Global Health Scholars Program

Pauline Bridgeman, MD, is Board certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Infectious Diseases. She attended medical school at the University of Texas Southwester and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Creighton University School of Medicine. In 2003, Dr. Bridgeman finished a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center. Dr. Bridgeman worked in Honduras for a year and has made short-term medical trips to Mexico, Kenia, and Zambia.

Peter V. Cornish, PhD is an associate professor and director of Graduate Admissions in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri. He received his PhD from Texas A&M University. Dr. Cornish's research focuses on understanding the complexities of ribosome function using a variety of biophysical methods, including NMR and single-molecule techniques.

William R. Folk, PhD, is a professor of Biochemistry, jointly appointed to the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, and the School of Medicine, with an adjunct appointment in the Masters of Public Health Program. He received his PhD from Stanford University. Dr. Folk is fascinated by different cultures and experiences abroad and has lived in a large number of places, in the US and around the world. His research focuses on the safety and efficacy of botanical medicines for TB treatment and prophylaxis and for use in osteoarthritis, spinal cord injury, and autism.

Darcy Folzenlogen, MD, MPH, FACP, is a retired emeritus professor of child health and internal medicine, MU health care rheumatology provider for 19 years. She enjoyed many activities, including Rheumatology division head for 8 years, 7 years as pediatric rheum fellowship director, internal medicine Vice chairman, as well as LCGME, diversity and inclusion, clinical affairs, technology, and admissions committees. She received millennium scholar and Socrates designations. She teaches basic science, didactics, JC, and environment-rheumatology links and is a sleep faculty member/lecturer. She continues to learn from and be inspired by knowledgeable students, residents, and fellows. In 2019, she received her MPH in health policy at Kent State University, and in 2018 traveled to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland as a student participant. Currently, she serves as a Kent State University CPH advisory board member, mentorship volunteer, "PH leaders" scholarship founder, and moderator for "health and built environments." As a central Missouri "foster grandparent program" (Ameri core) board member, she has led sessions on "sense of purpose," "social engagement," and "pandemic coping." With Habitat for Humanity, she traveled to the post-hurricane gulf coast, a Hawaiian community, and New Zealand to build affordable, safe housing, a determinant of health. As a climate ambassador, planetary health alliance member, and lifelong hiker, her current focus leans toward climate and environmental impacts on health and care access.

Hanna Gov-Ari, MD, is an associate professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine. She attended medical school at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Israel and completed a residency in Family medicine at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. 

Sandra Johnson, MD, is a glaucoma specialist. She completed an acclaimed clinical fellowship at the Harvard Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and chose a career centered on academic medicine where she could care for patients while pursuing scholarly approaches and teaching. Dr. Johnson was interested all along in global health and had her first opportunity in 2007 when she traveled to Tanzania for three weeks of teaching over two sessions. She found the experience very rewarding and has continued such teaching trips since then for a total of 19 weeks abroad, mostly working with ORBIS. Dr. Johnson has scheduled her next session with them in 2023. ORBIS is a well-established NGO that serves to build infrastructure in eye care. Dr. Johnson mostly works on trips to the continent of Africa, where glaucoma is very prevalent. Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. Dr. Johnson hopes to have some impact on its stabilization in developing countries.

Cynthia Lombardo, MD, attended medical school at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. She is board certified in Family Medicine and completed a Professional Certificate Course in International Medicine & Public Health through the Institute for International Medicine (INMED). Dr. Lombardo has participated in medical service trips as a medical student and resident in Guatemala and Jamaica.

