Our Team

Emily Arnold
Stefano M. Bertozzi
Brandon Brown
Phil Curtis
Shannon Fuller
Tommi Gaines
Nina Harawa
Orlando O. Harris
Ian Holloway
Ernest Hopkins
Lauren Hunter
George Mizrahi Jackson
Kimberly Koester
Gabriel Maldonado
Natasha Martin
Ayako Miyashita
Lissa Moran
Katja Nelson
Rob Newells-Newton
Simon Outram
Sebastián Perez
Laramie R. Smith
Wayne T. Steward
Jamila Stockman
Laura Thomas
Elizabeth Wu

Emily Arnold

Emily Arnold, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco and is the Principal Investigator of the Northern California AIDS Policy Research Center.  A medical anthropologist by training, Dr. Arnold has led several rapid response studies since 2009, examining the impact of California’s state budget cuts on HIV prevention services, documenting barriers and facilitators to the implementation of PrEP for members of sexual and ethnic minority communities in California, investigating the impact of more restrictive immigration policy on the provision of prevention and care services to immigrants affected by HIV, and examining opportunities for integration of mental health and HIV-related service provision for individuals living with HIV.  Dr. Arnold also has a robust program of research dedicated to developing and testing HIV prevention interventions for sexual, gender and ethnic minority populations.

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Stefano M. Bertozzi

Professor Stefano M. Bertozzi is a professor of health policy and management and a former dean of Berkeley Public Health. He worked previously with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Mexican National Institute of Public Health, UNAIDS, WHO, the World Bank and the Government of Zaire (now the DRC). Prof. Bertozzi’s research has covered a diverse range of projects in health economics and policy, focusing on the economic aspects of HIV/AIDS and on the health impact of large social programs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He received his BS in Biology and PhD in Health Policy and Management from MIT, his MD from University of California, San Diego, and residency training in internal medicine at University of California, San Francisco. He is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Brandon Brown

Brandon Brown is an associate professor in the Department of Social Medicine, Population and Public Health at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine where he is a member of the IRB, teaches public health and medical ethics, and conducts community based participatory research on HIV. Brandon is particularly interested in decision making practices for payment to participants in research, and he recently helped to update the HIV Prevention Trials Network research ethics guidelines.  With over 130 publications, Brown works closely with community partners in all research. He proudly serves on the board of TruEvolution, which fights for health equity and racial justice to advance the quality of life and human dignity of LGBTQ+ people.

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Phil Curtis

Phil Curtis oversees the policy and advocacy activities of APLA Health’s Government Affairs Division.  He joined the agency as a case manager in 1989, later worked as APLA’s benefits coordinator, managed the agency’s first return-to-work program, and joined the Government Affairs Division in 2000.  Previously, Curtis had a long career as a journalist, writing for a variety of newspapers and magazines, and producing programs and documentaries for Public Broadcasting.  He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

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Shannon Fuller

Shannon Fuller, PhD(c), MS, specializes in qualitative research and evaluation. She has been a Research Analyst affiliated with the UCSF policy research center since 2013 and has worked on a variety of rapid response projects related to state and local HIV policy. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, where her dissertation focuses on the community health workforce.

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Tommi Gaines

Tommi Gaines: Dr. Gaines is a biostatistician whose research utilizes statistical and spatial methodologies to examine the social and structural conditions impacting individual health. Through collaborative and cross-disciplinary partnerships, she has led several analyses addressing patterns of infectious disease and substance use in context of geographical, social, and political factors. She is particularly interested in addressing health inequities among marginalized and vulnerable populations.  Her research is currently focused on examining the opioid epidemic in Southern California and HIV awareness and prevention among Southern California Tribal communities.

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Nina Harawa

Dr. Nina Harawa, is an Associate Professor-in-Residence with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and an Associate Professor with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.  Trained in Epidemiology, her research involves understanding trends in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and developing effective, culturally relevant interventions for prevention, care, and treatment.  She has conducted innovative research with a variety of populations – including high-risk African American men, sexually active African American and Latina women, older adults, and incarcerated and post-incarcerated men.  Much of this work has involved partnering with local governmental and community organizations in order to address health issues in populations that experience major health disparities.

