About Us

About Us

Primary Compassionate Care Initiative (PCCI) is a registered Non-Governmental Organization in Nigeria launched in 2020. The organization aims to broaden career opportunities for future healthcare workers in the country by nurturing partnerships between learners and their communities, health service providers, and health authorities. It implements a six-month mentorship program for students enrolled in Nigerian institutions. This program, founded by Dr. Aisha Liman a public health practitioner, is designed to complement education in public health with practical field experiences as well as health management skills.

Over the course of the past two years, 12 medical students from the University of Jos (2020) and 20 public health students from the Federal University of Technology, Imo State (2021), 20 students from different universities in Adamawa state (2022) and 20 students from University of Maiduguri (2023) have been enrolled and graduated. This experiential learning platform offers our learners the opportunity to lead health education sessions, to conduct direct research in public health, and participate in community outreach that include visits to orphanages, homes of the elderly, schools, and clinics. Throughout our students’ learning journey, team mentors provide lectures in public health, communication skills, community entry, conducting research, and advocacy. Mentors also support learners with the development and implementation of their public health projects.

We have technical and academic teams as well as administrative staff who coordinate and conduct both physical and online sessions for enrolled students. By the end of the program, students are supported to conduct field visits, apply public health principles and determine community health priorities through needs assessments. Students’ learn to advocate for and collaborate with local health authorities while designing a project in response to an identified gap. The project is funded and handed over to the Primary Healthcare Center within the community.

Our Team

Founder

Dr. Aisha Liman is a Public Health Physician passionate about teaching and creating enabling environments for preventive medicine. She has worked in a number of contexts, building experience in health systems strengthening, emergency programming and cross cutting issues like gender, diversity and inclusion. She has a Masters in Global Health from John Hopkins School of Public Health and presently works as Senior Health Programme Specialist and Clinical associate for international non-governmental organizations. Aisha served on the board of African Public Health Network as General Secretary and as Co-Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Community Affairs, Johns Hopkins Student Assembly. She is an awardee of the Delta-Omega Honorary Society of Public Health, Washington, 2021. Aisha has worked in Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan and Afghanistan with Non-Governmental Organizations alongside the host country’s Ministry of Public Health. She targets to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria and beyond, with particular attention to Health, Education and Gender.

Co. Founder

Jacqueline P. Ashby, Ed.D., is a medical educator and researcher at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. She has a broad range of experience in faculty development, curriculum design, and assessment and evaluation. Over the past two decades, she has been involved in a series of research projects ranging from the development of antibodies specific for proteins thought to be involved in the pathogenic effects of disease-causing microbes to co-designing a bot to improve physician’s communication skills with their patients. In her roles, she has provided analytical advice, business intelligence, and decision support to leadership and administration in areas such as academic and strategic programming. Jacqueline is the recipient of numerous awards, including Site Medical Education Award (University of British Columbia), Certificate of Research Excellence Award (Environmental Design Research Association), Graduate Fellowship (Simon Fraser University), and the Jane N. Ryland Fellowship (EDUCAUSE).

Mentor

Tim Fitzpatrick is the co-founder and CEO of IKONA Health, a company that combines learning science, immersive technologies and storytelling to improve education in healthcare.

His interest in the field resulted from his own experience as a patient while serving in the US Navy. After eighteen months filled with several back surgeries and hundreds of painful wound care treatments, Tim became deeply aware of the role uncertainty plays in affecting a patient’s health outcomes.

Following his recovery, Tim spent two years as an institutional equities trader for a bank in New York, where he covered the technology and media sectors. It was through this role that he began to see the potential of emerging technologies like AI, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality in shaping the future of information delivery. Building on his co-founders’ research on clinical applications of virtual reality, Tim launched IKONA Health to help tackle the uncertainties he once faced for others across the globe.

Mentor

Bashir Adebayo Elegbede is a public health professional with extensive experience with government and international organizations on various projects like Immunization, Maternal and child health, gender-based violence, etc. both in development and humanitarian context.

Growing up in northern Nigeria and witnessing a high infant mortality rate drove his passion to further strengthen his knowledge in 2017 when he was awarded a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship due to his excellent academic background and contribution to public health. He graduated from the Institute of the Global Health, Heidelberg University (14^th ranked University in Europe) with an M.Sc International Health.

Since 2019, he has been working with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ensuring children and women have access to basic primary health care services. He is very passionate about helping the younger generation achieving their goals and giving back to the community.

Mentor

Dr. Nasiru is a clinician, public health practitioner, GBV/PMTCT specialist with eight (8) years progressive experience in general and public health including NHS United Kingdom, USAID/PEPFAR and Humanitarian Services, to reduce the burden of Maternal and Child Morbidity and Mortality, Malaria, HIV/ADS, TB, and Cancer

A member of American Public Health Association (APHA), Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

He obtained master’s degree at University of the West of England Bristol United Kingdom with qualification of Master of Science Public Health (Msc. PH) and Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State Nigeria.

He worked as Adamawa state covid-19 Emergency Operation Centre clinician with Jhpiego/RISE/USAID under Johns Hopkins University United State of America from June 2020 to November 2020.

Program Officer, Jos

Pankat Gurumding is a passionate humanitarian and developmental worker and an enthusiastic educational administrator and planner as well as a school teacher. Pankat gets his inspiration from the many needs of people and their inability to explore their full potential due to lack of mentorship and support. He dreams of a better community for the youth to be the best in their fields and has taken this step to contribute to humanity. He is passionate about humanitarian activities particularly reaching to displaced persons with education and relief materials. He currently works with the Norwegian Refugee Council in Jos, Plateau State north-central Nigeria provides education access to teenagers and youth affected by religious and farmer herder crises. In his spare time, Pankat loves to engage in sports and also enjoys good music.

Program Officer, Abuja

Mfoniso Ekarika is a public health enthusiast and a certified Health, Safety and Environment professional. She’s passionate about global health, community service, learning and development. She had her first degree in Biochemistry at the University of Calabar, Cross River State and went further in pursuing a master’s degree in public health at National Open University of Nigeria. Between 2018 and 2019, she volunteered to serve with the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Enugu branch where she was professionally trained to work as a first responder. She also took part in several community outreach and development programs organized by the Nigerian Red Cross Society. She loves helping people and intends to be a voice for the underserved and underprivileged groups.

Our PCCI Graduates