Chiara Mezzalira, MD
Chiara Mezzalira graduated from Medical School in 1972 and completed her pediatric residency in 1975 at the University of Milan, Italy. In 1979, she attended a course in Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and in 1983, she also completed her fellowship in Neonatology at the University of Milan.
Her work experience includes mainly medical practice as a pediatrician in Africa, with very short intervals of pediatric practice in Italy in the area of Milan. Her African experience includes 5 years in Kitgum, North Uganda, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in the 70’s, during the time of war. In the 80s and 90s, she worked in Lagos, Nigeria, for a project supported by AVSI, a non-governmental organization. There, she started a Primary Health Care Center in the suburban areas of Lagos and remained there up to 2008.
She took part in several ‘emergency missions’ in Rwanda, South Sudan, and Haiti, mainly collaborating with AVSI projects.
Since 2012, she has been in North Burundi, as Director of the Pediatric department of the Hospital of Ngozi, which has a capacity of 332 beds. Besides her clinical work, she has been obviously involved in administrative tasks, in educational and scientific collaboration with the University of Lagos, the National Institute of Medical Research, and other international institutions.