Our Team

Peter G. Delaney, M.D.

Board Chairman

As a former emergency medical technician, Peter’s research is focused on emergency medical services development and prehospital trauma care for injury in low- and middle-income countries, with particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa, having worked in Uganda, Chad, Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Nigeria. His work in post-crash response with LFR International received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2020. He is an invited advisor to the United Nations Road Safety Fund’s Platform on Health and Road Safety and AOA graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School.

Zachary J. Eisner, BS, NREMT-B

Executive Director

A biomedical engineer by training, Zach developed a passion for global health and emergency medicine after becoming licensed as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) through the United States NREMT. He has since worked with emergency medical response teams around the world and is certified in EMS instruction through the National Association of EMS Educators. His work in post-crash response with LFR International received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2020 and he now serves as a founding representative of the Global Prehospital Consortium.

Haleigh Pine, NREMT-B

Operations Director

Haleigh is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Her passion for emergency medicine began in 2018, when she became certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) and then volunteered for her local squad for three years. Now nationally certified in the United States through the NREMT, Haleigh plans to pursue a career in the medical field. At WashU, she is involved in writing for Frontiers, a quarterly health magazine, the Society of Women Engineers, leading problem sessions for the intro to BME class and playing club basketball. Through LFR, she helped run human trials to test the efficacy of a towel for c-spine immobilization based on cervical range of motion measurements. As a former LFR Fellow in Engineering and Innovation, she completed scoping review on the state of airway management training in LMICs in addition to proposing a novel biomedical study to assess airway management efficacy.

Nathanael Smith, M.D.

Medical Director

Dr. Smith is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine and Global Health Equity Fellow at Boston University School of Medicine and brings expertise in emergency medicine with a passion for global health. His work with LFR International will focus on training and growth of the lay first responder program with a particular focus on evaluation of clinical outcomes. He has additional interest in mobile health and telehealth, especially in austere or disaster settings. His previous work has focused on reducing access to lethal means in patients with suicidal ideation and developing telehealth training for resident physicians. He completed emergency medicine residency at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Consortium where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and participated in institutional initiatives to improve recruitment and retention of BIPOC residents, fellows, and faculty. He completed his medical degree at Meharry Medical College where he also pursued an additional certificate in health policy and completed a Howard Hughes Medical Scholar Fellowship at Vanderbilt School of Medicine. Outside of work, Nathanael enjoys spending time with his wife, traveling, and helping with small-group activities at church.

Emily Stoller

Director of Pre-Doctoral Fellowships

Emily is a junior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in Global Health and Environment Anthropology and minoring in Biology. Her work as both a Basic Life Support (BLS) and Stop the Bleed (STB) certified instructor has driven her passion for global health. She has piloted various initiatives to certify high school students, unhoused individuals, and other members of the St. Louis community in BLS and has published research on the effect of COVID-induced parosmias on suicidality. In her free time, she works as a volunteer at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, teaches first-aid concepts in elementary schools as a club member of MedEd, and runs weekly discussion sections for students taking Into to General Chemistry. As a former LFR Fellow, she has helped run human trials to test efficacy of hemorrhage point-of-care (POC) instruction methods and is currently working on fellowship program development among other LFR research projects

Ashwin Kulkarni, B.S.

Outreach Director

Ashwin's interest in global health began as in the Balkans while studying the Yugoslavian War's effects on the public health systems of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He returned to the U.S. looking to contribute to domestic healthcare improvements. In the biomedical space, Ashwin developed and tested a digital blueprint for common surgeries at a medical startup named OR Link. He then spent time documenting racial and SES disparities in food allergy outcomes at the Feinberg School of Medicine's Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR). At CFAAR, Ashwin also helped create iREACH, an EHR-integrated tool deployed at over 45 Chicago clinics that aims to reduce the peanut allergy incidence by increasing rates of early introduction. Ashwin has dual-degrees in Journalism and Neuroscience from Northwestern University, where he founded the school's first Science and Technology section for a major publication: North by Northwestern Magazine. As a current student at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ashwin intends to continue contributing to projects that are improving patient outcomes and increasing health literacy at home and abroad.

Maxwell Klapow, MPhil

Director of Research and Evaluation

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Max is a Truman Scholar pursuing his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Department of Social Policy and Intervention and UNICEF supported by a Grand Union ESRC Scholarship. Max is dedicated to bringing together science, policy, and practice to improve mental health on a global scale. He received his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Philosophy with Latin Honors as a William H. Danforth Scholar. At WashU, Max was selected as a Stern Family Civic Scholar, which supported his work developing a psychological intervention program for incarcerated individuals and researching lay first responder programs in sub-Saharan Africa. Max’s work has been published in academic journals and popular press outlets. At Oxford, Max is a researcher at the Global Parenting Initiative, a UNICEF-supported team creating, testing, and scaling interventions to promote child and family well-being throughout the Global South. He currently serves as an Editor of the Journal of Inequality Research and The Graduate Inequality Review at the University of Oxford. He earned his MPhil in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the University of Oxford.

