Trustees
Dr Dilshad Jaff, Interim Chair
Dilshad has over 20 years' field experience in complex humanitarian crises in the Middle East and Africa. As an Associate Clinical Practice Professor in the Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice (PHLP), Dr. Jaff develops and leads initiatives to provide training and technical assistance as part of the Gillings Humanitarian Health Initiative at the University of North Carolina, US. Dilshad has experience designing, implementing, supervising, and monitoring health projects during and after complex humanitarian emergencies. As well as formal studies in medicine and public health, he has studied medical microbiology and has trained in conflict resolution.
Professor Tom Potokar OBE
Founder
Tom recently retired as Chief Surgeon at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Previously he was Professor of Global Burn Injury, the Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy & Research (CGBIPR) at Swansea University and honorary consultant at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery. He has worked in the international field since 1990, with MSF in Cambodia, Bosnia, Tajikistan and Rwanda. He was Co- Chair of the WHO-EMT Technical Working Group on Burns. Tom led the development of Interburns’ comprehensive integrated approach to quality improvement in burn care and has led programmes in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah
Opoku is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon. He is former CEO of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana's premier medical institution (2020-2024) , and the immediate past Director of the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre. He is a Board Member and Country Medical Director for Operation Smile Ghana, a Director of Resurge Africa, an examiner for the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons and he is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (JPRAS). He is founding President of the Ghana Burn Association and was a member of the WHO-EMT Technical Working Group on Burns. Opoku is passionate about delivering quality health care in low resource settings; he has been a member of Interburns faculty since 2010.
Hayley Harris, Treasurer
Hayley has a background in chartered accountancy and finance which she uses for problem solving and project management. She is a senior lecturer in the School of Medicine at Swansea University and likes road cycling, travelling and any activity outdoors. Hayley has been on the Board of Interburns since 2019.
Dr Ramana Rajkarnikar
Ramana is a senior consultant paediatric surgeon in Kanti Children’s Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. She has extensive experience in burns and plastic surgery and has trained surgeons, nurses, physiotherapists, and other health professionals in Nepal since 2012. She is joint secretary of the Nepalese Association of Paediatric Surgeons (NAPS) and Treasurer of the Nepal Burn Society. She has been involved in burns prevention, treatment, and care for the past 13 years and was a key member in the development of the Burn Protocols at Kanti Children’s Hospital.
Nadia Depetris
Nadia is an anaesthesiologist and intensivist based in Italy. She has been dedicated to the treatment of severe burns for the past 15 years and has worked in humanitarian missions within conflict zones and across Asia and Africa. She currently holds key leadership roles as the Vice President of the European Burns Association (EBA) and the ISBI Regional Representative for Europe. Nadia was a participant of EU Burn Assessment Team (BAT) training delivered by Interburns in 2023 and has been faculty for ABC (Surgery) UAE in 2024 and EBC + EBC ToT in Sierra Leone in 2025.
Hilmar Kjartansson
Hilmar is an MD FACEM trained in Internal and Emergency Medicine in New Zealand and Australia. He has worked as a consultant in Emergency Medicine in New Zealand, Australia and Iceland and was Clinical Director at Landspitali University, Reykjavik for many years. Hilmar’s interests include trauma and burns and he is passionate about the delivery of high quality medical care in all settings. Hilmar is a co-founder of the medical device company, Kerecis, and has established a humanitarian branch that provides product, care and training in many low income countries.
Margaret Roy Gowrinath
Margaret has an MA in Nursing and Business Administration and is Director of Operations, Apple Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, India. Margaret has completed programmes in Environmental Science and Clinical Decision Support Services in the US. Under her leadership as Head of Nursing Staff at Choithram Hospital and Research Centre, Indore, the hospital was the first to achieve the award for ‘Nursing Excellence’ in the region. She is a member of many nursing societies and healthcare associations, and is active as the Chairperson of Medical Services of the Rotary club, Adarsh, Indore.
Dr David Schieffelers
David has a physiotherapy and rehabilitation science background with a PHD in burn rehabilitation from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is currently working as a university lecturer in a physiotherapy programme in the Netherlands. David’s clinical and research expertise concerns the early rehabilitation of burn injuries across various resource settings, including humanitarian crisis contexts in Ukraine and Lebanon. He has been part of the Interburns faculty since 2024. David has been spearheading World Burns Week, a worldwide awareness campaign addressing global disparities in burns.