Our Work
Surgical Staff
Dr. Leland Albright, MD
Leland moved to Kijabe on September 1, 2010, to do and teach pediatric neurosurgery. He had come to Kijabe Hospital for two to three weeks a year for the past decade. In 2008, he and his wife, Susan Ferson, a pediatric neurosurgery nurse practitioner, felt God calling them to come full time to Kijabe. He graduated from LSU Medical School in 1969, did nine years of training thereafter, then was a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh from 1981-2006, and chief of pediatric neurosurgery from 1991-2004. He moved to the University of Wisconsin from 2006-2010. He is the senior editor of the textbook, Principles and Practice of Pediatric Neurosurgery and has lectured and operated throughout the world. In Kijabe, he is training one fellow in pediatric neurosurgery each year--neurosurgeons who want to become pediatric neurosurgeons--and training neurosurgery residents from Nairobi. Leland and Susan's prayer is to work in Kijabe for five to six years until a Kenyan pediatric neurosurgeon is employed at Kijabe Hospital to continue their work, and during that time, to express the love of Christ for the children who come to BethanyKids at Kijabe Hospital.
Dr. Richard S. (Dick) Bransford, BA, MD, FACS
Dick Bransford was appointed to BethanyKids US board in September 2001. He has served as a surgeon at BethanyKids at Kijabe Hospital since 2004. From 1977-2004 he served as a surgeon at Bethany Crippled Children’s Centre and Kijabe Hospital. He served as a surgeon at Hombo Hospital in the Comoro Islands from July, 1977 to January, 1978. Dick attended Compton College in Compton, California from 1958 to 1960. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, California in 1962 and his Doctor of Medicine from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland in 1967. Dick was a resident in general surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center from July 1969 to June 1972 and an intern and resident in general surgery at West Virginia University Medical Center from July 1967 to June 1969. Dick received his Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the Prince Leopold School of Tropical Medicine in February 1976. Dick is a general surgeon with special involvement in rehabilitation surgery for disabled children. He received the Smith, Kline, & French fellowship in 1966, the International Federation of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Annual Award in 2009 the American Medical Association Excellence in Medicine Award, Dr. Nathan Davis International Award in 2010, and the American College of Surgeons/Pfizer Surgical Humanitarianism Award in 2010. Dick served on the board of the Bethany Crippled Children’s Centre from 1996 to 2004; the Daisy Foundation from 1998 to 2003; Cure International from 1996 to 2000 and the Rift Valley Academy from 1980 to 1995. Dick is married to Millie Bransford.
Dr. Erik Hansen, BS, MDErik graduated with a BS (chemistry) from Wheaton College in Illinois and then earned his MD from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. He trained in general surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and then pediatric surgery at The Children's Hospital of Alabama in conjunction with the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
In the beginning of 2008, Erik and his wife, Amanda, felt God calling them to Africa. Through a very prayerful process and key encounters with people like Dan Poenaru, God led them to Kijabe Hospital, a place where Erik could use his own pediatric surgery training to train African pediatric surgeons, in an African context, so that the work of caring for the surgical needs of children in East Africa can be multiplied.
Dr. Dan Poenaru, BSc., MD
Dan is a pediatric surgeon working at BethanyKids at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya. Following medical school studies in Toronto, Canada, he trained in general surgery at McGill University, then in pediatric surgery at the Universite de
Montreal. He has also earned a Masters in Health Professions Education through the University of Illinois in Chicago. He has practiced academic surgery for 10 years in Kingston, Canada, and since 2003 has been in clinical and academic practice in Kenya.
His current roles include clinical director of BethanyKids Africa, consultant pediatric surgeon at Kijabe Hospital, and program director of East Africa’s first fellowship training program in pediatric surgery. He is adjunct professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Queen’s University, Canada, senior lecturer in Surgery at the University of Nairobi, and honorary professor of Surgery at Aga Khan University, Nairobi.
His areas of interest are chronic surgical disabilities in African children, the nature and provision of pediatric surgery in developing countries, faith issues in clinical practice, as well as surgical education.
Dan is married to Dita who is a nursing clinician and educator, and the Poenarus have two sons.
Former BethanyKids Surgical Staff:
Dr. Mike Matlak, MD
Mike was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended the Univesity of Illinois. He attended Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University where he graduated cum laude. He completed his internship at Cook County Hospital. He served with the US Army as a General Medical Officer and Flight Surgeon. He completed his general surgery work at the Mayo Clinic and his pediatric surgery training at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center. Dr. Matlak has served as Professor of Surgery and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Matlak served as our acting Program Director for BethanyKids at Kijabe Hospital’s Pediatric Surgery Fellowship from January 2010 to April 2011. During his work at BethanyKids he created an entire curriculum and over 600 high quality examination questions while training three fellows and keeping a full clinical load. Mike and his wife Rosmarie live in Salt Lake City, UT. They have five children and 15 grandchildren.