Step Up Board - Step Up Rwanda Women

Board of Directors

RANGIRA BÉA GALLIMORE, PH.D.

Founder and president of Step Up. She is also a co-founder and member of the board of the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center in Rwanda. Dr. Gallimore is an associate professor at the University of Missouri—Columbia where she teaches and researches on women and violence. She has published books and articles in the area of Francophone Studies and on the genocide in Rwanda. She served as an expert consultant to UNESCO and other international organizations on the role of women in post-conflict recovery. Dr. Gallimore is fluent in English, French and Kinyarwanda, the official languages of Rwanda. She is also a trained trauma counselor and a member of the Step Up trauma training team.

Tola Olu Pearce, Ph.D.

Vice president of Step Up. She is a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she holds a joint appointment in Sociology and in Women’s and Gender Studies. She teaches and publishes on human rights, social justice, class, gender, and development/globalization studies. She has expertise in the political economy of women’s health in Africa, local responses and women’s survival strategies. She is a frequent researcher and consultant for the United Nations agencies in Addis Ababa. Dr. Pearce is co-editor of the International Journal of Conflict and Reconciliation.

Deborah J. Doxsee, Ph.D.

Vice President of Step Up! She is a licensed psychologist, a registered nurse and certified health services provider. Dr. Doxsee specializes in working with survivors of violent crime and physical and sexual violence, as well as the assessment of personnel who work in high risk professions. She worked at the Missouri maximum security forensic mental health facility where she treated acutely suicidal patients and provided direct interventions with criminal perpetrators of physical and sexual violence. Dr. Doxsee also provided training and supervision to psychology graduate students, hospital staff and psychiatric interns in the forensic setting. Dr. Doxsee is a member of the American Psychological Association and serves on the Board of Director’s Standing Hearing Panel, APA Ethics Office. Dr. Doxsee is also a lawyer, mediator and dispute resolution consultant, and served as the Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution, at the University of Missouri, School of Law (1989-1996) where she remains adjunct professor of law. She also served as an Associate Municipal Judge in the City of Columbia from 2003-2006. She is a member of the Step Up trauma training team.

Joyce E. Leader

A retired diplomat whose Foreign Service career centered on African and humanitarian affairs. She currently serves as a consultant on African Affairs with an emphasis on conflict prevention and humanitarian action. Her expertise is on the Great Lakes region of Africa. She was Deputy Chief of the U.S. embassy in Rwanda during the three years prior to the 1994 genocide, and served as Associate Peace Corps Director in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the late 1970s. As a Senior Fellow at The Fund for Peace, a non-governmental organization in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Leader wrote Rwanda’s Struggle for Democracy and Peace, 1991-1994, which details U.S. policy efforts to contain the violence that escalated into genocide. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, as well as a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration. She has also worked with the Brookings Institution on strengthening respect for the human rights of internally displaced persons. She served as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea, Director of the Office of Assistance to Refugees in Asia and the Near East, Deputy Director of the Office of West African Affairs and also held posts in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Geneva and Marseille. She received a Career Achievement Award for her work with the State Department.

Helen Nabasuta-Mugambi, Ph.D.

A general, child, and adolescent psychiatrist in private practice. She served as the Medical Director at the Child Psychiatry Research Center affiliated with Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is a member of the Committee on Diversity and Culture at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She has trained teachers and other professionals in several countries how to counsel children traumatized by war and natural disasters. She is a member of the Step Up trauma training team.

Brielle Weinreich

Brielle Weinreich is a 2003 graduate of University of Missouri-Columbia who holds a bachelor degree in psychology, minor in anthropology, and received a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Columbia College in 2008. She is certified as an HIV Education and Prevention Counselor through the American Red Cross. She has served internationally in medical missions in Central America and traveled to Rwanda with StepUp! in 2011. Her passions are rooted in faith, family and serving others. She was previously the fundraising coordinator on the Board for StepUp! and believes the organization is an invaluable tool in promoting positive and effective ways that Rwandans can overcome trauma, change other’s lives, and enhance the communities in which they live.