Amber Batra, B.A., NREMT-B

Obstetric Care Program Coordinator

Amber’s passion for bridging the gap in healthcare began in high school when she learned that that the majority of infant and maternal deaths occur in developing countries and more importantly learned that many of those are preventable. She began to shadow Ob-Gyns in the DC metropolitan area, paying close attention to the various populations they treat and complications they encounter. In college, she further explored this interest by researching how cannabis usage affects neonatal development as well as maternal and fetal outcomes. As a former LFR fellow in prehospital medicine, Amber worked in Uganda to not only train motorcycle taxi drivers in first aid and basic trauma care but also pilot an advanced medical emergencies and obstetrics curriculum. She is certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) and in FEMA Incident Command and Management Systems (IS-100/200/700), and she spent four years volunteering for WashU’s Emergency Support Team. Amber received a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis.

Alfred Harun Thullah, B.A.

Sierra Leone Program Coordinator

Alfred is a proud Sierra Leone native and a highly experienced leader in the West African nonprofit sector. He received his Certificate in Higher Education from the Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology, where he now serves as a guest lecturer, and has since earned a Diploma in Computer Software and Certificate on Mass Communication and Development Studies at the University of Makeni. Alfred then completed his Bachelor of Arts at Atlantic International University.After receiving his degree, Alfred served as the Chairman and Peer Educator for Restless Development, a Sierra Leonean organization focusing on Reproductive Health, Teenage Pregnancy, Early Marriage and HIV/AIDS. He then worked for Caritas Makeni for seven years, starting as volunteer and progressing to the level of program manager during the 2016 Ebola Crisis. Alfred currently serves as the Director for the Agency for Rural Community Transformation (ARCT), one of LFR International’s Sierra Leonean partners and the Chairman of LFR Sierra Leone.

Kyrillos Ayoub, B.A., NREMT-B

Uganda Program Coordinator

Kyrillos, a University Scholar in Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, recently graduated with a degree in neuroscience. Since he was 16, Kyrillos has served local communities as an EMT. The responsibility entrusted to him as a young crew chief accelerated his passion for emergency medical services. As a fellow, he travelled to Uganda to help implement the LFR training program. His time there taught him it was not the tangible changes that left a lasting impact. It was the intangible moments of connect and shared humanity that truly resonated with him. Today, Kyrillos is ever so passionate about continuing his service in Uganda, helping to increase access to prehospital care in underserved communities.

Anagha Thiagarajan, B.S.

Public Relations coordinator

Anagha’s passion for improving global health was sparked in Panama where she volunteered with the nonprofit organization, Global Medical Training. In the biopharmaceutical industry, her experience working to expand access to treatments for sickle cell disease with Global Blood Therapeutics exposed her further to global health disparities. Currently, she is working as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Anagha has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is an aspiring medical student.

Dr. Jenna Rubenstein, Ph.D., M.S.

Dr. Rubenstein is an executive at the Boston Scientific Corporation and oversees talent development for Canada, Latin America, and the US West Region. She created the first global leadership development program at Boston Scientific and has over 20 years of experience in the fields of talent and organization development, previously working for Amgen & Washington Mutual.

Dr. Rubenstein received a Masters and Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Claremont Graduate University and lectures in entrepreneurial leadership. Dr. Rubenstein has played an integral role in developing the LFR Fellows program.

Dr. Patrick Turay, M.D., M.Sc.

As Medical Director of the Holy Spirit Hospital of Makeni in Sierra Leone, Dr. Turay has previously served as Vice-Chairman of the Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone. Dr. Turay received his MSc in Tropical Medicine & International Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Turay was also selected as a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in Public Health Policy & Management by the US Department of State and studied at the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. Dr. Turay received his MD from Kuban State Medical Academy.

 Kym Eisner, M.A.

Kym Eisner is the Executive Director of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the largest private funder in the U.S and Canada dedicated to supporting both programs and scientific research to improve the quality of life for those affected by and living with spinal cord injury.  Kym joined the Foundation in 2014 with more than 25 years of experience in philanthropy and the non-profit sector. Prior to her work in the scientific and disability communities, she worked with both emerging and established non-profits as well as serving on numerous boards focusing on education, social services, health system infrastructure development and the arts.

Dr. Gregory Polites, M.D.

As an associate professor of Emergency Medicine and former Course Master of the Practice of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine (WUSM), Dr. Polites brings a wealth of over 20 years teaching and practicing emergency medicine to LFR International. Dr. Polites is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and is also Instructor-Certified in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS). Dr. Polites received his MD from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.

Joshua C. Klapow, Ph.D.

Dr. Klapow is a Clinical Psychologist and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Klapow obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Behavioral Medicine from the University of California San Diego in 1995. Dr. Klapow’s research portfolio includes the study of health care products, services, and delivery systems and how their design interacts with human behavior to drive health outcomes. He is the author of more than 100 professional articles, abstracts, and book chapters in behavioral medicine and health psychology. Dr. Klapow is a Red Cross Certified Disaster Mental Health Specialist and teaches courses and seminars on psychological first aid, crisis communication, resiliency, and self-management. He is frequently called upon following natural and manmade disasters to provide the public with strategies for managing psychological distress.

Avi Felman, B.S.

Avi is the portfolio manager of BlockTower Capital, a cryptocurrency fund with over 800m assets under management. Prior to BlockTower, Avi was a serial entrepreneur founding 3 companies after graduating from University in 2018. In a prior life, Avi was certified as an EMT-B and served two years at the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue 1 station, and 3 years with the Emergency Services Team at Washington University in St. Louis. Avi earned a B.S. with a focus on Chemical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis.