Sunday School teachers for her church and other churches in the area. In 2000, she joined the CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda as a playroom attendant, then Spiritual Center Coordinator and, finally, Spiritual Director. In addition to ministering to the hospital’s patients and their families, she continues to train Sunday School teachers during the hospital’s outreach campaigns.
Leron Lehman
Executive Director
Mr. Lehman has served as the Executive Director of CURE’s Hospital in Niger since January, 2010. After Graduating from Messiah College with a degree in accounting, Leron spent over 10 years in public accounting, eventually becoming a Principal with a regional firm in Central Pennsylvania. He has also spent time in various senior operational and financial roles at three different early stage venture backed startup companies. These roles included VP of Finance at a telecom company, COO at a software company that developed donor management systems for small and medium sized not for profit organizations, and most recently Executive Vice President of a medical transcription company with clients in over 35 states. Leron and his wife Christine have three children aged 13, 11 and 10.Jean-Francois Negrini
Medical Director
Dr Jean-François Negrini serves as surgeon consultant at the CURE Hospital in Niger. He graduated from the University of Geneva in 1988 and did his post-graduate training in general surgery in Switzerland (1988-1997). He resigned from his job in 2000 and worked in Bangladesh with the Leprosy Mission (DBLM Hospital, Nilphamari), taking care of patients with disabilities both Leprosy and non Leprosy related. While in Bangladesh, he developed the expertise to handle children with tropical disabilities thanks to the input of expert visiting teams. He resigned in May 2010, due to the need for a school for his children, and started his new job with CURE Niger in August 2010.Hassane Dan Karami
Spiritual Director
Dan Karami Hassane is the Spiritual Director at the CURE Niger hospital, the organization’s newest facility. Hassane has a diverse professional background. Before coming to CURE, he trained leaders of public and private companies in management and computer systems. He also worked for the Nigerien government for more than 20 years in various IT-related functions. He has a master’s of science in computer science and has studied abroad in Gabon and Canada. Hassane has also been active in spiritual ministry in his home country, holding a Master’s of Divinity in Christian Education from Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. His activities include: heading a committee that launched a national organization of Nigerien evangelical churches and missions, representing Niger’s Christians in the country’s parliament; teaching at a theological seminary; and starting a mission agency (ForMission) to train and send young Nigeriens into the mission field. He is married to a Kenyan missionary named Mary, and they have seven children.
Joshua Korn
Spiritual Director
Joshua Korn serves as the Spiritual Director of CURE’s Hospital in Niamey, Niger. After growing up in West Africa (Togo and Ivory Coast), and in Israel, Joshua attended Gordon College, where he graduated with degrees in History and French. He returned to Israel and received an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. After this, he then began working as a writer and editor for Musalaha, a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization which seeks to facilitate reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Joshua and his wife Julie were married in Israel in 2008.
Stuart Palmer
Executive Director
Stuart was born and initially educated in England before winning a scholarship to the USA. On his return he acquired degrees in Business and then Engineering, briefly undertaking some research at NASA. After a period working as an engineer in London, in 1998 he joined Traidcraft, a Christian fair trade organisation fighting poverty through trade. Under pressure to produce a “quick win” by his boss, he helped to pioneer the Geobar, the first tasty mass market fair trade snack bar in the supermarkets and went on to double turnover for the organisation. The work as Marketing Director of Traidcraft, however, did not satisfy his long held vision to serve overseas, to live more as an alien this side of heaven, a desire also held by his medical doctor wife Zoë, whom he married in 1997. In 2005, after a forty minute interview with Stephen Miller, held in a coffee bar at Heathrow Airport, Stuart joined CURE International and moved to Malawi in Central Africa. Zoë serves nearby in another hospital providing paediatric palliative care. They have three children, Iona (12), Ben (10) and David (6), their adopted Malawian son.
Scrivin Kamanga
Spiritual Director
Scrivin Kamanga serves as Spiritual Director of the Beit CURE International Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. He graduated from African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biblical Studies and with a minor in Radio Communication in 1997. Immediately after graduation, he worked for Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) on a voluntary basis as Communications Officer for three years while serving as an associate pastor in his church. As a trained radio personality, Scrivin then joined Trans-World Radio as a producer and presenter in 2000. Later, Trans-World Radio moved him from Lilongwe to Blantyre to set up its fm network. It is here that he worked as producer, presenter, reporter and news reader before rising to the position of Station Manager. While working at this radio station, Scrivin served as a part-time pastor in his Church. He then left Trans-world Radio and became a full-time pastor. While serving as a pastor, his bishop seconded him to Global Ministries and Relief to set up a Bible Institute in conjunction with a missionary from the USA. He served the organization as its administrator and lecturer at the Bible Institute until January 2007. It is in March 2007 that Scrivin joined CURE Malawi as its Spiritual Director, a position he holds up to now.
John Cashman
Orthopedic Consultant
Mr. Cashman serves as orthopaedics consultant for CURE in Blantyre, Malawi, providing reconstructive surgery to both children and adults. He has successfully upgraded the joint replacement capability of the Beit CURE International Hospital and conducts weekly private adult clinics in the capital city of Lilongwe. Prior to joining CURE, Mr. Cashman practiced at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in Bristol, Great Britain. He is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, the British Orthopaedic Society and the British Trauma Society. Throughout his twenty year tenure as a surgeon, he has been certified in over a dozen specialty areas including advanced laparoscopic techniques. He graduated with a medical degree from the Southhampton Medical School in the United Kingdom.
Christine Kithome
Spiritual Director
Christine Kithome is the spiritual director at AIC-CURE International Hospital of Kenya. She is oversees the hospital’s spiritual ministry staff and all spiritual ministry activities, including daily chapel services, bedside prayer, and mobile outreach clinics. Christine has was instrumental helping to define the spiritual ministry program and set goals and objectives.Christine received her degree in Bible and Theology from Moffat College of Bible. Before coming to CURE, Christine worked for the Africa Inland Church as a Christian Education worker conducting women’s fellowship, Sunday school classes, church services and bible studies. Christine went on to work for World Vision as an Assistant Manager/Senior Social Worker. She joined CURE in 1998 when the hospital in Kenya opened. Since it was CURE’s first hospital, Christine was instrumental in helping to define CURE’s spiritual ministry program that would later be carried over to other CURE hospitals.
Jack Muthui
Executive Director
Mr. Muthui serves as the Executive Director of the CURE Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, a role he took up in 2006. Prior to this, he served as a Director of Administration and Finance at the African Energy Policy Research Network (AFREPREN), a regional NGO specializing in Energy Policy Research in sub-Saharan Africa, where he was involved in coordination of various research and scholarship programs. He has also served as an administrator and finance consultant in different Non Governmental Organizations. Mr. Muthui graduated from the University of Nairobi Business School with a Degree in Finance. He also holds CPA qualifications as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management from South Africa.
Joseph Theuri
Medical Director
Dr. Theuri joined CURE International immediately after his medical internship at Kijabe in January 1998. He went through an ‘on the job’ training in corrective surgery for children with physical disabilities for three years. In 2000, he was sponsored by CURE International to pursue an MMed degree in orthopedics at Makerere University, Uganda, which he got in 2003. He went back to Kijabe and has been working there as an orthopedic surgeon since then. He became a fellow of COSECSA in Orthopedics recently. Dr. Theuri together with others helped start the Clubfoot Care for Kenya project in 2005. He is the director of this program to date. He is also the Assistant Medical Director of AIC CURE, Kijabe. He is involved in leadership at the AIC Kijabe Local Church and also as a teacher in the children’s Sunday School at the same church. His wife is Lillian Theuri and his two sons are Daniel Macharia and David Mburu.
Ted Beemer
Interim Medical Director
Ted is a general orthopaedic surgeon who has retired to work full time in missions after 27 years of private practice in Sanford, NC. A native of South Carolina, Ted finished medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1974, interned in Spartanburg, South Carolina and then spent 2 years in the US Army, first in the Second Division in Tong du Chong, South Korea and then at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Ted then was director of Emergency Services at the Tuomey Hospital in Sumter, SC before returning to MUSC for residency in Orthopaedic Surgery. Ted has a wife, Susan who is a Certified Nurse Anesthetist who also works for CURE, and 2 grown children, Zach and Whitney, who both live and work in New York City.
Ned Schwentker
Former Medical Director
Dr. Schwentker has served as the U.S. medical director of the CURE Honduras hospital in San Pedro Sula. In this capacity, he provides a wide range of pediatric orthopedic care as well as training to Honduran general and orthopedic surgeons and resident trainees. Prior to joining CURE, he was a professor in the departments of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and Pediatrics at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of the Pennsylvania State University. He served as faculty to orthopedic residents, providing both didactic and practical training expertise. Dr. Schwentker has been practicing medicine for over 35 years and has published dozens of articles and papers in his areas of expertise.
Ruth Castro
Executive Director
Ruth serves as Executive Director of the CURE International Hospital in Honduras. Ruth and her husband Daniel (Spiritual Director until 2010) have been missionaries in their own country. After they were married, they became missionaries in Honduras with the Latin America Mission; served in Costa Rica and Panama until 1986; and have worked with university and high school students, with Ministry to the Student World (MINAMUNDO), and with Evangelization and Discipleship groups. Ruth’s administrative work with the Medical Group Missions of the CMDS was complemented with education in English and Theology. Ruth and her husband worked with Medical/Surgical/Dental short-term teams in Honduras for 15 years, their last assignment with Medical Ministry International, prior to coming to CURE in 2004 when CURE Honduras started full-time ministry in the country of Honduras.
Aracely Castillo
Spiritual Director
Olimpia Aracely Salgado Paredes serves as CURE Honduras’ Spiritual Director. After more than a year of volunteering at the CURE hospital, she became the spiritual director in July 2010 upon the retirement of the previous spiritual director, Danny Castro. Aracely has devoted her life to spiritual ministry in her home country. When she was volunteering at the CURE hospital, she also taught Sunday School and was involved in various ministries. She accepted Jesus as her Savior in 1992 and was baptized in 1996. She has a degree from the University of San Pedro Sula in marketing. Currently she’s working toward a degree in theological studies. Aracely married her husband, Gerardo Castillo Mejia, during university. They have three children.
Adey Abate
Executive Director
Adey Abate has served as the Executive Director of the CURE Ethiopia Children’s Hospital since September 2007, having been integral in opening the hospital and then overseeing its operations since the facility's first surgery in January 2009. Adey has a bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Masters degree in Applied Economics. Adey is originally from Ethiopia but lived in the United States since high school, moving back to her birth place to work with CURE International in Addis Ababa. Adey is very grateful for the opportunity, through CURE, to give back to her birth place and to be part of this mission. Adey’s experiences before joining CURE and returning to Ethiopia include roles as a Cost Management Analyst at Boeing Commercial Airplane, then with Boeing Defense as a subcontract manager on the Missile Defense Program, managing several subcontractors working under Boeing. She then went on to work with Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the biggest US federal government contractors, as a Senior Consultant. Most of Adey’s experience is in financial and project management with US federal government related contracts, thus requiring a secret level clearance with the department of defense.
Mesfin Taye
Spiritual Director
Mesfin Taye is the spiritual director at CURE Ethiopia Children’s Hospital in Addis Ababa. Although Mesfin received his bachelor’s degree in counseling from Evangelical Theological College, he was involved in ministry from his youth. As a teenager, Mesfin joined Addis Ababa’s citywide youth ministry committee and served as a youth leader at his church before going on to train other youth leaders as a volunteer with Scripture Union. Mesfin also has experience as a high school Bible teacher and church ministry team member. Before coming to CURE, Mesfin worked as a country director for Divine Power Evangelistic Ministry and then served with Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia. He joined CURE International in 2007 as a CURE Clubfoot Worldwide coordinator before being promoted to spiritual director the following year.Mesfin has his degree in counseling and is an accredited international teacher of co-counseling. He and his wife Mahlet have three children, one boy (14) and two girls (11 and 5).
Eric Gokcen
Medical Director
Dr. Eric Gokcen is an orthopedic surgeon overseeing the medical program at CURE International’s hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He provides a wide variety of both pediatric and adult surgical procedures at this facility including joint arthroscopies and total hip replacements. Prior to joining CURE, Dr. Gokcen was a partner in a sports medicine practice in the suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area.
Mary Bernard
Anesthesiologist
Mary, born in Pennsylvania and having grown up in Minnesota, now lives in Washington state with her husband Chris and their 4 children. She received her BS and MD from the University of Minnesota and did her residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She then servered as a staff anesthesiologist at Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state with the rank of Army Major and after as a civilian. In 2011 she joined CURE to serve as the Anesthesiologist for CURE Ethiopia.
Dan Ruggles
Medical Director
Dr. Ruggles recently joined CURE full-time in October 2010 as Medical Director of CURE Dominican Republic. He acquired his orthopedic residency training in southern California where he was introduced to CURE, making several short-term trips to the Dominican Republic and Haiti while a resident. He then completed a Pediatric & Scoliosis Fellowship at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Ruggles is on the faculty with Loma Linda University Medical Center and Riverside County Regional Medical Center Orthopedic Surgery Department. He married this past December. His wife, Susan, a pediatric intensive care nurse, will be joining him in Santo Domingo.
Rick Manning
Medical Director
Dr. Manning has worked with CURE International since October 2004 when he participated in the planning, design and inception stages of the Kabul project. While initially serving as a consultant, he quickly moved on to work in a variety of key positions in Kabul. His roles over the past five years have included: technical support for the development/physical layout of the new operating theater; launching an MoPH recognized Surgical Fellowship program; launching Afghanistan’s first endoscopic and laparoscopic surgical services in the civilian health sector; and serving as the Medical Education Director. For the past year, he has served as the Medical Director in Kabul, where he mentors senior Afghan medical staff in strategic leadership, medical education and departmental administration to ensure sustainability and a solid Afghan leadership team at the foundation of CURE’s long term project. Together with his Afghan counterparts, Dr. Manning expanded CURE’s partnerships amongst health sector NGOs, Afghan government officials, surgical and medical suppliers, and other providers of medical education programs. Most recently Dr. Manning developed a customized training program for visiting Afghan physicians, surgeons, nurses and hospital administrators working in Afghan Provincial Hospitals. Early success of this didactic and practical training program on-site at the 90 bed CURE facility has led to a significant increase in demand for such services by Afghan hospital personnel across more than a dozen provinces. Dr. Manning completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania; medical school at the Thomas Jefferson University; and surgical training at the George Washington University Hospital.
