Minova Cholera
MSF Staff

South African Medical Unit (SAMU)

Meet the MSF Southern Africa team

Meet the SAMU Team

Tom Ellman
Tom Ellman

Head of SAMU

Tom Ellman is the director of the Southern Africa Medical Unit (SAMU). Since first working for MSF in Rwanda in 1995, he has over 20 years of experience in humanitarian medical work, mostly with Médecins Sans Frontières. His focus has been on HIV, TB, and malaria in Africa and South-East Asia, apart from a three-year ‘break’ working on Chagas disease – the ‘AIDS of the Americas’ – in Bolivia.

Dimitri Donchuk
Dimitri Donchuk

Senior HIV/TB & Viral Hepatitis Advisor

Dimitri Donchuk joined MSF more than 12 years ago when he was still doing his medical training in infectious diseases. In 2011, Dimitri joined SAMU, where he currently supports a number of OCB HIV, TB and hepatitis projects in Eastern Europe, Asia, and West and North Africa. He is the HIV/TB and Hepatitis Advisor and focal point on comprehensive medical care for PWUD (People Who Use Drugs). 

Esther C. Casas
Esther C. Casas

Senior HIV/TB Advisor

Esther Casas is the Senior HIV/TB Advisor and focal point for Zimbabwe, Guinea, the Central African Republic and Nigeria, where she provides HIV/TB technical and strategic support and also coordinates SAMU input.

Antonio Flores
Antonio Flores

Senior HIV/TB Advisor

Antonio Flores is an infectious disease specialist with clinical and programmatic experience in HIV, TB, viral hepatitis and tropical diseases (mainly malaria and Kala-Azar). He joined SAMU in 2020 to support the implementation and integration of HIV and TB programs in humanitarian settings. 

Calorine Mekiedje
Calorine Mekiedje

Senior HIV/TB Advisor

Calorine Mekiedje is a Cameroonian medical doctor with a Master of Public Health in Hospital Management from the University of Roehampton (UK). She joined SAMU in early 2022, holding the portfolio of Democratic Republic of Congo and Central Africa Republic as strategic focal point. 

Hannah Spencer
Hannah Spencer

Senior HIV/TB Advisor

Hannah is an infectious diseases doctor from the UK. She joined MSF in 2012 and has worked in Sierra Leone, South Sudan and on TB/HIV/Hepatitis programmes in Uzbekistan and India. She became a TB/HIV/Hepatitis Advisor for the Manson Unit (MSF UK) in 2020 with a focus on drug-resistant TB, viral hepatitis and COVID-19. 

Petros Isaakidis
Petros Isaakidis

Operational Research Advisor

Petros is the Senior Operational Research (OR) Advisor of SAMU and leads the OR and M&E team. He coordinates OR activities across SAMU-supported HIV/TB/ HCV projects and countries and oversees the OR framework. 

Sarah Jane Steele
Sarah Jane Steele

Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor

SJ joined MSF in 2015 as a Mission epidemiologist in South Africa, where she became interested in monitoring and evaluation and obsessed with denominators and the intellectual challenges of understanding data flow in routine settings.  She joined SAMU in 2018, where her work has been primarily focused on HIV programs, but she also has experience in monitoring sexual violence, TB and programs focused on providing services to key populations.  

Gauthier Abdala
Gauthier Abdala

Flying Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor

Gauthier Abdala is an Information Management enthusiast with over 6 years of experience analyzing end-user needs and providing data management solutions. He joined MSF in 2017 as the eHealth Manager for the HIV Project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He joined SAMU in 2021. 

Mariana Garcia
Mariana Garcia

Patient & Community Support Advisor

Mariana Garcia is a Brazilian Clinical Psychologist with humanitarian aid background. She joined SAMU in March 2016 as a Patient & Community Support Advisor providing technical and strategic support to HIV/TB programs on health promotion and mental health activities in different projects in the southern African region.

