Dr. med. Nellie Valerie Tayo Bell, MD (Heidelberg), DTMPH (Berlin), DCH (Sydney), FWACP (Paed), FCPS (SL)
Dr. med. Nellie Valerie Tayo Bell is a German-trained Consultant Paediatrician with a deep passion for advancing child health. She has worked in Sierra Leone since June 2011, initially under Cap Anamur before joining the Government of Sierra Leone. She completed her undergraduate medical training at the University of Heidelberg and her postgraduate paediatric training at Klinikum Mannheim in Germany.
She currently serves as the Head of the Department of Paediatrics for Postgraduate Training at the University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex (USLTHC) under the MOH, based at Ola During Children’s Hospital in Freetown and the Julius Maada Bio Paediatric Centre of Excellence and at the undergraduate level at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), University of Sierra Leone. Under her leadership, the Department of Paediatrics at USLTHC attained full accreditation to train paediatricians up to the fellowship level in 2021.
Her research interests and publications span multiple paediatric subspecialties.
Dr. Bell is the current President of the Paediatric Association of Sierra Leone, a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians (WACP), a faculty board member in the Faculty of Paediatrics at regional level, and the current Chair of the Local Faculty of Paediatrics, WACP. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Sierra Leone Postgraduate College of Physicians and Surgeons and is the Chair of the Institutional Review Board at COMAHS.
Internationally, she is a co-opted board member of the German Society of Tropical Paediatrics and International Child Health representing the international space, a member of the German Society for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), and a visiting researcher in the Department of Global Child Health at the University of Heidelberg, her alma mater. Most recently, she was appointed as a Council Member of the newly created Hospital Partnerships Alliance, a global alliance promoting multilateral collaboration among hospitals worldwide.
She also sits on the Executive Board of the Kono University Court, a board member of German Doctors – Sierra Leone e.V. and is the assistant Secretary of the Healthcare Christian Fellowship, Sierra Leone.
She previously served as Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group to the President of Sierra Leone on COVID-19 in April 2020.
She is the Country Medical Director and lead Paediatrician at AMI Expeditionary Healthcare Sierra Leone, promoting quality healthcare in Sierra Leone.
Her recognitions include:
Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award (1997), Buckingham Palace, UK
Special Award for service to COMAHS (February 2021)
Best Doctor in Sierra Leone 2020 – National Development Awards
And several other honors.
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