2021 Allan Drash Clinical Fellowship Awardees
Ahmed Hassan
Ahmed Arafa Hassan, PhD is a lecturer of pediatric endocrinology at Tanta University, and a consultant of pediatric endocrinology at Cancer Children’s Hospital 57357, Egypt. Ahmed graduated in 2004 from medical school at Tanta University and received his master’s degree in 2009. Then Ahmed has started his pediatric endocrinology career. He received training in the pediatric endocrinology department at Cairo University for 3 years, then received training on the late effect of childhood cancer at Cancer Children Hospital. Then Ahmed was chosen for the winter school of ESPE (European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology) in Georgia.
After that, Ahmed had training at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK, on the endocrine effects of childhood cancer. Then Ahmed got a grant for an ESPE fellowship in Cardiff, UK, for three months. Ahmed is a member of ISPAD, ESPE, and ASPED societies of pediatric endocrinology. Ahmed has international publications in the pediatric endocrinology field, and now he is a lecturer and consultant of pediatric endocrinology at Tanta University, Egypt.
Ankita Maheshwari
Dr Ankita pursued her medical degree MBBS from Jamnagar, Gujarat, India, and MD in Paediatrics from MS University, Vadodara, India. After that, she worked at various prestigious institutions in India. Her fascination for this complex and interesting field of endocrinology made her pursue 2 years post-doctoral fellowship in Paediatric and adolescent Endocrinology from Bharti Vidyapeeth & Jehangir Hospital, Pune, under Dr Vaman Khadilkar. She was awarded an ESPE fellowship in Paediatric endocrinology at Southampton, UK, under Dr Justin Davies in 2017. She was an active part of a program for underprivileged children, which used to provide free medical care, including Insulin, to type 1 diabetic kids during her fellowship days.
She has presented various papers on diabetes, growth, and adrenal disorders at national and international conferences. In 2020, she convened a growth workshop at a national conference. She has many research publications in diabetes and endocrinology to her credit and has authored chapters in various pediatric endocrine textbooks.
Presently, she is working as an Assistant professor of pediatric Endocrinology at a teaching institute in Indore, India. She is the first practicing Pediatric endocrinologist in her state. She has been instrumental in carrying out various academic and awareness programs for endocrine disorders, including Diabetes.
Dr Ankita has been an ISPAD member since 2020. She runs a diabetic clinic at her institute, which caters to around 100 children with type 1 diabetes. She has recently started a program called ‘InDia Kids’(Initiative to help Diabetic Kids), which aims to provide Insulin free of cost to type 1 diabetic kids.
Dr Ankita is honored to have been awarded the Allan Drash Fellowship 2021. She aims to set up a comprehensive diabetes care center with information on newer technologies and collaborate on research in diabetes.
Deepika Harit
Dr. Deepika Harit is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi, India. She received her MBBS degree from the prestigious Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, in 2002. She completed an MD in pediatrics from the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi. Dr. Deepika has been serving as a faculty member for the past 10 years. During her residency and consultancy period, she was exposed to various pediatric subspecialties.
She is a university-recognized MD thesis supervisor and has supervised several undergraduate research projects and MD theses. Both UG and PG students have won many awards at various national conferences and other platforms under her guidance. She has been actively involved in research and publication activities. She has authored numerous publications in reputed international and national journals and written chapters in various books. She has presented many papers at various international and national conferences. She received the prestigious James Flett Endowment award (Gold Medal) for best research paper at the 56th National Conference of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Pedicon, February 2019.
She has a keen interest in Pediatric Diabetes. She completed the Diabetes Certification Course by BMJ, Royal College of Physicians, London, and Fortis C-Doc, Delhi in 2018. Subsequently, she started a Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Clinic in her institute. Currently, many Type 1 Diabetes children are under her care, and the institute can provide free Insulin pens, supplies, and lab tests to all of these children. Her special interest areas are Diabetes and Metabolism. She regularly trained her staff and residents to manage pediatric diabetes through various educational activities. She was a committee member for the Indian Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for parents for Care of a Child with Diabetes Mellitus 2020.
