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DrPH Student Profiles

Fourth-Year + Students

Monica Allen, MPH, received her MPH from Loma Linda University in 1991 and has been working in public health education and management ever since. She is currently working for the American Cancer Society as Director of Mission Delivery and previous to this position worked as Regional Manager in Cancer Control Planning. Her management and administrative activities have involved statewide organizational collaboration in the area of cancer control as well as development and monitoring of multi-million dollar budgets. For the past seven years Monica has been involved with youth development in inner-city communities and is currently director of Reach and Teach, a tutoring and mentoring program for students in grades K-12 in West Oakland . Monica sees the DrPH program, with its focus on leadership, as an opportunity to build on her current skills with the goal of using those skills in the development and management of non-profit organizations reaching underserved communities.

Lily Asrat, MA, MPH received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the College of William and Mary, a Master of International Affairs from Ohio University, and an MPH from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Lily’s background and interest is primarily in international health. She has worked and studied in East, West, and Southern Africa and has most recently been working within the Global AIDS Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she was responsible for providing technical assistance to CDC field offices in the areas of STI and HIV prevention among high risk groups. In pursuing a DrPh, Lily hopes to acquire skills in epidemiology, health behavior, and program design and management to continue in her career goal of working in the implementation and evaluation of HIV/AIDS interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.

LeRoy Blea, MPH received his BA in Anthropology from Berkeley in 1993. While in school he worked for the Berkeley Free Clinic for three years as an STD medic in the Gay Men’s Health Collective. After graduating he worked for Tri-City Health Center for three years coordinating a countywide HIV prevention program for young gay men of color using community-organizing models of intervention. Desiring more experience with outcomes evaluation, he left to work for the Marin AIDS Project as Evaluation Coordinator for two HIV intervention programs for men in San Quentin State Prison. He continued in this work part-time while working towards his MPH at Berkeley in Community Health Education, which he was awarded in 1998. His master’s thesis examined case studies of HIV positive men exiting from prison and the broader social and environmental reasons that led to almost universal recidivism to prison after release. After graduation he was hired as the AIDS Director and Assistant STD Controller for the Berkeley Public Health Department. In his work locally he has tried to expand the AIDS Office beyond individual psychosocial models of intervention that dominate the field of HIV prevention at this time. His role as AIDS Director has afforded him the opportunity to participate and take leadership roles in several local and state HIV and STD health policy groups. His current research interests include health disparities, ethics and public health practice, and politics and public health policy making.

Diego Castaneda, MPH earned his bachelor degree from UC San Diego in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience. Following this, he worked at the UCSD School of Medicine as a Research Associate in the Dept. of Immunology for 41/2 years studying the microbiology of asthma. Though he helped in the development of over 10 scientific papers about this disease, he realized that his true passion lay with human behavior research and decided to pursue his MPH at San Diego State in the division of Health Promotion. During this time, Diego worked as a research associate for an obesity intervention that focused on changing the micro and macro environments in South San Diego County. While working on this study, he was awarded a two year grant by the NIH to develop his own research project which compared fast food to healthy food logo recognition in young Latino children. He was selected to present these findings at the APHA annual meeting in 2004. Diego’s primary interest as he enters the doctoral program lies in learning how to develop creative health communication programs and strategies through the use of multi-media and education through entertainment.

Karuna Sridharan Chibber, MA, MHS Karuna received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Delhi University ( India), Master of Arts in Economics from Tufts University, and Master of Health Sciences in International Health from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to studying public health, she spent several years working with NGOs in India on a range of health- and poverty-related issues. There, she managed research modules for maternal and child health promotional campaigns, led field projects to examine poor villagers’ access to primary health care, and developed community-level interventions to enhance participation in service distribution. More recently, her research interests have focused on reproductive health (both domestically and internationally). At Columbia University’s Center for the Health of Urban Minorities, she has been conducting statistical analyses to examine the impact of U.S. welfare reform legislation on minority women’s reproductive-related behaviors. As a consultant to various international public health organizations, she has also conducted evaluations of projects in family planning, safe motherhood, and abortion services. In pursuing her Dr.P.H., she intends to focus on access, delivery, and distribution of reproductive health services in less-developed countries. Specifically, she seeks to examine access issues in the context of gender inequities, and methods of enhancing the role of indigenous and private sector providers, towards improving the reproductive health care available to poor women.

Maggie Gaddis, MPH, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from UC Davis and a Master of Public Health in Health & Social Behavior from UC Berkeley. Maggie’s professional background and experience includes working at the Contra Costa Public Health Department facilitating the Photovoice technique with community members; conducting a reproductive health feasibility study at Kaiser through CDC funding and designing and developing health education and prevention activities at California State University, East Bay and the greater Hayward community. Her experience at the University includes establishing a community peer health education program and community health education course. As an active board member of the Institute for Mental Health Wellness and Education she works on stigma reduction and mental health education in multicultural settings. In addition to mental health awareness, she is working with the University community on alcohol prevention through various grants and community coalitions. Maggie is interested in looking at data she has collected on students’ immigrant generational status with regards to risk behaviors, especially mental health status and utilization of mental health services. She also looks forward with anticipation at the implementation of Proposition 63 to increase mental health services in local communities.

