Our Executive Directors

The BIPAI network supports major efforts in Eastern Europe and Africa. In each country where BIPAI runs a center of excellence, our talented executive directors manage large staffs and complex programs, and often provide additional managerial support to smaller efforts in surrounding countries. BIPAI’s executive directors are:

• Gabriel M. Anabwani, M.B.Ch.B.

  Executive Director, Botswana

  Gabriel M. Anabwani, M.B.Ch.B, is executive director of the Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence in Gabarone, Botswana. Anabwani served as head of pediatrics at Princess Marina Hospital from 1997 to 2003 and has played a leading role in Botswana’s fight against pediatric HIV. He joined Moi University in Eldoret in 1990 as a founding faculty member, becoming professor and chair of pediatrics and child health in 1992. From 1980-1990, he taught pediatrics and child health at the University of Nairobi. 

  He served as director, Primary Health Care East Africa from 1987 to 1989 in a project to strengthen the primary health care content in the teaching and training curricula of medical schools in several countries. He has served as external examiner in pediatrics in several schools in the region including Makerere, Uganda; Nairobi, Kenya; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Lusaka, Zambia; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

  Dr. Anabwani serves on technical expert committees for UNICEF and WHO, as chairperson of the Nestle Nutrition Institute Africa, and on several national and international professional and technical boards. In May 2009 he was honored for his “Outstanding Contribution to HIV Medicine in Botswana.”

• Peter N. Kazembe, M.B.Ch.B, F.R.C.P.

  Executive Director, Malawi

  Dr. Peter Kazembe, a Malawian national, serves as executive director for BIPAI-Malawi, a senior lecturer at University of Malawi and associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Kazembe has more than 30 years of experience in the Malawi health care system, including over 15 years as head of pediatrics at Kamuzu Central Hospital, during which he also served concurrently for two years as hospital director.

  Dr. Kazembe is a recognized expert on malaria, HIV and providing clinical service in resource-poor settings. He chaired the Medical Association of Malawi from 2000–2004. Dr. Kazembe is a prodigious researcher and author, having contributed to more than 40 scholarly papers. As an important figure in the Malawi public health system, he plays a critical role in promoting and representing the program to government and private sector partners to ensure sustainability of the program.

• Adeodata (Addy) Kekitiinwa-Rukyalekere, M.B.Ch.B.

  Executive Director, Uganda

  Adeodata (Addy) Kekitiinwa- Rukyalekere, M.B.Ch.B, is associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Baylor Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence – Uganda. She also serves as senior consultant pediatrician, for the department of pediatrics and child health at Mulago National Hospital.

  From 2002 to 2004, she acted as clinic director of pediatric infectious diseases for Mulago National Hospital after working as a consultant to the department of pediatrics and child health since 1995. During 2001 to 2004, she also acted as team leader for pediatric bacterial meningitis surveillance for WHO-Uganda.

  Dr. Kekitiinwa was registrar-pediatrician for Mulago National Hospital from 1987 to 1995 and medical officer of health for the department of pediatrics and child health at Mulago National Hospital from 1983 to 1984.

• Edith Q. Mohapi, M.B.B.S., F.A.A.P.

  Executive Director, Lesotho

  Dr. Mohapi attended medical school at the Royal Free Hospital, London University, United Kingdom. She completed residency in Pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. She has worked for twenty years as a pediatrician and a member of the teaching staff of Georgetown University Hospital.

  She also worked from 1997-2000 at the Pretoria Academic Hospital in South Africa. Dr. Mohapi is originally from Lesotho, and works as the Director of BIPAI's Children's Clinical Center of Excellence in Maseru, Lesotho.

• Hailu Nida Sarero, M.D.

  Executive Director, Swaziland

  Dr. Hailu Nida Sarero has served as Executive Director of the Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation-Swaziland since 2009.  In this role, Dr. Sarero is responsible for developing and supervising all Foundation operations, including the integration and coordination of clinical and medical services at teh Baylor-Bristol Myers Squibb Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence in Mbabane, Swaziland.

  Dr. Sarero has extensive experience in pediatrics.  After graduating with distinction from the Gondar College of Medical Science at Addis Ababa University, he worked as a pediatrician and medical director in various health facilities in Ethiopia for over twenty years.  Following this, Dr. Sarero worked as the Program Manager for Save the Children in Ethiopia.  In 2007, he moved to Swaziland, where he worked at Good Shepherd Hospital in Siteki for two years prior to assuming his role as Executive Director of Baylor-Swaziland.

  Dr. Sarero is an expert on integrated management of childood illness (IMCI) and prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT).  He has been published in many academic research journals and is fluent in English, Amharic, German, Guragigna, and Hadiyigna.

• Ana-Maria Schweitzer, 

  Executive Director, Romania

  Ana-Maria Schweitzer has served as Executive Director of the Baylor-Black Sea Foundation and has coordinated the HIV Clinical Center of Excellence in Constanta, Romania since 2005.  She joined Baylor-Romania in 1999 as a clinical psychologist and became experienced in assisting children with HIV and their families, helping patients cope with new diagnosis and unfavorable news, including loss and grief.  Ms. Schweitzer is trained in psychotherapy and has over ten years of experience working with health-related philanthropic programs.  She is also a licensed trainer for adult continuing education, specifically in the development of skills to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, family planning, health education, and psychological support for patients with chronic diseases.  As a program manager of multidisciplinary projects for HIV and viral hepatitis, she has strived to create a balance between prevention, testing, care, and support services for patients at the Center of Excellence.

• Michael Tolle, MD, MPH

  Executive Director, Tanzania

  Dr. Michael Tolle currently serves as the Executive Director ad interim of Baylor-Tanzania, in addition to serving as an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Previously he worked as Associate Clinical Director of BIPAI-Botswana and as a Pediatric AIDS Corps doctor in BIPAI – Lesotho. His interests include prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the development of family-centered models of care in resource-limited settings.

  After earning a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University, Dr. Tolle received his medical degree from University of Texas - Southwestern Medical School. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital (Washington University) in St. Louis, Dr. Tolle completed family medicine residence at Parkland Hospital (UT-Southwestern), where he served as chief resident. He holds a master of public health from Johns Hopkins University and a certificate in travel health from the International Society of Travel Medicine. Dr. Tolle has worked previously throughout Central and South America, Haiti and the Balkans, and is a fluent Spanish speaker.