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Orlando O. Harris

Orlando O. Harris, PhD, RN, FNP, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Department of Community Health Systems, School of Nursing, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Prevention Science in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. His research focuses on the investigation of risk and protective factors in sexual and gender diverse communities of color and relationships between intersectional stigma, violence, mental health, HIV, and health-related behaviors and outcomes. Dr. Harris leverages multi-methods data to inform culturally relevant interventions that improves the lives of vulnerable sexual and gender minorities. His research aims to reduce disparities in health among sexual and gender minorities, a community that is highly stigmatized and marginalized, by developing programs that improve self-efficacy and promote resilience. Most recently, his research has focused on understanding the historical and contemporary experiences of medical racism and distrust among Black/African Americans.

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Ian Holloway

Dr. Ian Holloway: Professor Holloway’s applied behavioral health research examines the contextual factors that contribute to heath disparities among sexual and gender minority populations. He is an expert in social network analysis and is particularly interested in how social media and new technologies can be harnessed for health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Holloway holds dual masters degrees in social work and public health from Columbia University and a doctorate in social work from the University of Southern California.

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Ernest Hopkins

Ernest Hopkins, Director of Legislative Affairs at SFAF, has led the organization’s federal policy activities since 1997. There he advocates for sound public policies and appropriate funding for federal HIV/AIDS programs. Prior to SFAF, Mr. Hopkins served as the Director of Health and Treatment at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) from 1995-97. He is one of three founders of the Washington, DC Black Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in 1991; an event originally designed to fund HIV support for people living with AIDS which has now evolved into an International Black Gay Pride movement. In 1993 Mr. Hopkins began his relationship with the Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR) Coalition representing the advocacy concerns of Part A and Part C of the Ryan White HIV Treatment Modernization Act. He has served as CAEAR’s national Chair. In 1998, he was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus’s Health Brain Trust Community Service Award for his efforts. In his role on the APRC, Mr. Hopkins participates in PRAC meetings and provides consultations on state rapid response projects that have implications for or are affected by federal legislation and policies.

Lauren Hunter

Lauren Hunter is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Her current projects focus on evaluating access to HIV prevention and treatment services in California.

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George Mizrahi Jackson

George Mizrahi Jackson serves as AIDS Project of the East Bay’s Executive Director and has been working at APEB for 9 years. George Mizrahi Jackson began his career serving BMSM as a peer advocate in 1997. At APEB, he first started as a volunteer, then a part-time outreach worker, then a full-time Navigation Specialist, and later the agency’s first Biomedical HIV Prevention Coordinator. George serves as a prime example of how a member of the community can be intentionally developed and promoted to positions of leadership. George was a 2016 fellow in the Black AIDS Institute’s African American HIV University Science and Treatment College at UCLA and is a member of the Bay Area’s Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN). In 2002, George was inaugurated into The House Ball Community as a member of the Iconic House of Mizrahi. As a leading competitor in the House Ball Community George quickly became one of the most recognizable House Ball participants in the State of California and was recently deemed “Iconic” 12/8/19. George now serves as the International director of The House of Mizrahi and is the Overall “Father” for the organization. George has authentic, International connections with this community and is considered a popular opinion leader within the House Ball community. Historically, the House & Ballroom scene includes some of society’s most marginalized individuals including many BMSM, TPOC, and youth, which is still true today. Since 2016 George has annually presented community research and cultural competency best practices both Nationally and Internationally; most notably at the AIDS 2020, USCA and Biomedical Prevention Summit. George has literally worked in each of the positions he oversees, which brings him an unmatched level of program development and management. George also has legislative lobbying experience; specifically lobbying for the Ca State Law requirement to provide PrEP information to all individuals who receive an HIV negative test result and lead the 2019 LGBT Lobby Day at the State Capital. George brings more than 17 combined years of lived & professional experience to his leadership roles and is single handedly responsible for improving several grassroots initiatives and federal grant outcomes. George’s dedication to community service is fueled by his personal experiences of disenfranchisement and discrimination and he vows to combat the many syndemics Black LGBTQ face in America.