Jay Harcourt, MPH received his MPH from the Health and Social Behavior program at Berkeley SPH in May 2002. During his MPH program he focused his studies upon HIV/STD prevention and sexual health among Gay men in San Francisco. While in school, Jay worked for the SF Department of Public Health, AIDS Office as a community liaison working with the sex clubs in San Francisco. He also serves as a board member of “Castroguys,” a community advisory board planning an innovative Gay men’s health, sexual health, and wellness center to be located in San Francisco’s Castro district. In addition, for the past two years, he has held positions (currently Membership Chair) on the Executive Committee of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus of Public Health Workers—a caucus of the American Public Health Association. Given that both his BS in Health Science/Community Health Education from San Francisco State University (2000) and his MPH were primarily focused upon health and behavior, Jay hopes to focus his DrPH program in Health Policy Planning and Management while maintaining his commitment to improving the health status of LGBT communities.  

 Juan Ibarra, MPH, MSW received his BA from Stanford University and his MPH/MSW from San Diego State University. Juan’s public health experience includes serving as the Medical Assistant for a community health clinic, HIV Prevention Coordinator for a community-based organization, Communicable Disease Investigator for the Santa Clara County Department of Health, Administrative Assistant in a San Diego County Public Health Regional Clinic, and social work intern in the Veterans Administration Medical Hospital in San Diego. He has also held a number of leadership positions; most notably he was elected president of the Graduate Social Work Association and administrator of the student chapter of the American College of Health Executives.

Eddy Jara, MPH received his Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics at Loma Linda University, where he went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis on Health Promotion and Education. Eddy’s early professional career was defined by his work in Ecuador where he worked as a Technical Health Trainer for Peace Corps volunteers. He also worked on several projects advancing child nutrition public policies, establishing a children’s nutritional center, and grant writing regarding child nutrition prevention, identification and treatment. Most recently, Eddy works as a Health Educator with the California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program in Berkeley. For his future dissertation research, he is interested in evaluating the effectiveness of using community-based participatory research to assess community food security issues, particularly in Latin American or recently immigrated Latino communities in the United States.

Karen Koh, MPH received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley in 1996 and her MPH in Health Policy and Management from UC Berkeley in 1999. Upon graduating with her MPH, she worked at Asian Health Services, a large nonprofit community-based primary health care agency in Oakland, which serves Alameda County. Ms. Koh’s responsibilities were resource development and grantwriting and she helped AHS secure approximately $1.4 million in funding from foundations and local/federal agencies. She left AHS in March 2000 for career advancement to become Operations Officer at Asian Pacific Psychological Services, a small nonprofit community-based mental health agency established in Oakland in 1996 which serves Alameda County and Contra Costa Counties. As Operations Officer, her primary responsibilities are to assist the Executive Director with day-to-day management of agency programs and business operations; work closely with the Executive Director and Clinical Supervisors with policy development and strategic planning; and last but not least conduct resource development through grant writing and planning fundraising activities in which she has raised approximately $2 million in funding from foundations and local/federal agencies. For her DrPH dissertation, Ms. Koh is interested in the identification, development, evaluation, and dissemination of culturally appropriate and cost-effective models of mental health service delivery to racial and ethnic minority groups, with a particular emphasis on Asians & Pacific Islanders.

Heather Kuiper, MPH has a professional background in national and international public health, with a focus on various aspects of reproductive health. Most recently she founded and co-directs a non-profit organization that provides public health and medical resources, capacity-building, and advocacy for vulnerable populations. Through the DrPH program she wants to prepare for a leadership role in directing and improving public health services. Ultimately, she would like to be in a position where she can integrate sectors, promote a social justice framework, and create innovative public health strategies. She plans to pursue a skills-oriented dissertation that develops her capacities in policy, economics, epidemiology, and management, and that bridges community action, technology, and health policy. She received her BA from Stanford University in Human Biol./International Health & Development and her MPH from Johns Hopkins University in International Health/Health Services Research.

