Global Health Research Fellows
Current Fellows
Dr. Wheytnie Alexander, MD
General Internal Medicine, 2024 - present
Dr. Alexander obtained her MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, with a concentration in global health and underserved populations. Throughout her training, she worked in South Africa, India, and the United Kingdom. After medical school, she continued her training in Internal Medicine at NYU-Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is interested in improving cardiovascular health among women living in low-income countries, such as her home country of Haiti, or in similar settings characterized by severe poverty.
Dr. Jonah Kreniske, MD
Pulmonary & Critical Care, 2024 – present
Jonah Kreniske MD, MSc is an Instructor in Pulmonary and Critical Care at Weill Cornell Medicine and a clinical epidemiologist at the Weill Cornell Center for Global Health dedicated to the prevention and treatment of lung disease in low resource areas. Based in Tanzania, Dr. Kreniske has helped to lead research and capacity building for pulmonary medicine at Weill Bugando Hospital, including partnering in the introduction of spirometry and bronchoscopy to routine clinical care. His research has identified HIV as an independent risk factor for chronic respiratory symptoms, and his team has now implemented screening for chronic lung disease with high-quality spirometry for over six-hundred community dwelling adults with and without HIV. This research lays the foundation for further studies into key drivers of lung disease in people with and without HIV.
Former Fellows
Dr. Puja Chebrolu, MD
General Internal Medicine, 2018 – 2021
Dr. Chebrolu is a physician-scientist dedicated to the prevention and treatment of diabetes in pregnant and postpartum Asian women. Unlike in the United States, >50% of people with diabetes in India are not overweight. However, guidelines on screening and management of diabetes focus on management of overweight diabetes. She studies the high-risk postpartum period, where women who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy have a 10-fold higher risk of developing diabetes compared to the general population. She received a K23 grant examining the pathophysiology that precedes diabetes onset with and without HIV in post-partum women. She was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell in 2021.
Dr. Sasha Fahme, MD
General Internal Medicine, 2019 – 2022
Dr. Fahme began her training at Weill Bugando in Tanzania, focusing on hypertension in people living with HIV as well as on improving the retention and advancement of women from LIMC in global health research. She then leveraged her research training there to study women’s health in Lebanon. She is examining the impact of forced displacement on the sexual and reproductive health of Syrian refugee women and adolescents living in Lebanon. Promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell, Dr. Fahme received a K award to study STIs in female refugee populations.
Dr. Justin Kingery, MD PHD
General Internal Medicine, 2015 - 2018
Dr. Kingery, the first Weill Cornell Global Health Research fellow, studies the immune effects on cardiovascular disease, specifically exploring the mechanisms of macrophage interaction with the cardiovascular system. During his fellowship he established an echocardiography team at Weill Bugando in Tanzania. With his team, he demonstrated that people living with HIV have twice the risk of diastolic dysfunction, which may be driven by alternatively activated monocytes. Dr. Kingery was awarded a NIH K23 award in 2019. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville.
Dr. Anna Mertelsmann, MD MSc
Infectious Diseases, 2022 – 2025
Dr. Mertelmanns received her MD from the Universität Hamburg Medizinische Fakultät in Germany. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine here at Weill Cornell Medicine before joining the Center for Global Health as a Fellow in Infectious Diseases. Based in Tanzania, Dr. Mertelsmann's research is focused on enhancing our understanding of the immunological response to pathogens. In particular, she is exploring how helminth infections alter anti-viral immune response. She completed her research fellowship in 2024 and is currently completing a second ID fellowship at the University Hospital Zurich to obtain Swiss board certification.
Dr. Khanh Phamh, MD MSc
Infectious Diseases, 2019 - 2023
Dr. Pham received his MD from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine here at Weill Cornell Medicine before joining the Center for Global Health as a Fellow in Infectious Diseases. Dr. Pham's research is based out of Tanzania and is focused on investigating the association between Schistosoma mansoni and cardiovascular disease. In particular, he is exploring the hypothesis that helminth infections may be protective against cardiovascular disease and risk factors. His additional research interests include the development of clinical decision support tools and algorithms to improve antimicrobial prescribing and monitoring. He completed fellowship and is now an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Kathleen Walsh, MD MSc MPH
General Internal Medicine, 2016 – 2019
Dr. Walsh is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Center for Global Health. She completed her MD at Tulane University and residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. She has over a decade of experience conducting global health research in Haiti in collaboration with GHESKIO Centers, the largest HIV & TB treatment facility in the region. Dr. Walsh’s research focuses on the epidemiology, prevention, and management of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Haiti. She has demonstrated novel risk factors for isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis and unique molecular clustering of this form of drug-resistant tuberculosis. She received a NIH/NIAID K23 award to study the epidemiology of isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis in Haiti.
Dr. Lily Yan, MD MS
General Internal Medicine, 2020 – 2023
Dr. Lily Yan, MD MSc is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Center for Global Health at Weill Cornell Medicine. She conducts research on the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease in low-and middle-income countries using methods spanning epidemiology, clinical trials, and implementation science, including Haiti, Tanzania, and Kenya. High impact findings include: heart failure is the most common cardiovascular disease subtype; uncontrolled hypertension is widespread; community-based hypertension care is effective and feasible; high levels of lead exposure, with higher lead associated with higher blood pressure. Dr. Yan completed her medical degree at Stanford University, and her combined internal medicine and preventive medicine residency at Boston Medical Center, where she obtained a Master of Science in health services research. For future work, she is interested in the intersection between environmental pollutants like heavy metals and cardiovascular disease in low-resource settings and has received a K23 Award to examine lead and heart failure.
Weill Cornell Medicine Center for Global Health
Center for Global Health
420 East 70th Street, 4th Floor, Suite LH-455
New York, NY 10021
Phone: (646) 962-8140
Fax: (646) 962-0285