Kimberly Koester

Kimberly Koester PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and is a co-investigator with the Northern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center. Dr. Koester is trained as a cultural anthropologist and is an expert in qualitative methods. Her research seeks to sensitize audiences to the lived experiences of a variety of populations including people living with and vulnerable to HIV. Dr. Koester’s policy research focuses on exploring the impact of structural influences on awareness, access and utilization of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

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Gabriel Maldonado

Gabriel has served for over 10 years as the CEO of TruEvolution—an LGBT justice and community health organization serving Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Originally from Compton, Gabriel centers racial justice and health equity as a framework for public policy. He serves on the board of directors for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a global HIV/AIDS provider, and on the board of trustees for Borrego Community Health Foundation, the largest federally-qualified health center in the State of California. As a former member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, Gabriel has been a leader in the fight for global AIDS control and local policy efforts addressing mental health, housing, and sexual health services.

Natasha Martin

Natasha Martin, DPhil, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego. She is an economic modeler who develops dynamic epidemic models to predict the impact and cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent HIV, viral hepatitis, and other infections. She has particular research focus on interventions to improve health among substance using populations such as people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men. Her work has informed several World Health Organization guidelines (HIV antiretroviral treatment, Hepatitis C virus testing and treatment, Viral Hepatitis elimination) as well as national and local strategies (U.S. CDC, Scotland, England, Georgia, San Diego, etc).

Ayako Miyashita

Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, JD is the Associate Director of the UCLA California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center. She also serves as the Director of the Los Angeles HIV Law and Policy Project under the Clinical and Experiential Department at UCLA School of Law. Previously, Ayako served as the Sears Law Teaching Fellow at the Williams Institute, a research institute focused on LGBT issues at UCLA School of Law. Her past practice includes providing legal assistance to primarily low-income people living with HIV in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Lissa Moran

Lissa Moran, MPH is a behavioral health research analyst, specializing in qualitative and mixed methodologies. Her work focuses primarily on issues of sexuality and gender, and related health disparities. Since 2009, Lissa has worked in areas of health policy, evaluation, and best practices in medicine for LGBTQIA+ patient groups. She holds a master's degree in public health from Columbia University, and has broad experience interviewing and analyzing data from both HIV providers and people living with HIV.

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Katja Nelson

Katja Nelson, MPP is the Local Affairs Specialist at APLA Health, a federally qualified health center in Los Angeles, California. As part of the Government Affairs Division she engages in policy and advocacy work with the City and County of Los Angeles, and a broad coalition of community partners. Her work addresses health care access, health equity and housing and homelessness issues for the LGBT and other underserved communities, especially people living with at and risk of HIV. Katja sits on the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV as a representative for Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, and is a member of the UCLA CFAR Community Advisory Board. Katja received a graduate degree in Public Policy with a concentration in health policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. While at Luskin she worked with Dr. Arleen Leibowitz and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research to conduct an evaluation of California’s DSRIP pilot program. Katja received a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Russian Studies from UCLA.

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Rob Newells-Newton

Rev. Rob Newells-Newton is an ordained, cisgender, same-gender-loving, Black, disabled, Marine Corps veteran who has been living with HIV since 2005. In his role as Black AIDS Institute’s Director of National Programs, he provides direction for the national Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN), the African American HIV University (AAHU), and the spectrum of BAI’s Training and Capacity Building activities. Rev. Rob was a 2011 Fellow of AAHU’s Community Mobilization College, has been a biomedical HIV prevention research advocate with AVAC since 2012, and served as Co-Chair for the AIDS 2020 Local Planning Group and for the AmfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research Community Advisory Board.

Simon Outram

Simon Outram, Ph.D., is Qualitative Research Data Analyst at the UCSF Division of Prevention Science. Trained in Social and Cultural Anthropology and with a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies, Simon has conducted research on a variety of topics including the philosophy and ethics of sports enhancement and drug use, the ethics and science of pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement, and the utility of genomic diagnoses for parents of children with rare diseases. Within the Division of Prevention Science, Simon has conducted research and written on the implications of syndemic theory for HIV-related healthcare practice and on screening for the social determinants of health among Medicaid patients. Simon is committed to producing rigorous data and argument supportive of programs that address the root causes of health inequalities in a ways that are effective and efficient.