Dr. Harit believes there is a felt need in India to develop more pediatric diabetologists so that all children with Diabetes can receive optimal care and treatment. Her dream is to make her hospital a center of excellence in providing comprehensive, cost-effective care to pediatric diabetes patients under one roof. She aims to make a difference in the care of these children and provide them with all the medicines and diabetes services free of cost. She looks forward to developing a good multidisciplinary center for pediatric diabetes at her institute through the experience gained from ISPAD’s Allan Darsh Fellowship.
Eren Er
Eren Er, MD, was born in Ankara, Turkey, on February 4th, 1984. After completing his primary and secondary education in Ankara, he graduated from Hacettepe University School of Medicine in 2009. Between October 2008 and January 2009, he participated in an internship program at the University of Crete Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, within the scope of Erasmus. In 2015, he completed his residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Baskent in Ankara, Turkey.
Dr. Er has been studying as a fellow of pediatric endocrinology at Ege University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, since 2018. He is a member of a pediatric diabetes team, which takes care of around 800 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Their team is one of the leading groups that used the advanced hybrid closed loop (AHCL) system for the first time in Turkey. They organize camps for diabetic children and seminars for pediatric diabetes team members annually.
Dr. Er is a member of ISPAD and ESPE and the representative of pediatric endocrinology fellows in the Turkish Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes. He is one of the content developers of the ‘CEDD guide’ application prepared for the use of pediatric endocrinology physicians. He has attended national and international conferences, presented many posters, and gave oral presentations. During his fellowship, he aims to see the most up-to-date approaches to follow-up and treatment of diabetes and to be involved in studies in this field.
Ghaisani Fadiana
Dr. Ghaisani Fadiana is pursuing a Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship in the Endocrinology Division, Child Health Department, Universitas Indonesia Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital. She completed her MD and pediatric specialist degree from Universitas Indonesia. She has been an ISPAD member since 2019 and attended the ISPAD Science School for Physicians in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
She has been developing a project called the “PEDIA Project”, which aims to establish new and innovative tools for diabetes education in Indonesia. The project was awarded a grant by CLAN-APPES (Caring and Living As Neighbours, Asia Pacific Paediatric Endocrine Society). Her project has been acknowledged internationally and selected as The First Winner of the World Health Organization (WHO) NCD Lab in the thematic area “Meaningful Involvement of People Living with NCDs” this year.
Her interest in non-communicable diseases has been shown in her involvement in several organizations. She serves as a member of the Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) Taskforce in the Indonesian Pediatric Society and Asia Pacific Pediatric Association. She currently conducts research on T1D care during the COVID-19 pandemic involving affected children and their families.
With ISPAD Allan Drash Fellowship, she aims to improve her knowledge, skills, and insights into managing diabetes in clinical practice and for research. She plans to develop an integrated diabetes clinic with a multidisciplinary team and a diabetes research center in her institution.
Kaisan Nesa Lesa
Kaisun Nesa Lesa was born in Khulna, a city in the Southern region of Bangladesh. She completed her B.Sc in Honors (2014) and MSc (2016) in Food and Nutrition Science from Bangladesh. She would like to expand her analytical knowledge related to Nutrition and as a practical and theoretical training to prepare herself. She has four research publications in international journals: ELSEVIER, American Journal of Health Research, and Journal of Food & Nutritional Disorders and Science PG. She is working on another paper, “Obesity and School Children in Bangladesh".
During her graduation, she worked as volunteering work at “Rupantoor”, an NGO dedicated to education for patients with diabetic Type 1 and their community in 2012. Then she did short-term project work as a Nutritional training coordinator for the rural areas people in the southern region of Bangladesh from 1st Nov 2013 to 30th Nov 2013 at “Food Security in Shrimp Farming Area of Bangladesh” (Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, FK94LA, United Kingdom). From 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2015, she completed an Internee as a Dietitian at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Khulna, Bangladesh, where her responsibilities were to assess the nutritional status of the Indoor and outdoor patients and to plan diets for CHD and diabetic patients and consult about dietary guidelines.
