Kenya Ceramic Project
updatesabouttechnologypeoplesponsors

Ali Aboud
Ali was born in Casablanca, Morocco and has lived across Europe and North America before settling in Canada. He has studied Math at the University of Alberta and Computer Science at the University of Calgary. Ali was the Director of Public Relations of the University of Calgary Rotaract club for 3 years. He is fluent in English, French and Arabic and is now learning Japanese. He is also interested in sustainable development, human rights and socio-economics issues.
Ali is currently working in IT in the oil and gas sector.

Carmen Binding
Carmen graduated from the University of Calgary in 2006 with a BSc(Hons) in Biochemistry. Following this, she recently completed a Certificate of Higher Education in Dance Education from the Royal Academy of Dance in London, England. Carmen was raised in Calgary for the majority of her life, with a year spent in Memphis, TN. Carmen has been a ballet instructor of students ranging from age three to late teens for seven years. She plans to continue her education in Dance Education and complete a BA(Hons) in Dance Education, as well as has future plans to study medicine to pursue a career in the medical field.

Serena Cheung
Serena Cheung was one of the team members who worked in Kenya for two months in the summer of 2009 and is currently one of the VP Externals for the Kenya Ceramic Project. She completed three years of a general science degree at the University of Alberta before entering into the medicine program at the U of A in 2008. She enjoys cooking, eating cereal and playing squash.

Jessica Hogan
Jessica Hogan is a newly graduated registered nurse (2009) from the University of Alberta. She is currently working in continuing care and looks forward to diversifying her scope of practice in pediatrics and maternity, one day completing her Masters of Science in Nursing. Jessica has acted as public relations director with the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR), research assistant at the Faculty of Nursing's Qualitative International Studies, and is currently an executive member of the Alberta Global Health Interest Group (AGHIG) in communications. She is very excited about her role as VP Internal for the Kenya Ceramic Project and looks forward to visiting Kenya in the near future to begin her highly anticipated journey in international work.

Abraam Isaac
Abraam is in fourth year of medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Born in Giza, Egypt, he has lived the majority of his life in Canada and Japan. In 2003, Abraam graduated from Ross Sheppard High School with an International Baccalaureate diploma and went on to complete three years of an honors degree in molecular genetics at the U of A before transferring into medicine. Upon completion of his degree, he plans to pursue a career in a medical field related to international health.

Victoria (Vickie) Lee
Currently in her second year of medicine at the University of Alberta, Vickie is one of the VP Externals for the Kenya Ceramic Project. Before entering medicine, she completed three years of an Honors Neuroscience degree. She is involved in various health education programs, has designed injury prevention programming for Students for Cellphone-Free Driving and developed a girls program for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Her interest in international health began when she travelled to Nepal in 2007 with Volunteer Abroad.

Pen Li
Pen, born and raised in Edmonton, is a very self motivated individual who studied two years in an honors degree program in Immunology and Infection at the University of Alberta, and is currently in his third year of Medicine at the University of Alberta.  He is involved in a number of community initiatives and upon graduation and completion of residency, hopes to become involved in public health, in addition to his practice.

Ruth McGaffigan
Ruth is in her fourth year at the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine. She grew up in rural Alberta, mostly a small village called Strome. She completed her Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Physiology at the U of A. She is involved with an inner city needle exchange, promoting medicine as a career to rural high school students, and as a photographer for the student newspaper. Ruth is currently involved in Communication and Archiving with the Kenya Ceramic Project. She enjoys playing the piano, photography and travel.

Tyler van Mulligen
Born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Tyler graduated from Medicine Hat High School in 2001. He attended Medicine Hat College before transferring to the University of Alberta to finish a First Class Honours B.Sc. degree in Pharmacology. Currently, Tyler is in his fourth year of medicine at the University of Alberta.

Ellison Richmond
Raised in Edmonton, Ellison graduated in 2007 with a First Class Honours B.Sc. in Physiology and Developmental Biology from the University of Alberta. He enjoys good food and music and working with children. Ellison lived and worked in Kenya from August 2007 to April 2008.

Katherine Smith
Katherine is in her fourth year of medicine at the University of Alberta. She grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick and completed her undergraduate degree at UNB. She helped out with the development of the filters in 2007 and had the opportunity of travelling to Kenya in the summer of 2008. Currently, she heads the research endeavors of the Kenya Ceramic Project. Her initial interest in medicine was sparked on previous trips to Kenya and India. She hopes to build on those experiences with the Kenya Ceramic Project, and to continue to be involved in international work throughout her medical career.

Abdullah Saleh
Abdullah is in fourth year of medicine at the University of Alberta. He was born in Iraq, moved to France at 2 years of age for 7 years, back to Iraq for 3 years, then to Malaysia for 4 years, and finally ending up in Canada in 2000. He obtained a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Calgary.
Abdullah spent time in Ecuador over two summers delivering medical supplies, working at a hospital, and leading a team to investigate human and sex trafficking in South America.
He started the ceramic water filtration and stoves project in Kenya in the summer of 2007, leading a team of 2 other medical students to rural Kenya to build a factory and train the locals. These projects are important in providing cheap, effective and appropriate technologies to people in need in developing countries. This initiative is unique in that it combines the local networks available in Kenya both industries and Non Governmental Organizations, as well as resources available in Canada.

Subir Sutradhar
Subir Sutradhar is a third year medical student at the University of Alberta. He completed three years of a biochemistry degree at Memorial University before entering into medicine. Subir has an interest in development work, as he was involved with the Oxfam student chapter at Memorial University, and recently worked in the Western Province of Kenya in the summers of 2008 and 2009. Subir plans on incorporating development work and international health into his future medical career.