Established in 2018

Our Goal

Students from around the world met at the International Meeting of The Network: Towards Unity for Health, in Limerick, Ireland. During the course of the four days, students were struck by the lack of interdisciplinary education and engagement that existed within their post-secondary programs. To solve the problem, a passionate group of student healthcare leaders from across a variety of healthcare disciplines committed to building a new model for interdisciplinary engagement within Universities and Colleges. The World Interdisciplinary Forum for Healthcare was born with students from across 10 countries and 5 continents committing to working together to develop innovating new approaches to fostering collaboration between students passionate about healthcare, whatever their discipline.

We envision communities are supported by unified networks to optimize local, national, and international health and wellbeing. To do this, WIFH creates platforms for students passionate about healthcare to collaborate, innovate, and build healthy communities locally, nationally, and internationally. 

Our Founders

Nicholas Conradi
Co-Founder, Ireland

Nick is a final year medical student at the University of Limerick, Ireland, with a Master's of Public Health from King's College London.  Through his previous experiences as a management consultant with KPMG and as a long-time volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, he developed a passion for interdisciplinary solutions to challenges in healthcare. Alongside Sonya Ramondino, he co-founded the University of Limerick and later the Irish Interdisciplinary Forums for Healthcare, which bring together students passionate about healthcare to engage in joint learning, research, advocacy, and engagement. Nick hopes to continue his interdisciplinary work into a career in paediatrics and global health. 

Miet Vandemaele
​Co-Founder, Belgium

Miet is a Radiation Oncology resident in Belgium by day, interdisciplinary collaborator by night... which might explain why she is a self-proclaimed professional coffee addict. Before graduating medical school, Miet represented students at a local and national level on issues related to medical education and healthcare policies. She continues to be passionate about solving the very same issues, only now as a professional! Miet graduated at Ghent University as a Master of Medicine in 2018, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Healthcare Management and Policy and a Masters of Radiation Oncology. She feels fortunate and excited to be part of this new WIFH story, and is eager to help write the next chapters.

Sonya Ramondino
​Co-Founder, Ireland

Sonya is a final year medical student at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Her passion for interdisciplinary healthcare was sparked while completing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Western University, Canada. She was the co-founder of both the University of Limerick and the Irish Interdisciplinary Forum for Healthcare, and after many cups of coffee, early mornings and emphatic phone conversations, helped to kickstart WIFH. Sonya plans to further establish WIFH within the global interdisciplinary network, and to integrate its values related to research, advocacy, learning and engagement into family-centred pediatric medicine. In the longterm, she hopes to gain enough expertise to serve those with less resources by engaging in humanitarian work across the globe.

Siem de Cleyn
​Co-Founder, Belgium

Siem is a first year anesthesia trainee at the Brussels free university (VUB). Having graduated medicine at Ghent University in the summer of 2018, he is now studying towards a master’s in healthcare management and policy at the same Ghent University. Ghent is where Siem discovered his passion for student’s participation over 6 years ago, and he has been occupied with medical education on the local and regional level ever since. Being a fan of international exchanges since he turned 15, he, alongside other students, organized a summer school on health and migration in Ghent. 

Divya Gautam
​Co-Founder, Malaysia

Divya is a final year medical student at the The Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, currently obtaining her clinical experience at the Penang campus of the university (RCSI & UCD Malaysia Campus). Upon completion of her basic medical training, she hopes to continue her training in OBGYN in both tertiary care and rural settings. Her WIFH journey began in Limerick when she showed up to a workshop for Belgian chocolate but ended up aggressively posting sticky notes on posters sharing ideas followed by her phone number.