Kleio Iakovidi
Kleio Iakovidi

Flying Patient & Community Support Advisor

After her specialization in clinical psychology in France, Kleio Iakovidi joined MSF Greece for her first mission in a primary health care project for migrants and refugees. Over the last ten years, she has been travelling, volunteering and working in both East Africa and South East Asia, focusing mostly on psychosocial support for HIV and TB patients. 

Lucy O'Connell
Lucy O'Connell

Key Populations Advisor

Lucy O’Connell is a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) nurse. She currently works as a Key Populations focal point with SAMU providing technical support to the field. She has over 20 years of experience working with communities and adapting models of care for hard-to-reach populations in HIV/SRH in the UK and abroad with MSF and other NGOs.

Zibusiso Ndlovu
Zibusiso Ndlovu

Lab Advisor

Zee is a Medical Scientist and holds an MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, among other qualifications in project management and M&E. In 2014, he joined MSF as the research coordinator for the Zimbabwe project. He joined SAMU in January 2016 and provides support to MSF programme laboratories in the region. 

Claire Bossard
Claire Bossard

Epidemiologist

Claire works for Epicentre, and she conducts operational research in the Sub Saharian African region. She is hosted by SAMU in Cape Town, with whom she collaborates as part of the studies implementation.

Robyn Modsell
Robyn Modsell

Head of Strategic Resources

Robyn is responsible for all the non-medical management of SAMU. She is also on the MT and coordinates the SAMU HIV/TB Thematic Pool.

Talya Sampson
Talya Sampson

Immigration and Administration Officer

Talya is responsible for all of SAMU's visa and immigration needs; she also manages all administration for the unit.

Ian Proudfoot
Ian Proudfoot

Learning Unit Coordinator

Ian Proudfoot is the head of the learning unit, coordinating all SAMU’s training offers and leading the strategic and pedagogical visions of the learning unit.

Rosie Burton
Rosie Burton

Advanced HIV Senior Clinical Advisor

Rosie Burton is the Advanced HIV Senior Clinical Advisor for SAMU. After several years working in this field for the ministry of health in South Africa, she joined MSF in 2014, where she rapidly found her niche, travelling extensively throughout Africa, providing technical support, training and mentoring in rural hospitals dealing primarily with sick patients with HIV and TB.

Freddy Mangana
Freddy Mangana

Senior Mentoring & Learning Advisor

Freddy is a medical doctor experienced in advanced HIV and tuberculosis; and an advanced HIV trainer. He has been working for several years in managing and caring for people living with HIV as a clinical physician, doctors' supervisor, clinical mentor and trainer of doctors and nurses in hospitals supported by MSF in the field of HIV and Tuberculosis.

Mohamed Benhabiles
Mohamed Benhabiles

Nursing & Nutrition Pedagogical Advisor

After graduating in 2009 from Algiers nursing college, Mohamed worked as an emergency nurse for 6 years before joining MSF in 2015. He has worked in many different contexts with MSF, particularly in emergency settings in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Alexander Abrahams
Alexander Abrahams

Learning Unit Knowledge & Administration Officer

Alexandra joined the SAMU team in early 2017 as part of the SAMU Learning Unit. Alexandra organises and oversees the smooth running of SAMU off-site trainings, as well as Resource management and website maintenance.

Hosted Positions

Esnath Dzavakwa
Esnath Dzavakwa

Intersectional Surgical Training Programme (ISTP)

Esnath is responsible for the overall management and function of the ISTP. I am also the link between the Program and all the MSF offices in the MSF movement.

Ncediswa Joyi
Ncediswa Joyi

Intersectional Surgical Training Programme (ISTP)

Ncediswa provides support to doctors coming to South Africa for ISTP training at Stellenbosch University. Responsible for sending all needed documents for the trainees to apply for visas before arriving in SA. I handle flights, accommodation, shuttle bookings and catering as well as requests for per diems.

Jakub Hein
Jakub Hein

Digital Health Promotion

Jakub is the Digital Health Promotion Coordinator.

Dasha Reddy
Dasha Reddy

Digital Health Promotion

Dasha is the Digital Health Promotion Consultant.