Yelena Khegay, MD, MPH

About

Yelena Khegay is a family physician from Kazakhstan. She graduated from Kazakh National Medical University in 2007 with honors, and completed her 2-year GP residency program in 2010. For several years she has worked as a Project Coordinator, and later as a Study Investigator at Kazakhstan Association of Family Physicians (KAFP). Since 2014 Yelena is back to clinical practice and has been working as a general practitioner and a Teaching Assistant at a postgraduate family medicine faculty.

She has earned her MPH Degree at Kazakhstan School of Public Health. Her special fields of interest are mental health and quality improvement in primary care. Yelena has been actively involved into KAFP activities on health literacy improvement and healthy life style promotion among general population and healthcare workers in Kazakhstan – through social media and on personal basis as well.

Yelena is a head of a young doctor’s organization in her home country, and Kazakhstani National representative to the Europe Council of the Vasco da Gama Movement (the youth branch of Wonca Europe (the European Organization of Family Physicians). In 2018 she has been selected as a member of the WHO Primary Health Care Young Leaders Network through a highly competitive process. In 2020 on behalf of KAFP Yelena actively provided educational work for general public and healthcare providers on COVID-19 infection through social media. She also has been invited to join Kazakhstani National working group on COVID-19 response as a primary healthcare expert.

Yelena sees her mission in improving healthcare services and promotion of Health for All in Kazakhstan.

Other Appointments

• Public health educator
• Kazakhstani National Delegate to the EC of Vasco da Gama Movement, a youth branch of the WONCA Europe (WONCA – The World Organization of Family Doctors)
• Member of International Advisory Board in EURIPA (The European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association)

Key Accomplishments

• A member of the WHO Primary Healthcare Young Leader’s Network (2018)
• A member of WHO Mental Health Gap-Kazakhstan working group
• A member of Kazakhstani national working group on COVID-19 response (2020)