Dr. Joselyn Rwebembera’s AHA Award Visit Strengthens Global Collaborations Between RRCU and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
In November 2024, Dr. Joselyn Rwebembera, Deputy Director of RRCU, traveled from Kampala, Uganda, to the United States as a recipient of the prestigious American Heart Association (AHA) Visiting Professorship Award. The week-long visit to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center marked an exciting milestone in Dr. Rwebembera’s ongoing global collaboration efforts, allowing her to meet with both current colleagues and new collaborators in person, fostering meaningful connections that promise to enhance the impact of RRCU’s work.
While the RRCU team is accustomed to working across time zones and continents, in-person meetings provide a more robust opportunity to generate new ideas and strengthen existing partnerships. The visit to Cincinnati proved to be no exception. “It’s always refreshing to engage face-to-face with collaborators,” Dr. Rwebembera shared. “These interactions spark creativity, deepen connections, and open doors to even more opportunities for progress.”
A key focus of the AHA Visiting Professorship Award is to strengthen established collaborations while fostering new research relationships. During her time in Cincinnati, Dr. Rwebembera certainly achieved these goals. She met with long-time collaborator, Dr. Andrea Beaton, Co-Director of RRCU and members of the US-based RRCU GOALIE research team, as well as with Dr. Nadine Kasparian, a psychologist and Director of the Heart and Mind Wellbeing Center at Cincinnati Children’s. Dr. Kasparian was introduced to Dr. Rwebembera about a year ago, when the seeds of a new initiative aimed at addressing stigma associated with Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) in Uganda were planted.
Since that initial meeting, the two have built a strong collaboration remotely; however, this visit provided an invaluable opportunity to meet in person for the first time, allowing time to strategize and begin developing a grant proposal together. The result was a highly productive week of brainstorming, planning, and cementing a lasting professional relationship. Dr. Kasparian expressed her enthusiasm for the partnership stating, “I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet Joselyn in person. Our time together was incredibly productive, and I’m excited to see how our collaboration grows moving forward.” And the visit was impactful for members of Dr. Kasparian’s lab also, with Dr. Rwebembera’ s presentation on RHD to the Heart and Mind Wellbeing Center rated among the highlights of 2024 by her team.
In addition to collaborating with Dr. Kasparian’s team, Dr. Rwebembera engaged with pediatric residents at Cincinnati Children’s and spent time with cardiology faculty, contributing to the educational exchange and expanding RRCU’s network. Between her teaching and collaborative work, Dr. Rwebembera even had the chance to experience Cincinnati’s winter, taking a break to enjoy the snow on the hospital’s scenic campus.
Dr. Rwebembera’s visit highlights the power of international collaboration in advancing RHD research and solutions. The connections made during this trip promise to benefit not only RRCU’s ongoing work but also the broader field of pediatric cardiology and mental health. As collaborations like these continue to grow, so too does the potential for impactful, life-changing solutions for patients in Uganda and beyond.
During her visit to Cincinnati, Joselyn met with Nadine and her team for a series of formal and informal strategic sessions to plan research projects and future collaborations across institutions, specialties, and countries.