Sonia Dhaliwal

Dr. Sonia Dhaliwal is a Licensed Psychologist and currently runs her own private practice in Las Vegas, NV. Dr. Dhaliwal is also the CEO and founder of RaD Diversity Consulting. Previously, Dr. Dhaliwal served as the Director of Training of the APA accredited internship (CAPS) at UNLV. She received her graduate training at the School of Professional Psychology, Pacific University, OR. She then completed her Clinical Internship at Michigan State University followed by her post doctoral training at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Dhaliwal was trained as an Emotion Focused therapist and her clinical interests lie in working with Complex Trauma within non-majority populations and running Substance Use and Eating Disorder groups. She is also passionate about issues pertaining to the experience of clinical supervision and mentorship in non majority graduate students. In addition, Dr. Dhaliwal works closely with organizations such as the United Nations, specifically (UNHCR) in studying Trauma within non-majority populations and advocating for International Women’s Rights. In 2014, she presented a project at the UN that she had developed and completed with UNHCR. Dr. Dhaliwal currently serves as Southern Region Board Secretary of the Nevada Psychological Association (NPA). She also serves on the board of an organization called Step UP! which was developed to empower Rwandan women who are survivors of the genocide.

Salama Gallimore

Salama Gallimore serves as General Counsel for Midwest Transplant Network (MTN), a federally certified not-for-profit organ procurement organization that works with organ, eye, and tissue donors, their families, hospitals, and other professional partners to extend legacies, provide hope and give life. Salama provides legal counsel and confidential advice to MTN’s executive team, senior leadership and frequently advises the Human Resources department while managing MTN’s contracting operations and working with outside counsel to manage matters in litigation. Salama routinely drafts and revises operating and employment policies and represents MTN before federal and state administrative agencies. Additionally, she serves as MTN’s HIPAA Compliance Officer and performs lobbying duties for MTN on the state and federal level. Prior to working at MTN, Salama worked at Armstrong Teasdale’s Kansas City office where her practice focused on higher education law and labor and employment law. Salama has also served as an administrator at the University of Missouri-Columbia as the Director of Investigations of the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX.

Malaika Gallimore, MPH

Secretary of Step Up. Malaika Gallimore is a registered nurse and is currently pursuing a doctorate in nursing at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. The focus of her dissertation is vaccine hesitancy in parents of young children. She previously worked as a public health nurse for the Columbia/Boone County Health Department. Her focus was on communicable disease surveillance and investigations as well as tuberculosis control and education. Prior to that she worked on a cardiac surgery unit at Boone Hospital Center.

Advisory Board

Tim Gallimore, Ph.D.

Assistant Commissioner at the Missouri Department of Higher Education. He was Spokesperson for the Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. As Assistant Project Director for the Rwanda Rule of Law/USAID project, he was responsible for conducting a national communications campaign and public opinion research about the post-genocide Gacaca community justice system in Rwanda. He is a certified mediator, facilitator and third party neutral in conflict resolution. He is also a senior researcher with the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center in Kigali, Rwanda. He researches and writes on trauma healing and reconciliation and on violence prevention. He is also a trained trauma counselor and a member of the Step Up trauma training team.

Joan MacEachen, MD, MPH

Family medicine physician who has worked with the Indian Health Service for 21 years. In this capacity she has provided outpatient and inpatient care for patients from newborn to geriatric. She has had leadership positions, quality management experience and supervisory designations. She was appointed to serve on the American Academy of Family Physicians National Research Network advisory group. She has a Masters degree in international public health. As a volunteer with the Peace Corps, she worked as a biology and chemistry teacher at secondary schools in Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo). She is the co-founder of Step Up and served as its vice president from 2005 to 2008.

Renée Reed-Miller

Co-founder and Executive Director of Vessels International, a not-for-profit organization tasked with supporting women and children around the world. A published poet and aspiring ceramic artist, she holds a B.A. in English from Stephens College. As a member of the distinguished English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta, she has received national and regional literary recognition for her work. She currently serves as chair of the World Community Service Committee for the Rotary Club of Columbia, Missouri.