Our Team

Emily Arnold

Emily Arnold, Ph.D., is an Associate 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.

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.

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.

Anne Donnelly

Anne Donnelly is the Director of State Health Care Policy for San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF). She is responsible for ensuring that HIV and hepatitis C health care legislation, funding, program policies and delivery system reforms in California reflect the needs of people living with HIV, hepatitis C and related conditions. She works to ensure that people with HIV and hepatitis C can access affordable, comprehensive and quality care and treatment. SFAF centers those most vulnerable to inadequate health care, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, low income people, men who have sex with men and/or same gender loving individuals, transgender individuals, people who use drugs, those who are undocumented, and those who are incarcerated. Prior to this position, Anne worked at Project Inform, a national HIV and Hepatitis C advocacy and education organization for 30 years in a number of health care policy leadership positions. Her last position was Senior Director of Policy and Strategy.

Shannon Fuller

Shannon Fuller, MS, specializes in qualitative research and evaluation. She has been a Research Analyst with the AIDS Policy Research Center since 2013 and has worked on a variety of rapid response projects related to state and local policy. She is also a member of the teaching faculty for the UCSF Global Health Sciences Masters’ Program, where she teaches a course on qualitative methods.

Stuart Gaffney

Stuart Gaffney has been a Policy Analyst with the HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center at UCSF for over 20 years. His work includes policy research studies on the local, state, and national level, as well as working in the Policy and Ethics Core, Administrative Core, Developmental Core, and Methods Core of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. He also worked in the UCSF Implementation Science Program. Prior to joining UCSF, he also worked in Ryan White clinics, and made films and videos on a wide variety of topics including the personal stories of people living with HIV/AIDS.

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.

Robert Gamboa

Robert Gamboa currently works in the Public Policy Department for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the world’s largest service provider for the LGBTQ community. Together; with his team, they work on immigration, education, homelessness, food insecurity, civil rights, racial justice, anti-violence, anti-poverty, health equity, youth, seniors, and so much more. Mr. Gamboa is an appointed city official serving on the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board (LGAB) for the City of West Hollywood since 2012, serving as Chair four times. The Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board assists the West Hollywood City Council on issues such as substance abuse, discrimination, equality, racial justice and inclusion, and any pressing matters for the city concerning the LGBTQ community. Mr. Gamboa earned his Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and recently graduated with his Master’s Degree in Public Policy from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Albert Genegaling

Albert Genegaling has supported HIV prevention efforts with underserved and hard to reach populations since 2005 in the San Diego County region. His involvement in the HIV field started when an outreach worker invited him to an LGBT Latino support group during a break between classes in college. His passion to help the Latino immigrant community and the desire for LGBT equal rights led him to work with many community-based organizations, serving affected populations. Currently, Albert is working on his master’s degree in Public Administration and is devoted to collaboration, innovation, and inclusion to solve public health matters that affect everyone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Assistant 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.

Katie Kramer

Katie Kramer, DSW, MSW, MPH is the Co-Founder and CEO of Corrections, Communities & Families for The Bridging Group in Oakland, CA. For the past 25 years, Dr. Kramer has focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation of social service and public health programs that serve individuals, families and communities affected by the criminal justice system. In this capacity, she develops and conducts evaluation and research studies, and provides training, technical assistance, and capacity building services for governmental, non-governmental organizations and research/academic institutions working in correctional facilities or in community reentry throughout the United States and globally with projects in Haiti, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Trinidad, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

In addition, Dr. Kramer currently serves on the National Advisory Board for Urban Institute’s Prison Research and Innovation Initiative, Data and Research Committee for the International Coalition for Children of Incarcerated Parents, Steering Committee for the Alameda County Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership, and on the Executive Editorial Board as a Criminal Justice Expert for the Journal of Clinical Research in HIV/AIDS and Prevention.

Arleen Leibowitz

Dr. Arleen A. Leibowitz has over 30 years of experience in HIV research and policy, beginning with her leadership of the economics team on the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study.  At UCLA, she directed the Policy Impact Core of the Center for HIV Prevention Services and continues in the role of co-Director.  Her focus is on the impact of public policies on HIV testing and prevention among at-risk groups as well as the use and financing of medical care for persons living with HIV (PLWH).  She has examined Medicaid costs of treating HIV, the effects of the Affordable Care Act on treatment for PLWH, and the impact of California budget cuts on HIV screening and prevention.  She takes a policy perspective on biomedical strategies for preventing HIV, including male circumcision and Pre-exposure prophylaxis.  Her finding that distribution of condoms in jails was highly cost-effective was used to support making condoms available in California prisons. Dr. Leibowitz is currently using a microsimulation model of HIV in Los Angeles County to predict the impact of alternative public policies on disparities in HIV incidence, viral suppression, and death across racial/ethnic groups. 

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).

Sandi McCoy

Sandra McCoy is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and Program Lead and Curriculum Coordinator of UC Berkeley’s Epidemiology and Biostatistics Online MPH program (OOMPH). She studies how social, economic, and cultural forces influence HIV transmission and health outcomes. For more than a decade, Dr. McCoy has led an independent research program focusing on intervention design, implementation science, and impact evaluation. The goal of her team’s research is to identify innovative, cost-effective, and scalable interventions to prolong the length and quality of life among people and communities affected by HIV and to advance global progress towards epidemic control.

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.

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.

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.

Laura Packel

Dr. Laura Packel is the Research Director for the McCoy Research Group at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology. In this role, she applies her expertise in health policy through designing and implementing policy-relevant research. Dr. Packel’s work marries novel implementation science approaches with rigorous impact evaluation to improve the sexual and reproductive health of vulnerable populations in low-resource settings. Specifically, her research interests are behavioral economics and HIV prevention, application of Implementation science design and methods to robust impact evaluations of sexual and reproductive health interventions for vulnerable populations, and designing PrEP and PrEP delivery systems to optimize uptake and retention.

Sabrina L. Smiley

Dr. Sabrina L. Smiley is a tenured Associate Professor of Public Health in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science. She is a social and behavioral health scientist whose research focuses on the intersection of substance use, HIV, race, and policy and examines the role of psychosocial factors, social and structural determinants of health in shaping racial/ethnic health inequities. Her research is grounded in interdisciplinary frameworks, community engagement, and employs various methodological techniques including qualitative data analysis, multilevel modeling, and ecological momentary assessment. Her empirical work has informed nicotine and commercial tobacco policies and laws prioritizing health equity and racial justice. Dr. Smiley has published in leading academic journals including Tobacco Control, the American Journal of Public Health, and Current HIV/AIDS Reports. She serves as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on multiple research projects funded from the National Institutes of Health, the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, and the California HIV/AIDS Research Program.

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.

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 was Principal Investigator of the evaluation center for a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) initiative to implement practice transformations to enhance the delivery of HIV care in primary care settings. He currently co-directs a HRSA-sponsored initiative that uses quality improvement methodologies to identify and address gaps in the regional response to HIV in four US jurisdictions. Dr. Steward also serves as lead 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.

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.

Dan Werb

Dan Werb, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health. He is an epidemiologist and policy analyst with expertise in addictions, policy measurement, implementation science, and the use of clinical and multi-site data to assess the impact of harm reduction interventions and policy on HIV and other outcomes (e.g., overdose) among people who use drugs. Dr. Werb is the Director of the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation and has a particular interest in investigating and responding to injection drug use initiation.

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.