Romanus Mtung’e: Business & Strategic Planning
Romanus is the Tanzania country representative Cuso International, a Canadian not-for-profit working to reduce poverty and global inequalities. Romanus possesses over 23 years of experience in managing health and Economic Development Programs in the areas of economic empowerment, access to quality health services, marketing, sales, demand creation, and behavior change communications. He is a training facilitator for development program managers and an experienced health manager with a degree in health management and a master’s degree in marketing. Prior to his work with Cuso, Romanus worked as a director with Population Services International (PSI), where he managed the very successful first national rollout of Insecticide Treated mosquito Nets (ITNs) for malaria prevention in Tanzania.
Romanus brings to Unite his strong analytical and planning skills, his high ability to coordinate the efforts of many stakeholders to meet intended goals, and his understanding of effective development programming and logistical execution in Tanzania. He is a strategic team leader of the Unite Food Program and consults on all of Unite’s programs.
Raymond Mgeni, MD: Health & Education, Communcations & Strategic Development
Raymond, 30, is a licensed medical practitioner working currently with Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital in Tanzania. He is also a mental health advocate, reaching audiences across the African continent and beyond through his social media platforms and his writing of newspaper and magazine articles and radio interviews. Raymond’s mission is to build awareness and effective care for mental health illnesses across Tanzania, where mental health is still widely overlooked.
Raymond is the author of three books: Usiichoke Safari (Don’t Give up on Life Journey), Fikra Pevu Darasa (Collections of Mindset teachings), and Maisha Yataka Ujikaze (Life wants you to be Strong). Raymond has been the keynote speaker at many African conferences presenting on such topics as mental health, reading culture, community engagement, finance, and investments.
Raymond’s goal is to use all of his many diverse talents to serve humanity at the global level. Raymond is a former Unite Scholar and Mentor and currently advises Unite on our health curriculum, Unite Scholars Program, and health challenges for our Unite family members as they arise.
Dr. Leonard Malasa: Mentor to Unite Medical Students
Dr. Leonard Malasa is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Kairuki University's School of Medicine in Tanzania. As an educator, he is deeply committed to teaching and mentoring medical students, believing that by training future healthcare professionals, he can create a broader impact on healthcare delivery. Beyond his academic role, he serves as the Founder and CEO of Tanzania Better Health (TBH), a non-governmental organization focused on improving the health of children, adolescents, and women.
His dedication to community health education extends to regular appearances on television and radio programs where he shares pediatric health information. Dr. Malasa's expertise is recognized through his memberships in several prestigious organizations, including the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT), The International Association for Health Professions Education (AMEE), International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) and The International AIDS Society (IAS). He also serves as a Patron for the Youth of United Nation Association and Tanzania Medical Students Association of Kairuki University Chapters, further demonstrating his commitment to mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Dr. Malasa serves as a mentor to the Unite Medical Scholars for personal and professional development. He also assists with securing medical internships for our scholars and he provides the unique opportunity for Unite scholars to participate in Tanzania Better Health annual community medical outreach missions.
Dedan Esrom Runoba: Unite Club Advisor
Dedan is a teacher of English Literature at the Tabora Boys Secondary School in Tabora, Tanzania. He is also the Head of the school’s Environment Department and serves as Patron of the school’s Unite Club. To Unite, Dedan serves as our strategic advisor to the larger Unite Club Program, aiding in our curriculum development as well as the establishment, operations, and growth of clubs within schools and organizations across the continent.
Dedan received his Bachelors in Special Needs Education from Sebastian Koloa Memorial University in 2014 where he majored in English literature and working with visually impaired students.
Elina Green Kassabaje: Youth Advisor to the Unite Scholars Program
Elina is a Unite Scholar graduate who is now pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics Engineering at the University of Dodoma. Elina is working with Unite to identify and facilitate for our Unite Scholars studying STEM opportunities to enroll in local and international programs, workshops, and trainings — including The African Girls’ Code Initiative commissioned by UN women; the WAAW Fellowship summit in Cape Town, South Africa; the Cyber-Girl Fellowship; the Aspire Leaders Program founded at Harvard; the Yale Young African Scholars programs; and more. Elina brings great insight, motivation, hard work, talent, and creativity to our team as we work together to further engage and advance our Scholars in their chosen fields of study
Josephine Brunoski, RN: Health Care
Josephine Brunoski is a registered nurse, with 40 years of experience treating patients, managing records and fielding and solving problems rangning from medical issues to office and business management difficulties. Her main passion is simply caring, that is caring for the patient’s medical needs, but also helping them find their way through the tangled maze of beuraucratic obstacles of modern health care, that so many find daunting. Josephine is schooled also in cultutral and medical anthropolgy, which seeks to find solutions to health problems within the context of local and ethnic cultures. This is of primary importance to the patients’ outcome, because treatments or advice that contradict that person’s habits, upbringing and beliefs will fail. Josephine is also eagerly curious about the world around her and the people in far flung regions, especially in Africa. Her inquisitive nature has led her to study African history and ethnography in great detail, with an attempt to understand how modern nations can benefit from augemnting their own rich personal resources. Josephine's training, background in medicine and long experience interacting closely with individuals who are in need make her uniquely suited to help meet the challenges that she saw in Tanzania.