Jennifer Lachance, MSE earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Engineering in Mathematical Sciences, with a concentration in Statistics and Public Health, from Johns Hopkins University. Since graduation, Jennifer has worked as a technology and strategy consultant for a wide array of organizations in the healthcare and public health arenas. Her work in public health has focused primarily on preparedness for disaster situations, including surveillance of disease trends. Her preparedness work involved efforts with the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response at the CDC to facilitate the organization and execution of the 2002-2003 National Smallpox Vaccination Program, as well as to reorganize the State and Local Preparedness Program. Additionally, Jennifer worked with the Disaster Services departments in the Atlanta and New York Chapters of the American Red Cross to identify and implement technology solutions to streamline response activities in disaster situations. Related to disease surveillance, Jennifer worked with the Chicago Department of Public Health to develop their strategy for compliance with the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS), which is currently being implemented. She also worked with the Division of STD Prevention at the CDC to help prepare functional requirements for the STD Program Area Module, as part of the NEDSS Base System. For her future dissertation research, Jennifer is interested in furthering her work in disease surveillance, specifically for infectious diseases.

Priscilla Lee Chu, MPH graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of California at San Diego and a Master of Public Health degree in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from San Diego State University. Priscilla’s research experience and interests span local and international health arenas. Her work in the area of HIV/AIDS has included predicting levels of sexually risky behavior among military personnel in San Diego and exploring the potential for rapid sexual transmission of HIV in China, focusing on the high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and condom failure among female sex workers. Locally, Priscilla designed and served as the principal investigator of an innovative study funded through the University Wide AIDS Research Program to assess the magnitude of non-prescription Viagra use and its association with risk for HIV among men having sex with men in San Francisco.  

Lisa Loeb, MPH received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Iowa State University and her Master of Public Health in Behavioral Sciences from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Lisa’s professional and research background includes over 10 years of experience directing federally-funded HIV prevention research in the U.S. and Africa, including clinical trials of medical, surgical, and behavioral interventions. In pursuing her DrPH, she aims to focus on the area of international HIV prevention and treatment such as designing, testing, and implementing culturally appropriate interventions to help Africans protect themselves and their families from acquiring or transmitting HIV infection. In her current capacity as Research & Evaluation Unit Manager of the AIDS Health Project led by UCSF Department of Psychiatry, she oversees a multidisciplinary team of physicians, psychologists, and professors conducting longitudinal studies/randomized controlled trials and coordinates research collaborations with local public health agencies and regulatory bodies.  

Mohsen Malekinejad, MD, MPH received his MD from Azad University Tehran, Iran and his MPH from the University of California, Davis. He has an extensive background in the area of medical research with a focus on the environment and HIV/AIDS. In Iran, he worked with the World Health Organization compiling resource references for medical researchers and health management professionals, coordinated medical research activities at the Office of Health and Medical Treatment of the Iranian Air Force, founded and managed a company focused on providing research data training and consulting services to faculty, staff and students at Iranian medical universities, taught workshops in research methodology, and managed a student research journal at Azad University. In addition, Mohsen has published a number of articles in Iranian medical journals and UNICEF.

Marty Martinson, MPH, MEd received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Education degree in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and most recently, a Master of Public Health degree in Health and Social Behavior from the University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Martinson has spent the last 20 years developing and teaching physical education and health education programs in a variety of settings including Mills College in Oakland, California, SportsBridge in San Francisco, and the Albany YMCA. Ms. Martinson is particularly interested in community organizing and critical gerontology, and she is currently the project director of the California Senior Leaders Project. She also teaches exercise classes for middle age and older adults.

Marlon Maus, MD, MPH received his BS in Biochemistry from Brown University and his MD from Thomas Jefferson Medical College. He then did a residency in Ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and a fellowship in Oculoplastic and Orbital Surgery at MEEI, Harvard. After graduation he became the Director of Resident Education and of Emergency Services at Wills Eye Hospital, and was involved in issues of training physicians, accreditation and the relationship of resident education and public health. To further pursue this interest he came to UCB to study for an MPH degree in the Interdisciplinary program. He concentrated on the relationship of the economy and ocular trauma. Realizing that one year is only the beginning, he now continues to explore in the DrPH program various areas of interest including medical education, blindness prevention, and the built environment. This last interest, he hopes, will be the focus of his dissertation. He is also involved in several national medical and public health organizations.

Arnab Mukherjea, MPH graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Molecular and Cell Biology (emphasis in Neurobiology) and received a Masters of Public Health in Health and Social Behavior with a Specialty in Multicultural Health, both from the University of California (UC) at Berkeley. Arnab’s primary interests stem from his South Asian background, leading him to examine the cultural influences of health disparities in this rapidly growing minority population. His aspirations in trying to comprehend social determinants of health concerns have culminated in his appointment as Co-Chairperson of the Executive Board of Directors of the South Asian Public Health Association (SAPHA), a national organization committed to improving the health and well-being of South Asian American communities through education, outreach, and advocacy. Arnab also involves himself in researching, publishing, and lecturing across the country on various topics of importance for the South Asian community, including value ascribed to South Asian specific tobacco use and their related diseases, the leading causes of mortality of Asian Indians in California, and the unique necessities of South Asian caregivers upon discharge from the hospital. Arnab also believes that similar to his commitment to the South Asian population, members of other minority groups (racial/ethnic, sexual orientation, physically challenged, and elderly) should be empowered to take ownership of their own health prospects through education, practice, and care delivery. Accordingly, Arnab serves as the Program Director for Health Career Connection (HCC), a national organization committed to preparing culturally-competent health professionals serving diverse communities through practical exposure and support early in their academic training. He also served as an advisor for the Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Services (GRADS), a student-led group at UC Berkeley aiming to recruit and retain graduate students pursuing public health training at the School of Public Health. Arnab’s ultimate goal is to design and implement a comprehensive health entity in the San Francisco Bay Area focusing on addressing health issues of this local South Asian community through research, program provision, and advocacy via cultural competence, community participation and social empowerment.

