Steering Committee

Dr. Marlice Van Dyk

President of SWAAC ELSO
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Dr. Marlice Van Dyk

(South Africa)

President of SWAAC ELSO

In May 2026, Dr. Marlice van Dyk was elected President of SWAAC ELSO, a testament to her leadership and longstanding contributions to the field of extracorporeal life support.

The SWAAC ELSO region represents approximately one-third of the world’s population and encompasses an exceptionally diverse healthcare landscape. While many parts of the region continue to face significant resource limitations and challenges in establishing mature ECLS programs, SWAAC ELSO is also home to some of the world’s most outstanding extracorporeal life support centres and training facilities. This success is driven by the remarkable individuals across the region—innovative, dedicated, and deeply passionate professionals committed to advancing ECLS care despite financial and structural constraints.

Under Dr. van Dyk’s leadership, SWAAC ELSO continues to strengthen collaboration, expand education, and promote excellence in extracorporeal life support throughout Southwest Asia and Africa.

Dr MA van Dyk

MBChB, FCA, Crit Care, Dip Clinical Ultrasound, M. Com Business Management

Dr. Huda Al Foudri

Past President of SWAAC ELSO Chapter 2024 – 2026
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Dr. Huda Al Foudri

(Kuwait)

Past President of SWAAC ELSO Chapter 2024 - 2026

Past President of SWAAC ELSO Chapter 2024 – 2026. Member of ELSO Board 2026 – 2030. Past Chair of Kuwait Council of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management Consultant and Head of Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Management. Al-Adan Hospital. MOH. Kuwait (Since August 2014). Program Director of AL-Adan Hospital ECLS Centre. MOH. Kuwait (registered with ELSO since 2017) AHA Training Centre Faculty (TCF), instructor and Course Director for the ACLS discipline. AHA Training Centre. EMS Sabhan. MOH. Kuwait National Surveyor for the National Hospital Accreditation Program. MOH. Kuwait

Dr. Ahmed Labib

Senior Consultant in Critical Care
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Dr. Ahmed Labib

(United Kingdom)

Senior Consultant in Critical Care

Dr. Labib joined HMC in December 2013 and is involved in several education, research and quality initiatives. He has initiated and led Qatar National Sepsis Program and actively participated in National Patient Safety Collaborative, Best Care Always and in developing National Sepsis Guidelines. Dr. Labib organised and chaired Qatar World Sepsis Day 2014-2019. Ahmed is vice chair and clinical lead of HMC Sepsis Program 2014-2020. Dr. Labib completed his training in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine UK. He has extensive clinical experience of over 25 years in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, of which 11 years have been in the National Health Service, UK. He worked as a consultant in the Department of Anaesthetics at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust UK, which is a large healthcare facility in the North of England. Dr. Labib has much research, posters book chapters and presentations under his name. Dr. Labib’s main interests are Extracorporeal Life Support, sepsis, tracheostomy and transport medicine.

Dr. Ali Ait Hassain

Anesthesiologist, and ECMO Specialist at Hamad General Hospital
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Dr. Ali Ait Hassain

(France)

Anesthesiologist, and ECMO Specialist at Hamad General Hospital
Dr. Ali Ait Hssain is a Senior Consultant Intensivist, Anesthesiologist, and ECMO Specialist at Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar. With over two decades of critical care experience, he is a leading ECMO figure in the Middle East and Africa, founder of ECSiTeD (ECMO Simulation Team of Doha), and holds elected leadership roles within ELSO and SWAAC-ELSO.

Dr. Norbert Welkovics

General Surgeon and Intensivist
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Dr. Norbert Welkovics

(South Africa)

General Surgeon and Intensivist
General Surgeon and Intensivist, Co-Director Netcare Unitas ECMO Center, involved in ECLS foor 15 years, Steering Coni tree member for South Africa and Treasurer SWAAC ELSO

Dr. Vivek Gupta

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Dr. Vivek Gupta

Dr. Mohamed Azzam

Consultant in Trauma, Emergency & Critical Care Medicine
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Dr. Mohamed Azzam

(Saudi Arabia)

Consultant in Trauma, Emergency & Critical Care Medicine

Dr. Azzam is a Consultant in Trauma, Emergency, and Critical Care Medicine at Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Saudi Arabia. He previously served as Director of the Ministry of Health (MOH) ECMO Program and is an active member of the Saudi Extracorporeal Life Support Chapter under the Saudi Critical Care Society.