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Sebastián Perez

Sebastián Perez, MPP, is the State Affairs Specialist at APLA Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center that specializes in LGBTQ+ care and HIV and STI testing, treatment, and prevention in Los Angeles County. He also helps lead End the Epidemics, a statewide coalition that advocates budget and legislative solutions that address the syndemic of HIV, STIs, viral hepatitis, and overdose through harm reduction that has secured over $200 M in budget appropriations since its inception. Sebastián's policy portfolio covers health care coverage (Medicaid, ACA, commercial insurance), public health (ADAP/Ryan White/CDPH), the state budget process, the health center program, federal rulemaking, and health equity, broadly. He earned his graduate degree at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Laramie R. Smith

Dr. Laramie R. Smith is an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. As a social psychologist, her community-engaged research applies social and behavioral theory from a public health perspective to examine individual and socio-structural contexts (e.g., stigma, substance use, social networks) implicated in improving health equity among people living with HIV and substance-involved communities. Across this work, Dr. Smith maintains an intersectional focus on gender, ethnic/racial, sexual, and substance use identities; and the mechanisms through which related social determinants manifest to undermine engagement in HIV prevention and treatment services.

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Wayne T. Steward

Wayne T. Steward, PhD, MPH is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the Senior Scientist of the CHRP-funded HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center in Northern California. Dr. Steward previously served as the center’s principal investigator from 2012 through 2020. His research focuses on structural, organizational, and interpersonal factors that influence the utilization of HIV-related treatment and prevention services. This work encompasses studies of health policies and systems of care, as well as projects investigating the impact of stigma on people living with or affected by HIV. Dr. Steward has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator of the evaluation centers for multiple initiatives sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). These included projects to (1) implement practice transformations to enhance the delivery of HIV care in primary care settings; (2) deploy electronic health information exchanges to improve coordination of care; (3) share surveillance and care data to improve linkages across state public health and medical systems; (4) use quality improvement methodologies to identify and address gaps in the regional response to HIV in multiple US jurisdictions; (5) implement changes to promote rapid linkage to ART; and (6) promote use of an HIV viral suppression indicator to improve care for Medicaid beneficiaries living with HIV. Dr. Steward also serves as lead qualitative evaluator for the Center for Quality Improvement and Innovation, which support quality improvement efforts among recipients of Ryan White HIV/AIDS program funding across the United States.

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Jamila Stockman

Dr. Jamila K. Stockman is an Associate Professor and Vice Chief of Global Public Health in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She is also Co-Director of the Health Equity Sociobehavioral Science Core within the San Diego Center for AIDS Research. For the past 15 years, she has conducted HIV prevention research in the context of gender-based violence, substance use, mental health, and social and structural factors (e.g., discrimination, medical mistrust) affecting marginalized populations. Her research is conducted in the US, US-Mexico border region, Latin America and Caribbean. More recently, she has expanded her research portfolio to include COVID-19 and its intersection with violence and mental health. In addition to her research, Dr. Stockman actively collaborates with local public health departments and community-based organizations to ensure ethical and cultural appropriateness of her research among members of the community.

Laura Thomas

Laura Thomas is the Director of Harm Reduction Policy for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation where she is leading work on drug user health, harm reduction, and access to treatment, with a focus on efforts to open supervised consumption services in San Francisco. She has been advocating on HIV and public health issues in San Francisco for over 30 years, since becoming involved in AIDS activism through ACT UP in San Francisco. She has worked for the Drug Policy Alliance, community-based organizations in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and as a health policy consultant. She was appointed to the Entertainment Commission in 2016, where she serves in the public health seat. She is a member of the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council. She volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory and SFAF Syringe Access Services. She’s a former co-president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and was a founding organizer of the SF Dyke March. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Masters in Public Health and a Masters in Public Policy.

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Elizabeth Wu

Elizabeth Wu, MPH is a Research Manager at UCLA and member of the California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center. Prior to joining the team, Elizabeth received her Masters in Public Health at UCLA and spent 6 years working with immigrant and vulnerable communities with or at-risk for HIV/AIDS as a clinical case manager, housing specialist, research analyst, program evaluation and development specialist, and advocate.

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