Sarah Roberts, MPH is a doctoral candidate in the DrPH Program at the University California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Her interests include gender and women’s health, the role of public health departments in addressing social problems and the social determinants of health, and drug and alcohol policy. Her dissertation focuses on the relationship between universal screening for drug and alcohol use in prenatal care and reporting to Child Protective Services. In addition to her doctoral studies, Ms. Roberts works part time with the Family, Maternal, and Child Health Programs at Contra Costa Health Services, where she translates her research into action by developing multi-level interventions to build trust with pregnant substance-using women and reduce barriers to prenatal care for this population. Prior to entering the DrPH Program, Ms. Roberts worked at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, most recently on the New York City Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NYC HANES), and volunteered for many years as a peer counselor, advocate, and trainer with organizations addressing domestic and sexual violence in the United States and Mexico. Ms. Roberts has a BA in History from Columbia University and an MPH and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan.

Fátima M. Rodríguez, MPH, earned her Bachelor’s of Arts degree from the Program in Human Biology at Stanford University and a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Community Health Sciences Program at U.C.L.A. Fátima has dedicated her professional career to improving access to language and cultural services for patients in managed care settings. For over three years, she worked as a Research Analyst in the Cultural and Linguistic Services Department at L.A. Care Health Plan evaluating multiple cultural competency interventions that target an extensive provider network.

Prior to her work at LA Care Health Plan, she worked as a Research Associate and Care Coordinator on two research projects aimed to improve access to linguistic and cultural services at Kaiser Permanente, Fremont Medical Center. In addition, she served as Assistant Editor for the Sixth and Seventh Editions of The Nation’s Health, a health policy textbook for undergraduate and graduate students.

The summer before entering the Dr.PH. Program at U.C. Berkeley, Fátima worked as Co-Director and Researcher of the California Health Communication Project at the Center for Community Wellness. This project provides technical assistance to help HMOs and other organizations address health literacy barriers. In addition, she served as Research Associate at Kaiser Permanente’s National Linguistic and Cultural Programs (NLCP), National Diversity Office. At NLCP, Fátima contributed to the Language and Culture Series Program, which featured various linguistic and cultural groups and the role of language and culture in the delivery of quality care. Fátima also developed an online survey for providers and staff that examines how translations are accessed throughout Kaiser Permanente’s Northern and Southern California Regions.

Fátima hopes to contribute to the literature and field by continuing her work in language access and cultural competency. She would like to effect change in large health systems and address racial and ethnic disparities in health. Fátima sees the Dr.PH. Program as the key to strengthening her knowledge base, research expertise, and advocacy skills.

Alicia Salvatore, MPH received her BA from Franklin and Marshall College and her MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work in the field of health began when she worked for the Peace Corps in Burkino Faso as a Rural Health Extensionist and Health Program Assistant. Following her three years of service in the Peace Corps, Alicia obtained her MPH and went on to work as a Study Interviewer and Health Educator for the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, a Graduate Intern for the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program and for the past two years has been the Intervention Study Coordinator for CHAMACOS, an NIEHS-funded research project. Alicia has presented extensively on the CHAMACOS research project and has authored a number of published reports and articles.

Thomas Williams, MPH, MBA received his BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his MBA and MPH from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has worked in the field of health insurance and management for over twenty years. He was the Vice President of Marketing and Retiree Health in Hartford, CT; Senior Vice President of Specialty Health in Hartford, CT; President of Aetna California, and an independent healthcare consultant. Thomas’ work in the health insurance industry brought him face to face with the problems of the uninsured and to the conclusion that solving this problem is a matter of public policy. It is with this goal in mind that he chose to pursue a doctoral degree in public health.

Third-Year Students

Caricia Catalani, MPH, earned her bachelor’s degree in Global Development Studies, magna cum laude, from the Residential College of the University of Michigan in 2002.  She then earned an Emergency Medical Technician certificate in 2003, which she used to practice international medicine as an employee of Northwest Medical Teams in Peru.  After working on immigrant health advocacy in Brooklyn, and on Latino health access projects with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, she returned to graduate school at Columbia University.  She earned her Masters in Public Health in May 2006.  During her time at Columbia University, she worked as a researcher on reproductive health and immigrant health access projects in collaboration with the New York City community-based organizations, the United Nations Population Fund, the National Institute of Health of the Dominican Republic, and the New York City and State Department of Health.