Rajiv Mohan, PhD, is the Director of International Outreach, Curators' Distinguished Professor, and Endowed Chair of Ophthalmology and Molecular Medicine. He is passionate about creating unique learning opportunities for scholars through medical research and education, in a multidisciplinary collaborative setting around the world, that foster their competency, character, and compassion in clinical care, and the ability to become leaders in global health area. Dr. Mohan's goal, as a director of international outreach is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of scholars of medicine on a global scale by organizing face-to-face on-campus or virtual meetings and instance online learning along with a greater appreciation for diversity and inclusiveness. Since 2019, he has been interacting with officials of several foreign universities, hospitals, and academic institutions in both developed and developing nations and has successfully expedited many memorandums of =understanding (MoUs) to escalate the role of MU on the world stage by establishing bilateral collaborative partnerships. Dr. Mohan's research program is focused on developing gene-based precision therapy and novel nanomedicine approaches to treat/prevent blindness and studying mechanisms linked to corneal repair and regeneration. His research program is continuously funded through grants from the NIH/NEI (R01, R21, U01, and R43), the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (Merit and RCS), and other agencies. He has developed numerous targeted gene therapies and nanomedicine modalities for treating and preventing blindness, authored only 170 journal articles and 400 abstracts, and delivered more than 100 invited lectures in more than thirty countries. Dr. Mohan and this team have received many prestigious national and international awards for corneal research and engaged in several collaborative research projects with scientists across the globe.

Kathleen Quinn, PhD, is Associate Dean for Rural Health and Associate Teaching Professor of Family and Community Medicine. For the past 19 years, her career has focused on meeting the needs of rural and underserved Missourians through her oversight of the MU Rural Scholars Program. The Rural Scholars Program encompasses four distinct rural curricular and clinical components for medical students and residents. The goal of the program is to address physician workforce and disparity issues by placing physicians in rural areas of need. Her interests include rural health, medical education, women in medicine, and diversifying health professions.

Tyler Severance, MD, is an assistant professor of Clinical Child Health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. He attended medical school at Albany Medical College and completed a residency program in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Severance's main research interests are in global health. Specifically, eh enjoys working with providers in medically underserved communities to improve care for pediatric patients with blood and cancer disorders. Most of his work thus far has been in western Kenya, but he is interested in expanding his efforts to including more of sub-Saharan African.

Kristin Thomas Sohl, MD, is a pediatrician with extensive experience in medical diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of children with a concern of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She is an expert in quality and process improvement for comprehensive autism diagnostic and longitudinal services.

Dr. Sohl is the site principal investigator for the Autism Intervention Research for Physical Health/Autism Treatment Network (AIRP/ATN) and serves in national leadership roles with each program. She is also the founder of ECHO Autism, an innovative framework to increase community capacity to care for children with autism and other developmental/behavioral concerns. ECHO Autism is considered a national model for expanding autism diagnosis and treatment to underserved and rural populations. Her team has established partnerships with healthcare entities in more than 15 states and five countries.

Dr. Sohl's research focuses on systems change to improve health care and services for individuals with autism and also focuses on understanding underlying medical conditions in individuals with autism.

Jack Wells, MD, MHA, CHSE, is an associate professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. Following family medicine residency, he practiced emergency medicine in a variety of settings, from rural hospitals to level one trauma centers and served as medical director of ground and air EMS services. After 16 years in emergency medicine, he returned to family medicine in an academic setting and helped developed simulation curricula in critical patient assessment and in procedure skills using the concepts of mastery learning and deliberate practice. His group has also incorporated deliberate practice into non procedural areas such as behavioral sciences and global health education. He is currently the medical director of the Shelden Clinical Simulation Center in the MU School of Medicine.

In 2006, Dr. Wells went to Honduras for a short-term medical service trip and was immediately captivated by serving in low-resource settings. He has been back to Honduras and to Guatemala on several trips, most recently with the CMDA group. He loves the opportunity to help those less fortunate and to help learners experience providing medical care in environments vastly different form our own. Dr. Wells also enjoys teaching in local providers techniques that will allow them to deliver a higher level of care to their own patients.

In helping to develop a global health curriculum using simulation, Dr. Wells has been able to help MU students, and residents simulate the experience of serving in low-resource settings as they learn how different cultures approach healthcare. He has given several presentations on this topic nationally and internationally and hopes to be able to use that experience to help the MU Global Health Scholars as they prepare to serve in many different settings.