She started her career as a Lecturer in the Food and Nutrition Department at K.C.C. Women’s College, affiliated with Khulna University, Bangladesh, in 2016. Her major responsibility was teaching food science, nutritional science, nutrition and dietetics, food security, maternal and child nutrition, food preservation, packaging, and safety. In 2017, she joined an international hospital in Bangladesh (AFC-Health Fortis Heart Institute) in the Hospital Quality Assurance department, where her job responsibilities were to monitor, audit, reporting & to, ensure whole hospital quality assurance, develop SOPs, and so on. Moreover, with this activity, she acted as “Dietitian” from 1 January 2018. Her responsibility as a Dietitian was to ensure nutritional status & dietary assessment of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, malnourished, and many patients where she worked for 4 years. In 2020 (from June), her excellent work ethic got her transferred to the Specialist Hospital in Khulna, Bangladesh, as a Diet & Nutrition Consultant. Here, she accumulated experience in diabetes, PCOD, and obesity prevention and management.
Her expectations from the ISPAD fellowship are that she could contribute towards the growth of her own institution. Her plan at the time of her return to Bangladesh is to start working for Diabetic patients or a research laboratory on Diabetics where she would utilize her new abilities and knowledge. She believes that the experience she would gain by doing higher study in several countries would set her apart from her peers as a highly motivated individual with sufficient knowledge to become a successful scientist, lecturer, or Dietitian. She believes that she could make big changes to the current situation in Bangladesh in the Nutritional and medical sectors. This area of development is very important for her country.
In 2021, she was selected for the ISPAD Nihon University Hospital, Tokyo, in Japan. During her Allan Drash fellowship, she plans to learn about the clinical study of nutritional management and pharmacological treatment in children with type 1 and type 2 diabetes to improve the current diabetes care in Bangladesh.
Regina Duperval
Regina Duperval is a pediatrician and the current Medical Director of Kay Mackenson (KM) Clinic, a non-profit organization based in Haiti. The clinic aims to give all children with diabetes free access to regular medical evaluation, diabetes education, and medical supplies. Dr. Duperval holds an MD from the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of the State University of Haiti. She did her pediatrics residency at Saint-Damien and Bernard Mevs Hospitals in Haiti, where she was a Chief resident.
Dr Duperval is doing a one-year global fellowship program on Health Equity with the George Washington University Health Workforce Institute. She demonstrates a keen interest in maternal and child health and, as a leader, wants to work towards more equitable access to healthcare and education for all children in Haiti.
Santosh Pokhrel
Dr Santosh Pokhrel is a Pediatrician working at Butwal, Lumbini, Nepal. He completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from BPKIHS, Dharan, in 2007 and his MD in pediatrics from the Institute of Medicine (IoM) Kathmandu in 2013.
Born and growing up in the rural hilly region of Nepal, Dr Pokhrel decided to serve people in need from more underprivileged areas and moved to Butwal. There, he joined Siddhartha Children and Women's Hospital as a Pediatrician. He started taking care of Type 1 Diabetic Children in 2014 with support from Life for a Child Program. Before that, most Children with type 1 Diabetes from that region were referred to Kathmandu for regular check-ups. Starting with a single child, now he is taking care of more than 60 children with Type 1 Diabetes. He aims to set up a well-dedicated Type 1 Diabetes referral center with multispecialty care in his current hospital.
He has been an ISPAD member since 2015. Receiving an LFAC travel grant, he attended the ISPAD+APEG conference in Brisbane in 2015 and the ISPAD conference in Hyderabad in 2018. He also attended the ISPAD Science School for Physicians in Oslo, Norway, in 2016.
Dr Pokhrel is also working with the Nepal Pediatric Society and the National Health Research Council to start a National registry of Type 1 Diabetes patients.
He is delighted to be awarded the Allan Drash Fellowship and hopes to improve his knowledge about holistic care and managing complications related to Type 1 Diabetes. The fellowship will also help him accomplish his objectives of setting up
a Diabetes Clinic and, to some extent, starting a registry in Nepal.