Her public health interests focus on structural barriers to health, such as poverty, gender inequality, and race/ethnic discrimination.  She hopes to concentrate her doctoral studies on community-based participatory research and other forms of community capacity development that can facilitate improvements in quality of life, health, and well-being.   She loves working with newly immigrated communities, whom she feels very much at home with.

Charlotte Chang, MPH, received a BA in Public Policy from the College of William and Mary and completed her masters degree at the University of Michigan. She worked for three years in Medicare social marketing and communications research at BearingPoint Consulting. At the same time, she also was a volunteer board member and treasurer for the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project in Washington, D.C. Charlotte has spent a considerable amount of time working and traveling in China and Hong Kong, and her current interests are in immigrant and Asian-American populations, health disparities, and community-based efforts to improve health.

Chih-Tao Cheng, MD received his MD from National Taiwan University in 1997. After finishing a residency in psychiatry, he became an attending physician in a diversity of clinical settings ranging from medical center, psychiatric center to community clinics. He was responsible for a community rehabilitation center and an educational program for delinquent adolescent. Dr. Cheng was involved in the National Mental Health Survey and suicide prevention programs in Taiwan. In pursuing a DrP H, Dr. Cheng hopes to acquire skills in epidemiology, cost-effectiveness analysis, and program design to continue his career goal of optimizing the mental health delivery system.

Kim Coleman-Phox, MPH is a first year DrPH student with an interest in perinatal health inequalities, especially in African American women and infants.   She spent the summer working at the Center for Social Disparities in Health at UCSF assisting with a statewide assessment of the Black Infant Health program.  For the past 9 years, Kim has worked at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, most recently as the project manager of a multi-site cohort study of moderately premature infants. Prior to working at Kaiser, Kim coordinated a family registry for breast cancer studies; a randomized behavioral intervention to decrease the incidence of sexually transmitted infections; and a randomized clinical trial of active management of labor to assess its ability to lower the cesarean section rate.  She recently completed her MPH in the Maternal and Child Health Program at UC Berkeley and realizes that she has barely scratched the surface in understanding the many-layered problem of health inequalities.

Terrence Lo, MPH, received his Master’s in Public Health in epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in the spring of 2001.  Prior to that, he received his Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from UC San Diego.  His interests include infectious disease surveillance, epidemiology, and international health.  Prior to entering the Berkeley School of Public Health as a student in the DrPH program, he was a WHO STOP (Stop Transmission of Polio) consultant in Bangladesh working on polio elimination.  For more than 5 years prior to STOP, he worked on syphilis elimination with the California’s Department of Health Services and with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on HIV and malaria research projects.  Terrence’s goal upon completion of his DrPH is to work as an applied epidemiologist with in an international health organization involving infectious diseases intervention.

Donata C. Nilsen, MPH received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of California at Irvine, a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with an emphasis in Medical Technology from California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from San Diego State University.  Donata’s recent experiences include an analysis of tuberculosis screening results of immigrants to San Diego County, a cost analysis of the tuberculosis screening program for immigrants to San Diego County and research in an NIH funded study promoting health in youth with latent tuberculosis in San Diego.  She has also worked for the Council of Community Clinics in San Diego where she worked as a community educator on bioterrorism and other emergencies. Prior to her public health track, she worked as a Quality Assurance manager for a biotechnology company in Tustin, CA producing radioisotope labeled monoclonal antibodies for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and other cancers in various stages of clinical trials.  Her main interests lie in field epidemiology, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, biopreparedness and response, disaster preparedness, public health surveillance and community education.  In the DrPH program Donata plans to strengthen her leadership skills as a public health practitioner and gain the necessary tools to serve communities in need.

Dawn Richardson, MPH is a first year DrPH student who is primarily interested in researching the effects of racial and ethnic health disparities on MCH outcomes, particularly among minority and recently immigrated women.  Since receiving her MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Ms. Richardson has worked extensively in community-based program development and evaluation, primarily in the field of HIV and STD prevention.  For the past two years Ms. Richardson has gained significant experience in perinatal health, primarily through her work with the Regional Perinatal Programs of California as well as the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative.

Laura Stachel, MD, MPH received her BA from Oberlin College in Psychology, and her MD from UCSF. She completed her residency in Ob/Gyn at UCSF and began work as the director of a free women's family planning clinic in San Francisco.  Following residency, she joined a progressive clinical Ob/Gyn/Midwifery practice in Oakland, which later merged with a private Ob/Gyn practice at Alta Bates Hospital.  She volunteered as an instructor for the Joint Medical Program at UC Berkeley for 10 years before pursuing her MPH in Maternal and Child Health at Berkeley. Her favorite experience in the program was a field project conducting focus groups on nutrition with pregnant and lactating women in the Western Guatemalan highlands. Her research interests include perinatal nutrition and racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive medicine, and she writes articles on obstetrics for a national website. Outside of public health, she enjoysher three children and playing piano in an amateur jazz band.

Brad Walker, MD received a BS in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University, an MS in biostatistics from the University of Utah and an MPH and MD from the University of Miami.  He has spent the past twelve years of his clinical practice serving the underprivileged community and since 1999 has volunteered his services in less developed countries to provide nutritional and healthcare education to chronically malnourished LDS children.  In addition to several articles and presentations on the studies of malnutrition in LDS children in LDS communities he is the sponsor and organizer of small-scale malnutrition projects in LDS congregations in Ecuador and Guatemala.  In pursuing a DrPH degree Brad would like to greatly increase his familiarity with biostatistics and epidemiology as these can be used to address public health issues.

Stephanie E. Weber, MPH graduated with honors from Wesleyan University with a BA in East Asian Studies.  Upon graduation from Wesleyan, Stephanie entered the MPH program at Yale School of Public Health in the division of Global Health.  While a master’s student at Yale, she interned for three months in Beijing, China with the DFID-funded China-UK HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project. During this time she had the opportunity to help draft China’s country proposal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.  Upon graduation from Yale, Stephanie accepted a position in the Office of Health Affairs and Governmental Relations at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX as Administrative Associate for Policy and Planning.  In this role, Stephanie assisted the President and Vice President with strategic management of Baylor’s domestic and international government relations.  However, Stephanie’s primary professional interest is in international HIV/AIDS policy, especially public-private partnerships for treatment and prevention.  Additionally, Stephanie is interested in access to care for the under- and uninsured and strategies for public health marketing.

Second-Year Students

Adebiyi (Biyi) Adesina received his BA in Peace and Conflict Studies as well as hisMPH in Health Policy and Management from UC Berkeley. He has worked in communityhealth development in Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua and on Post-Abortion Care in Kenya. Itwas while he was in Kenya that Adebiyi had the opportunity to understand some of thecomplexities behind access to much needed basic contraceptive and family planning services in developing countries. This experience led to a desire to understand how to build support structures for the delivery of reproductive health services to poor and low-income communities. After a short stint in evaluation of after-school programs, he returned to public health as a program manager for the federally funded Title X Family Planning Services Program.  Biyi returns to UC Berkeley to pursue a Doctorate in Public Health in order to get a better understanding of “the impact that external systemic factors as well as internal organizational mechanisms have on the stability, sustainability and the very survival of organizations that provide reproductive health care services.” He looks forward to learning from and sharing with his colleagues and program faculty.

Virginia (Ginny) Gidi received her BA in Spanish and Latin American/Caribbean Studies, from the University of Michigan (UM)-Ann Arbor in 1997. She received her MPH in Health Management from the UM-Ann Arbor in 1999. She worked for seven years for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Global Health Affairs as the Senior International Health Officer for Latin America. In this capacity she managed bilateral issues concerning the countries of the Americas, including policy development, technical cooperation, management of bi-national commissions and bodies, inter-agency coordination, analysis and monitoring of health issues in the region. Her tenure included focusing on environmental health, health promotion/disease prevention, health systems, and aging. She also provided senior staff support for policy development, coordination, and budget management related to the Pan American Health Organization. Ginny worked closely with the Office of the Surgeon General, and she co-led the development of the Surgeon General's Call to Action on Global Health. In 2005 she accepted a job with the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) as the Regional Team Leader for Latin America and the Caribbean to coordinate President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) activities in the region.

It was her work on PEPFAR that prompted Ginny to return to her interests in health systems development. Through her doctoral research she hopes to examine how global investment in HIV/AIDS and activities related to addressing the epidemic have impacted the development of national health systems in Haiti, Guyana and the Dominican Republic. Ginny's goals are to return to international public health practice, working with in either the public or private sectors, with a focus on health in the Americas. She is committed to serving the underserved and would eventually like to return to academia to teach and guide students, particularly from underserved communities, interested in international public health practice.

Kristina Hsieh, MPH received her BA in 2003 and her MPH in 2007 from UC Berkeley.  While pursuing her MPH from the Division of Infectious Disease, Kristina became concerned with the ineffective treatment of disease in America and the myriad of unmet public health needs.  Her research over the past four years in the lab of Dr. Astor Winoto at UC Berkeley has led Kristina to develop an interest in incorporating her existing understanding of molecular infectious disease and research with public health applications.  With this knowledge Kristina hopes to develop programs to help fight the battle against disease and improve delivery of treatments and diagnosis, especially within the United States.  Kristina is certain that the Laboratory Director Training Grant she received will place her on track to integrate her experiences gained in infectious disease and immunology research with public health practice.  She hopes to one day be in a leadership position in a public health laboratory where she can utilize research to improve public health and change public policy, resulting in more effective prevention, detection, and treatment strategies.  Through the DrPH Program Kristina is looking forward to learning about new and innovative approaches to curbing public health issues over the next few years.