A recognized leader in extracorporeal life support and critical care operations, Dr. Azzam currently serves as Chairman of the Conference Committee of the Southwest Asia & Africa Chapter of ELSO (SWAAC ELSO). He is extensively involved in national-level initiatives related to trauma and disaster medicine training, ECMO education and operations, and critical care system development. His primary interests include trauma resuscitation, interfacility critical care transport, and ECMO program management.

Dr. Salman Abdulaziz

Consultant of Cardiovascular Critical Care
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Dr. Salman Abdulaziz

(Bahrain)

Consultant of Cardiovascular Critical Care

Graduated from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia in 2001. • Internal Medicine Training Program in King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh from 2002-2006. • Arab board, Saudi board, MRCP(UK) of Internal Medicine in 2006. • Saudi Fellowship of Critical Care from King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in year 2012. • Clinical fellowship of Cardiovascular Critical Care in Western University, Canada in 2019 • Works as a Consultant of Internal Medicine, Critical Care & Cardiovascular Critical Care in King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh – Chair of SWAAC ELSO Guidelines Subcommittee

Dr. Nazar Bukamel

Consultant
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Dr. Nazar Bukamel

(Bahrain)

Consultant

Consultant Cardiothoracic ICU and Anesthesia
Head of Department
Head of Clinical Training and Development
Department – MKCC
Deputy Head for CPD and Medical Ethics – CPCTMR
Senior Clinical Lecturer Arabian Gulf University

Dr. Vinod Singh

Senior Consultant & Co-Chair
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Dr. Vinod Singh

(India)

Senior Consultant & Co-Chair

Dr. Vinod Kumar Singh is a distinguished intensivist and academician with extensive experience in
Critical Care Medicine, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), and Respiratory Medicine.
He serves as Senior Consultant and Co-Chair in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, and leads the ICU–ECMO Program as its Program Director.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) and the American College of Chest
Physicians (USA), Dr. Singh has made significant contributions to critical care education, research,
and professional development both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Grace Van Leeuwen

Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist & ECMO Medical Director, Sidra Medicine
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Dr. Grace Van Leeuwen

(Brazil)

Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist & ECMO Medical Director, Sidra Medicine

Dr. Grace Van Leeuwen is a Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist and ECMO Medical Director at Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar, with more than 20 years of experience in pediatric critical care. She leads the institution’s ECMO program, which has earned the ELSO Silver-Level Award of Excellence for its achievements in patient outcomes, education, and safety.

A recognized ECMO educator, Dr. Van Leeuwen develops simulation-based training programs and competency-driven curricula for multidisciplinary critical care teams. She is actively involved in research, has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, contributed to ELSO guidelines and critical care textbooks, and serves as a reviewer for leading international journals. An invited speaker at global conferences, she also serves as Co-Chair of the Congenital Heart Academy and is a member of the ELSO SWAAC Steering Committee. She holds a Master of Science in Clinical Service Operations from Harvard Medical School and is committed to advancing excellence in both clinical care and healthcare operations.

Dr. Mohammed Shamsah

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Dr. Mohammed Shamsah

Dr. Ala Al Lawati

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Dr. Ala Al Lawati

Dr. Alia Abdelfattah

Professor of critical care
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Dr. Alia Abdelfattah

(Egypt)

Professor of critical care

Professor of critical care,Cairo University. President of ECMO working group,Egyptian college of critical care physicians. X-cheif of critical care department, Cairo University

Dr. Brahim Housni

Chief of intensive care and emergency.
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Dr. Brahim Housni

(Morocco)

Chief of intensive care and emergency.

Chief of intensive care and emergency. Mechanical Ventilation. Critical Care Medicine. Anesthesiology. Hemodynamic.RRT.

