Emmy Okello, is a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

n consultant

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

who has specialized as an interventional

cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

and

researcher Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

. He serves as the Head of the Cardiac Catheterization Department at

Uganda Heart Institute Uganda Heart Institute (UHI), is a specialized, public, tertiary care medical facility owned by the Uganda Ministry of Health. It is a component of Mulago National Referral Hospital, the largest hospital in Uganda, which serves as the teaching hos ...

, the government institution in Kampala that specializes in the treatment of congenital and acquired cardiac disorders. Okello has special interest in

rheumatic heart disease Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful ...

(RHD), and is one of the recognized leaders in this area of cardiology in the region.

Background and education

Okello was admitted to

Mbarara University School of Medicine Mbarara University School of Medicine (MUSM), also known as Mbarara University Medical School (MUMS) is the school of medicine of Mbarara University of Science and Technology, one of Uganda's public universities. The medical school was founded in ...

in the 1990s, graduating with a

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

degree. He continued his studies at

Wuhan University Wuhan University (WHU; ) is a public research university in Wuhan, Hubei. The university is sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Wuhan university was founded as one of the four elite universities in the early republican period of China and i ...

, in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

, China, graduating with a

Master of Medicine Master of Medicine (MMed) is a postgraduate professional clinical degree awarded by medical schools to physicians following a period of instruction, supervised clinical rotations, and examination. The degree usually takes three years to complete, ...

degree in Internal Medicine. In 2015, he graduated with a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree from

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

, Uganda's oldest and largest

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

. He then underwent a one-year fellowship in Interventional Cardiology at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...

, in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, United States. His doctoral thesis was titled "Burden, Risk Factors And Outcome of Rheumatic Heart Disease in Uganda". His research has identified the high morbidity and mortality, along with the big burden that RHD presents. He also found genetic susceptibility to RHD related to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II Human Leucocyte Antigens (HLA) DR–11.

Career

Dr Okello joined the Uganda Heart Centre in 2010. In an interview that he gave in 2019, he stated that he qualified as a cardiologist in 2013. He has mastered the technique known as "percutaneous mitral commissurotomy", performed on patients with severe

mitral stenosis Mitral stenosis is a valvular heart disease characterized by the narrowing of the opening of the mitral valve of the heart. It is almost always caused by rheumatic valvular heart disease. Normally, the mitral valve is about 5 cm2 during d ...

. Commissurotomy is heart surgery that repairs one of the four internal heart valves (this time the

mitral valve The mitral valve (), also known as the bicuspid valve or left atrioventricular valve, is one of the four heart valves. It has two cusps or flaps and lies between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart. The heart valves are all one- ...

) that is narrowed from mitral valve stenosis, as a result of fibrosis, often from rheumatic heart disease. Percutaneous, means that instead of opening up the patient's chest to carry out the procedure in the open, it is done through a small incision in the upper arm the procedure is performed remotely while watching on a fluoroscopic screen.

Other considerations

In April 2019, Emmy Okello was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology by the

American College of Cardiology The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of t ...

, based in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, in recognition of his body of work.

References

External links

Website of Uganda Heart Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okello, Emmy 1970s births Langi people Living people Makerere University alumni Mbarara University alumni Wuhan University alumni Case Western Reserve University alumni People from Northern Region, Uganda Ugandan cardiologists Fellows of the American College of Cardiology

Background and education

Career

Other considerations

See also

References

External links