Brigham and Women's Hospital
Dr. Tapela is a global health practitioner with an interest in health systems strengthening and service delivery of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) particularly in resource limited areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since September 2011, Dr. Tapela has been based in Rwanda as Director of the NCDs Program at Partners In Health, Rwanda. She also serves as Special Advisor to the Rwanda Director General of Clinical Services on NCDs, and sits on the National NCD Technical Working Group as co-chair of the Cancer Cluster. Her role in these positions includes programmatic management and implementation oversight of NCD (including cancers) services at PIH-supported facilities, as well as contribution to developing national strategy and clinical guidelines to address NCDs.
Dr. Tapela has worked in health facilities in South Africa, Lesotho, Haiti, Rwanda and her home country of Botswana, where she has served as Consultant Clinician, Acting Head of Department of Medicine, and Coordinator of Internal Medicine Post-Graduate Residency Training Program at the University of Botswana School of Medicine.