Jenica Huddleston received her BA, majoring in Psychology, from UC Davis in 1998 and her MS degree in Child Development, with a focus on adolescent health, at UC Davis in 2004.  While a Graduate Research Assistant, Jenica worked on several large scale projects for the California Department of Social Services’ Foster Care and Child Welfare branches, one involving a final assessment report of the foster care system in California that was submitted to the Governor.

Jenica is currently working as an Evaluation Associate at the UC Davis state wide evaluation center, which is funded by the California Department of Health Services.  She is also the owner and Sr. Evaluation Associate of a private evaluation firm, Zetetic Associates, which currently has contracts with the Sacramento County Department of Health Services, California Energy Commission and Health Net.

A desire to expand her knowledge in the areas of evaluation and applied research, with a focus in public health, has led Jenica to pursue a doctorate in public health.  With the knowledge she gains from the DrPH Program, she plans to move forward as a professional health-related evaluator and continue with her commitment to community service.

Reginauld Jackson received his BA, majoring in Human Biology, from Stanford University in 2000 and his MPH in Health Policy from Emory University in 2004.  Prior to receiving his MPH, Reginauld spent two years working at Kaiser Permanente as a Sr. Research Assistant and Clinical Research Assistant.  He left Kaiser to work for the CDC as a Public Health Analyst and to obtain his MPH.

Reginauld has noted that “there is an abundance of interest in health disparities in our communities but a considerable shortage of thorough research being translated into practice.”  It is his hope to use his doctorate training to establish himself as an expert in this area. 

Through the DrPH Program he is interested in continuing to learn how to define and measure health outcomes and the processes that determine them and to build on his foundation of health policy, particularly as it applies to the improvement of health and health care access for under-served populations.

Jennifer Lorvick received her BA, majoring in Sociology and Comparative Literature, from UC Berkeley in 1986 and her MPH in Health Education from San Francisco State University in 2004.  Jennifer’s public health work began in 1986 when she was hired as an Administrative Assistant by the MidCity Consortium to Combat AIDS but found herself instead conducting HIV risk behavior surveys, testing and counseling injection drug users, administering research grants and writing funding proposals.

For the past twenty years, Jennifer has worked on numerous public health research projects, has collaborated on over twenty peer reviewed journal articles, and has been the first author of four published articles.  She is the lead author and Co-Investigator of a grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study sexual risk among female methamphetamine users in San Francisco.

Jennifer is pursuing a doctorate in public health to enhance her leadership skills and to increase her ability to affect health policy as it impacts urban poor populations.  She would like to increase her knowledge of health behavior theory and to study structural factors that influence public health, as a means of bringing new insights to her research with marginalized populations. 

Daniela Rodriguez received her BA, majoring in Political Science, in 2001 from Bryn Mawr College and her MPH in Global Health in 2005 from Emory University.  While in the master’s program at Emory her research and field work, which focused on how HIV/AIDS surveillance data was being used when making programmatic decisions in Mexico, paved the way for her professional development working with non-governmental organizations and research institutions as a Research Project Coordinator. 

Daniela’s goals now are to work with governments and programs to incorporate research and data into decision-making and policies that will improve the health delivery efficiency and efficacy in Latin American countries.  She sees the doctoral degree in public health as an opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to address government programs that are essential to a nation’s well-being.

Pamela Washington, MPH received her BA in business administration from Brock University in her home country of Canada. She has lived and worked internationally and after achieving success in corporate America, decided to transition her career to the field of public health. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from San Jose State University with an emphasis oncommunity health education. Prior to joining the DrPH program, she conducted a National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded study that examined the role of adult daughters' influence on mothers' health-related decision making and managed a program aimed at increasing diversity in the field of cancer control research at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Her research focus is on health disparities across the continuum – including access to and use of preventive screening, treatment modalities and quality of life among survivors. Her long-term goal is to conduct research in community-based settings that address behavioral factors contributing todisparities and develop effective interventions aimed at reducing cancer burden in the medically underserved. 

First-Year Students

Tamar Antin, MAA received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Texas-Austin in 2000.  She received her MAA in Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2004.  Since graduating, Tamar has been working as an Associate Research Scientist for the Prevention Research Center.  Her work has included a participatory alcohol research and intervention project with nine California Indian tribes in northern San Diego County and an NIH funded project examining the smoke-free workplace ordinance in California bars and exposure of workers to second-hand smoke despite this ordinance.  