Dr. Mohamad Amin Mahlabani

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Dr. Mohamad Amin Mahlabani

Dr. Jana Assy

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS AND PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE
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Dr. Jana Assy

(Lebanon)

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS AND PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE

I am a Pediatric Intensivist and Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist with more than ten years of
experience in tertiary pediatric critical care, congenital heart disease, extracorporeal life support
(ECMO), and program development. My career has been dedicated to the care of critically ill
neonates and children, with a particular focus on advanced cardiorespiratory support, mechanical
circulatory support, and the development of high-quality pediatric critical care services.
Following my training in Pediatrics, Neonatology, and Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care in Belgium
and France, I joined the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care. There, I played a central role in the
development of pediatric and cardiac intensive care services and founded the institution’s ECMO
program, which became the first comprehensive neonatal, pediatric, and adult ECMO program in
Lebanon. I subsequently established the country’s first ECMO retrieval service and led the
development of clinical protocols, multidisciplinary training programs, quality initiatives, and
regional collaborations. I have personally led three intercontinental fixed-wing transports of
critically ill children supported on ECMO, coordinating multidisciplinary teams across
international healthcare systems and transport networks.
My clinical practice encompasses the management of complex congenital and acquired cardiac
disease, postoperative cardiac surgical patients, severe respiratory failure, septic shock, multiple
organ dysfunction, and extracorporeal life support. Throughout my career, I have maintained a
strong commitment to patient safety, quality improvement, simulation-based education, and
evidence-based medicine.
In 2021, I joined the University Hospital of Liège as Chef de Clinique in Pediatrics, where I was
recruited to contribute to the development of a tertiary Pediatric and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
My responsibilities included the expansion of advanced pediatric critical care services, including
ECMO and cardiac critical care activities, while ensuring compliance with international standards
of care, education, and research. In parallel, I completed an Executive Master’s in Management of
Healthcare Institutions at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, graduating
with distinction.

Dr. Bijoy Rajbanshi

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Dr. Bijoy Rajbanshi

Dr. Tolusha Harischandra

MB BS, MS, M Phil, FCSSL
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Dr. Tolusha Harischandra

(Sri Lanka)

MB BS, MS, M Phil, FCSSL

Educated at Sanghamitta College, Galle, Sri Lanka-obtained eight distinctions in 1984 and 4 A’s in 1987.

Obtained a Pre-University Research Fellowship for one year at National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy, Sri Lanka where she developed an interest in academic research.

Entered Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, and graduated with honors in 1996.

Obtained the MS (Master of Surgery) degree in 2003; was awarded the Dr Milroy Paul Gold Medal for Clinical Surgery by the PGIM that year.

Board certified in 2008, becoming the first woman Cardiothoracic Surgeon in Sri Lanka.

Introduced ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a form of mechanical heart and lung support, to Sri Lanka. Founder president of GELSA (Galle Extracorporeal Life Support Association).

Obtained MPhil in 2011 for the thesis on coagulation changes during hypothermia in neonatal ECMO. Has 29 publications and presentations on ECMO and one SLMA oration on ECMO.

Presently, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya, Galle.

Dr. Raihan Rabbani

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Dr. Raihan Rabbani

Dr. Ali Raza Mangi

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Dr. Ali Raza Mangi

Dr. Praven Ghisulal

Consultant and Deputy Section head, Cardiothoracic Critical Care
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Dr. Praven Ghisulal

(India)

Consultant and Deputy Section head, Cardiothoracic Critical Care
Consultant and Deputy Section head, Cardiothoracic Critical Care

Dr. Mohammed Al Maanie

Director Of Critical Care
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Dr. Mohammed Al Maanie

(Saudi Arabia)

Director Of Critical Care

Consultant Emergency and Critical Care Medicine | ECMO Consultant | Executive Critical Care Leader Short Biography

Dr. Mohammed Ali Almaani is a Saudi consultant in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, ECMO consultant, and executive healthcare leader based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He serves as Director of Critical Care Service Administration at King Fahd Medical City and Critical Care Service Line Lead for Riyadh Second Health Cluster. He is also the Saudi Representative in SWAAC ELSO for the term May 2026 to 2030. Dr. Almaani has advanced fellowship training in Critical Care Medicine from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. His work focuses on ICU governance, ECMO systems, resuscitation, clinical education, quality improvement, and critical care service development. He has contributed to national ECMO programs and multicenter critical care research, including studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.