Richard A. Powell

Co-director

MWAPO Health Development Group

Richard is currently a co-director of MWAPO Health Development Group (HDG), a Kenya-based organization with the vision of increasing access to quality health and social care services for those in need in lower and middle income countries (LMICs).  MWAPO-HDG works across four strategic outcomes including, partnership development, evidence generation, strategic advocacy and capacity development.  He was previously Director of Research at Healthcare Chaplaincy (HCC), a New York City-based leader in the research, education and practice of palliative care and the Director of Learning and Research at the African Palliative Care  Association, based in Kampala, Uganda.  A referee for multiple academic journals, Richard was the founder of the African Palliative Care Research Network, a member of the research committee of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network, a member of the steering committee of the International Palliative Care Family Carer Research Collaboration, and a co-chair of the European Association of Palliative Care’s Task Force on Palliative Care in Africa.  From a social scientific background, Richard’s palliative care research interests included: outcomes research; the development and validation of adult and pediatric outcome tools; family carers (especially the elderly and young); access to, and availability of, pain management medication; the elderly; the task-shifting agenda; and policy makers’ information needs.  With experience of working in multiple African countries, he has been resident in the continent for 12 years.  He has a BA (Hons) in Sociology, a MA in Applied Population Research and an MSc in Health Care, the latter two from the University of Exeter, England.