COFS TEAM

Board of Directors

Debra Budiani, Ph.D. - Executive Director and Founder of COFS; Visiting Research Associate, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Budiani is a Medical Anthropologist and has conducted extensive research related to organ transplants and the trafficking of human organs beginning in 1999 as a part of her study on refugee health. Her work has included an analysis of key stakeholders and actors involved in recruited living donorship including donors, recipients, medical professionals, religious clerics, laboratories, and the state. She has conducted extensive follow-up studies on solicited organ donors assessing health, economic, social and psychological consequences.  She has also worked more broadly on health, commodification of the body, and bodily integrity in various parts of the Middle East and Northeast Africa (Egypt, Eritrea, Morocco, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar).

Debora Golden, J.D.- Secretary

Megan Plyler, Ph.D. - Treasurer

Renée C. Fox, Ph.D. - Board Member

Erik Nielsen- Board Member

International Advisory Council

Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. Director, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania

Samer El-Kamary, M.D. University of Maryland - Regional Program Specialist

Hossam Fadel, M.D. Representative from the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)

Azza M. Karam, Ph.D. Senior Policy Research Advisor, Regional Bureau for Arab States, United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Jok Madut Jok, Ph.D. Professor of (Medical) Anthropology, Loyola Marymount

Rauf Mir, M.D. Representative from the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)

Abderrahim Sabir, Executive Director, Partners in Human Rights (Headquarters: Casablanca, Morocco)

Othman Shibly, DDS, M.S. International Education and Programs Associate Director, Center for Clinical Dental Studies University at Buffalo; Scholar of Islamic Law Damascus University

Supporting Staff/ Partners

Mohamed AbdAlFatah, M.D., Urology - Donor Advocate and Care Provider

Fatma Assef, Instructor, Middlebury College and Ph.D. Candidate (Alexandria University) -Regional Coordinator

Ahmed Badawi, Attorney of Law, Egyptian Association for Defending Victims of Medical Malpractice, Cairo, Egypt - Program Partner

Ganesh Gurung, Executive Chairperson of the Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS); Chairperson of CARAM - Asia  (CARAM= Coordination fo Action Research on Aids and mobility)  - Program Partner

Amr Masoud, M.D.  Chief of Urology Department, Beni Suef University, Egypt- Donor Follow-Up Caregiver and Advisor

Ayman Rabeh, Attorney of Law, Director of the Egyptian Association for Defending Victims of Medical Malpractice, Cairo, Egypt   - Program Partner

Nabeel Rajab, Vice President, Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Manama, Bahrain   - Program Partner

Hani Serag, M.D., Global Secretariat, People’s Health Movement (PHM), and Vice Director of the Association for Health and Environmental Development (AHED) -Strategic Advisor, Cairo, Egypt

Javaad Zargooshi, M.D.,  Associate Professor of Urology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermansha, Iran  - Researcher and Donor Advocate

Staff

Amr Mostafa Hassan - Field Researcher and Donor Advocate, Egypt

“Karim,” Organ Donor/Seller – Peer Advocate and Outreach  Program  Advisor 

Nahed Nassr- Institutional Advancement Coordinator and Donor Advocate

Volunteers

Basim Ayoub, M.D. Cairo University and Cleveland Clinic Health System Fairview Hospital- Regional Program Specialist

Nasser Burdestani- Research Assistant, Manama, Bahrain

Iqbal H. Jaffar, School of Medicine, Kings College, St. Lucia, Australia

Imran Punekar- Field Researcher and Fulbright Scholar, United Arab Emirates

Johanna Twersky, George Washington University - Grant Writer