Auma Mary Alai, M.D.

Mary Auma Alai, MBchB, MMED, Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, is known to STEP-UP and her fellow Ugandans as “Dr. Maria.” She has been on the board of SUU since the first US team trip in 2010. Trained in general internal medicine, she has specific experience in intensive care medicine and diabetes care. Her additional training in tropical medicine provided her with expertise in a wide spectrum of tropical diseases including tuberculosis, HIV infection/AIDS, and malaria. She was honored to travel to Washington DC in November 2014 to do a poster presentation at the annual conference of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, after which she spent time with the STEP-UP team in Massachusetts. Over the past six years her work has focused on clinical and humanitarian health programming in complex humanitarian emergencies in countries whose health systems have been devastated by conflict, such as South Sudan. When available, she assists the USA STEP-UP team with their training in northern Uganda; with teaching experience of medical students, interns and residents at Gulu University and at the University of Bar el Ghazal in South Sudan, her contribution to STEP-UP’s work is highly valued. She stays involved with STEP-UP because she particularly values the positive impact that their activities have had on maternal and child health. She and her husband Okello Patrick have two children: Frederick (who is now himself completing medical school) and Karima.