Malaika Mendonca

Dr Malaika Mendonca graduated from the Essen Medical School University (Germany) in 1996. Her involvement in ECLS started during her residency training for anaesthesia and critical care in Essen. She further acquired international experience through electives and observerships in the Sick Kids Hospital, Toronto, Canada, and the Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, USA.

After completing her Board Certification (Facharzt) in 2001, she joined the Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital in Munich to lead the Cardiac Paediatric Critical Care Unit, with major exposure to ECMO, ventricular assist devices and heart transplants.

Always interested in new perspectives and challenges, she moved in 2004 to the United Arab Emirates to support the creation of the Paediatric Critical Care Unit in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi, now 27 beds. She led the Cardiac PICU from 2010 as Division Chief, and, as ECMO Program Director, established and developed the SKMC Program until it became the reference centre in the UAE and a leading centre in the Gulf region.

Her dedication to education, teaching and knowledge exchange has made her a frequently invited speaker in local and international conferences,

She organized the 3rd South and West Asia Chapter of ELSO (SWAC ELSO) Conference in March 2016 in Abu Dhabi, during which she was elected as Co-Chair of the Chapter, before becoming Chairman at the Doha 2017 Conference.

Upon completion of her Chairmanship term in January 2018, she returned to Europe and joined the PICU team of the Inselspital University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland.