Dr. Mhoira E.F. Leng
Dr. Mhoira E. F. Leng is a specialist palliative care physician currently holding two roles as Head of Palliative Care in Makerere University, Uganda, and Medical Director of Cairdeas International Palliative Care Trust, Scotland.
Trained as a doctor and then physician in internal medicine in Aberdeen University, Scotland, Dr. Leng then specialized in Palliative Medicine. She took up a senior consultant and honorary senior lecturer position at Aberdeen University for 10 years leading developments in the northeast of Scotland. Her work included several national roles for the National Health Service (NHS), as well as advisory and training roles for the Royal Colleges. She is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Edinburgh (1999) and Glasgow (2001).
Dr. Leng has a particular interest in international palliative care and is committed to working alongside partners in the developing world to build capacity, offer mentorship, support curriculum development and new models of care. Since 1998, she has travelled to Eastern Europe, and travelled extensively within India as well as Africa, leaving the NHS in 2005 to allow her to work full time in international settings.
In 2008, Makerere University invited her to develop an academic unit for palliative care in the university and the national referral hospital to act as a centre of excellence for research, training and clinical services, and to build capacity for Ugandan and African clinical leadership alongside key partners such as Hospice Africa Uganda, the Palliative Care Association of Uganda and the African Palliative Care Association. Key achievements include the development and implementation of a model clinical service, research agenda, undergraduate and postgraduate training and support for a BSc in Palliative Care at Makerere University run by Hospice Africa Uganda. Dr. Leng continues to work in India for two months every year alongside partners Pallium India and Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA), mainly supporting palliative care developments in areas where it is very scarce.
Dr. Leng is also Medical Director (and founder) of Cairdeas International Palliative Care Trust, which is a Scottish registered charitable trust whose vision is to facilitate the growth of palliative care in the developing world by supporting education and training. Dr. Leng shares her international work through her blog.
Dr. Leng was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care in 2012 and is now serving her second term.