As a researcher Tamar has extensive experience in qualitative data analysis and has developed a strong methodological foundation to conduct large-scale research studies.  She is also aware of the challenges involved in methodological research and looking to address those challenges with the help of the DrPH faculty. 

Tamar is interested in pursuing a DrPH degree in order to gain knowledge and skills for integrating and translating diverse approaches to research and sustainable community interventions. Her specific research interest is in studying diet-related chronic disease in West Berkeley and Oakland using community-centered participatory research and participatory intervention models.  She’s looking to the DrPH Program to help her overcome the obstacles she’s encountered while pursuing applied research. 

William Brown III, MA received his BA in Sociology and African American Studies from UC Davis in 2004. At UC Davis William researched African American students’ social “survival” methods within predominately Caucasian institutions. Simultaneously, as a McNair Scholar, he did an Internet content analysis to assess the prevalence of racially discriminatory practices among members of social websites and resulting mental health effects. William went on to receive his MA in Human Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State University in 2006. He interned as the community outreach coordinator at the National Sexuality Resource Center in the Mission district of San Francisco, where he connected with both community members and leaders to disseminate information on sexual health and improving sexual health outcomes.  William also worked as a researcher at the Centeron Research, Gender, and Sexuality, now the “Institute of Sexuality, Social Inequality, and Health”, where he studied the link between religion, HIV, and Homosexual African American men’s health. For his thesis he created a comprehensive model of the racial identity processes in homosexual African American men, which illustrated how health-behaviors of minorities of allages are impacted by cultural beliefs and racial-identity.

Currently, William works for Health Research for Action in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, whose goal is to translate academic research into helpful and community appropriate health literature. In his spare time he is helping to develop a website with Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS, Inc.) and SFDPH that will provide government-subsidized HIV/STI testing vouchers so that all San Francisco residents can get tested anywhere at no cost; in hopes to decrease racial and socio-economic disparities in minority testing for HIV/STIs. Also, he lectures on how to develop, prepare, and conduct online interviews on sensitive topics withminority populations. Lastly, he is working on studies of minority adolescent sexual health as a research assistant at the Public Health Institute.

In pursuing his Dr.P.H. William aims to eliminate health disparities, promote social justice, and utilize Internet technologies to advance health education and outcomes among African American, Latino, and economically disadvantaged youth.

LeConte Dill, MPH received her BA in sociology from Spelman College in 2000 and her MPH in Community Health Sciences from UCLA in 2002.  LeConte became interested in a career in community health as an adolescent and her first job was working for King/Drew Medical Center.  As an undergraduate at Spelman she took advantage of the opportunities to attend brown bag seminars with researchers from the CDC and an internship with the local public health department.  At UCLA’s School of Public Health she specialized in Child and Family Health and after graduating began working for non-profits such as the Health and Environmental Resource Center and the Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth.  She has worked in program and staff management,curriculum development, community mobilization and legislative and administrative advocacy.  Currently she is program manager, coordinating chronic disease prevention programs at the City of Berkeley Public Health Department.

Leconte is interested in conducting research related to risk and resiliency in adolescents of color and is looking to the DrPH Program to develop her leadership capacity and enhance her skills in translating applied research into policy change.

Analilia Garcia received her BS in Bio-Psychology in 1999 from UC Santa Barbara and her MPH in Community Health Education in 2008 from San Jose State University.   She has worked as a public health professional for the past eight years with La Clinica de la Raza, Inc. and while a Masters student worked as an intern with the CDC.  She is currently an Intern-Research Associate at UCSF in Cancer Control Research working on a study focusing on cancer information services for Latinos. 

Through her work at the community level, Analilia has been confronted with the harsh reality of policy that isn’t inclusive or reflective of the realities that communities of color are facing.  She is pursuing a DrPH degree in order to be in a leadership capacity to affect change in health policy.  She wishes to engage communities in problem solving and action, to link academia with communities and address health access disparities from an ecological framework.

Rachel Rees, MPH received her BS in Biology from California State University Humboldt in 1989 and her MPH in Infectious Disease from UC Berkeley in 2008.  Working for the Peace Corps in Guatemala on an integrated agriculture program, Rachel couldn’t help but notice the health problems and disparities faced by the Guatemalans.  She returned to the United States and college to become a laboratory technologist and has eleven years experience working as a lab scientist and officer.  She worked for three and a half years as a microbiology technologist in a large teaching and research hospital in Saudi Arabia as well as the lead microbiology technologist for a small community hospital in Humboldt County.  The latter experience has led Rachel to pursue an MPH and now a doctoral in public health so she can address the problem of a lack of qualified health care personnel in infectious diseases, especially in smaller hospitals in rural areas.  She is interested in learning about the entire ecology of disease and becoming an effective microbiology section head in a public health setting serving under-served rural populations.