Sherline White
Sherline White is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Educator, and trainer with over 8 years of experience in pediatric diabetes; she has counseled over 500 children with Type 1 Diabetes. She works with underprivileged patients from low-resource settings, offering subsidized services to children with Type 1 Diabetes.
Sherline has co-authored publications, introduced a message service in the Care of children and Utility of an Internet-based short Message Service in the care of children and Adolescents with Type1 Diabetes Mellitus in Journals of Diabetology Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Adolescents From Southern India – A Single Center Experience Indian Pediatric 2021 Care of children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in school An Intervention study Published on 12 October 2021.
Sherline has been invited as a speaker and a delegate to national and International Diabetes Conferences. She has a portfolio of posters and oral presentations to her credit.
She organizes Diabetes community camps for diabetic children every year, trains school teachers through seminars, and gives hands-on training every year to manage students with diabetes. She is also responsible for teaching DNB medical students, interns, and nurses.
She has written Chapters in the Book that include a Parents' information guide, Self-Monitoring of blood glucose, Encouraging a brave child with Diabetes, and a Teacher's handbook.
She has been associated with ISPAD since 2014. She was selected to attend the 11th ISPAD Science School for Healthcare Professionals in Toronto, Canada. She aspires to dedicate herself to Pediatric Diabetes and Improve the existing standards of care, treatment, and education for Type 1 diabetes in India.
Living with diabetes has changed her into a very passionate person, encouraging herself to work to improve the health of people living with diabetes across the globe. Sherline is delighted to be awarded the ISPAD Allan Drash Fellowship 2021. She also aims to gain more experience in using technology in diabetes with insulin pumps, CGMS, etc. The training will add immense value, knowledge, and skills to her clinical practice and counseling skills and will also enable and prepare her to train more healthcare professionals in India. This fellowship will make her more competent in pursuing her interest in research in pediatric and adolescent diabetes.
Sheryl Salis
Sheryl Salis is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, and insulin pump trainer. She founded Nurture Health Solutions and is a Consultant Dietitian at the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF), Mumbai. With over 21 years of experience in pediatric diabetes, she has counseled over 2000 children with Type 1 diabetes. She works with underprivileged patients from low-resource settings, offering subsidized services to children with Type 1 Diabetes.
She is involved in academics as a Course Director, National Advisor, visiting faculty, and research guide to various educational institutions and associations training dieticians, diabetes educators, and physicians from across the country and overseas. She has also been a faculty of the ASPED ISPAD Diabetes Academy. She has been invited as a speaker at many national and international medical conferences and has had many national and international publications in peer-reviewed journals to her credit. She won the 1st prize at IDACON 2012 and IAOH 2016 for the best oral paper presentation.
She has authored several books on nutrition, including the highly acclaimed Diet in Diabetes Simplified, which has won two awards. Her book on Carbohydrate Counting, covering Indian cuisines and restaurant menus, is referred to globally by experts and patients. She has also developed a nutrition app covering more than 5,000 Indian foods.
Sheryl has been an ISPAD member since 2016. She was a speaker at the 43rd Annual Conference of ISPAD 2017 and an organizing committee member and chairperson at the 44th Annual Conference of ISPAD 2018. She was selected to attend the 16th ISPAD Science School for Healthcare Professionals held in Boston, USA. She has recently co-authored a book on carbohydrate counting by ISPAD and Life for a Child and has been selected to co-author a chapter on nutrition for the ISPAD 2022 Consensus Guidelines.
Sheryl is also a National Executive Member of scientific associations like Indian Dietetic Association (IDA), Diabetes Awareness and You (DAY), an associate member of Indian Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology (ISPAE) and a program committee member of Health Foods and Dietary Supplements Association (HADSA).
Sheryl is delighted to be awarded the Allan Drash Fellowship 2021. The training will add immense value to her clinical practice, equip her with the knowledge and skills to train more health care professionals in India and other developing countries. The fellowship will make her more competent to pursue her interest in research in pediatric and adolescent diabetes.