New Members

Angel Luis Hernandez

He is an experienced Information Systems Supervisor, Billing Coordinator, and Admissions Supervisor with strong assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation skills within hospital settings, both in the public and private sectors. Knowledgeable of coding standards, rules and regulations that applies to healthcare services and accreditation processes. Angel Luis was diagnosed with AIDS, at its terminal stage, in 2003. His AIDS diagnosis has turn Angel views and beliefs in a very positive way. For the last seven years he has volunteered as administrative assistant in his catholic parish’s office at his hometown, Orocovis, located in the rural mountains area of Puerto Rico. In the last two years Angel Luis has been participating in many educational sessions on HIV/AIDS issues. Themes covered on these sessions include HIV 101, HAART, side effects, aging and long-term effects, legal aspects, leadership and community mobilization. Some of these trainings have been sponsored by GILEAD, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, ACRIA (AIDS Clinical Research Initiative of America), Latino Commission on AIDS. He has participated in Focal Groups to evaluate media campaigns aimed at the MSM population. He also participates in various activism and advocacy efforts for the PLWHAs in Puerto Rico.

Jacoby Johnson
Managing Director of the Black Men's Initiative at Harlem United

Jacoby has worked in the field of HIV prevention for over 10 years and has held a number of positions from front-line to upper-management during said time. At present, He is the Managing Director of the Black Men’s Initiative, an HIV prevention program (housed in the larger ASO, Harlem United Community AIDS Center, Inc.) that targets YMSM and Young Transgender women of Colour in New York City. Jacoby is also a part of the New York State Taskforce on Black Gay Health and a former member of the New York City Prevention Planning Group.

Delfine Masongo
Volunteer Peer Support Group Facilitator at AIDS Action Committee (AAC)

Delfine Masongo is currently a Volunteer Peer Support Group Facilitator at AIDS Action Committee (AAC) Cambridge, MA and a Volunteer Peer Co-facilitator at Boston Medical Center under the WILLOW program. Before coming to the USA she worked as Program Officer with USAID APHIA II Program in the Coast region of Kenya and prior to that she worked at NEPHAK (National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDs in Kenya) as a Logistics/Program Officer. She participates in charity events like the AIDS Walk, Boston Marathon, Gay Pride Walk and others.

Delfine has also been involved in training and facilitation of support groups both in Kenya and currently in Boston. She has participated in organizing conferences, community mobilization, public speaking and advocacy campaigns. Besides HIV/AIDS work she is involved in helping poor and disadvantaged members of her village back home in Kisii, Kenya through a Charity she founded with the support of her family. She is a member of several groups in Boston MA including, the Statewide Consumer Advisory Board, (SWCAB), Boston Medical Center-ID clinic Consumer Advisory Board, Boston Planning Council. She also shares her personal experience in different forums in the Sub-Saharan African community in Boston. She believes that by sharing her story she will be able to make a difference in other people’s lives who are in the same situation and give hope to those who have given up.

Kieta D. Mutepfa
Senior Community Health Program Representative at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Kieta D. Mutepfa has spent most of her professional life and career as an advocate and change agent for people, specifically women, children and youth. She is currently the Senior Community Health Program Representative at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research & Education (CARE) in Los Angeles. Kieta received her BA from Fisk University and a Master of Social Work degree from Howard University. She is a Social Worker however she has created a career path that is reflective of her commitment to the field of public health. Kieta served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique and immediately following that experience worked in international development for several organizations including Vanderbilt University Friends in Global Health as the Senior Community Health, Outreach and Development Director. Kieta is active in the HIV/AIDS community locally and nationally with such organizations as The Black AIDS Institute's Black Treatment Advocates (BTAN), Los Angeles HIV/AIDS Women's Task Force, National Council of Negro Women, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Kieta is excited to be apart of the PxROAR Program.

Rob Newells
Coordinator of Healing Faith at Imani Community Church

Rob Newells became involved in HIV prevention with development of The Brothers’ Network program at AIDS Service Agency of North Carolina in 1999. He continued to volunteer with local community-based organizations while employed at the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) in Washington, DC. Four years after returning to his hometown of Oakland, California, and testing positive for HIV in 2005, Rob developed Healing Faith as the HIV prevention program of the Life Care Ministry at Imani Community Church. Through his affiliation with the Coalition of Welcoming Congregations of the Bay Area as a member of the Board of Advisors, Rob works intentionally with and through African American faith communities to reduce stigma and provide culturally relevant HIV information to all Oakland residents. He is a graduate of the African American HIV University Community Mobilization College at the Black AIDS Institute and serves as one of NMAC’s TEAM (Treatment Education, Adherence and Mobilization) Navigators. Currently, Rob is working toward a Master of Divinity degree and a Certificate of Sexuality and Religion from Pacific School of Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

Jeff Pope
Member and Former Chair of the Red Ribbon Alliance

Jeffrey Pope is a volunteer/advocate/grant writer located in Tallahassee, FL. Jeffrey is a member and former chair of the Red Ribbon Alliance (local Ryan White Consortium). He is a member of the Prevention Planning Group of the consortium as well as being a member and former chair of the Consumer Group. He maintains the website for MAACA, Inc. (www.maaction.org) as a volunteer and partners with MAACA and various community groups on HIV/AIDS awareness days and an annual World AIDS Day series of events. He also maintains the website www.capitalcityaidsnetwork.org on behalf of the MAACA Peer Navigator Program which he helped found. At the state level he is a member of the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of HIV/AIDS Consumer Advisory Group. At the national level he volunteers as a National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) TEAM Navigator focusing on Treatment As Prevention, PrEP, PEP and related clinical trials. Jeffrey holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Illinois.

Returning Members

Ilanito Cerna-Turoff
Community Advisory Board member at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) at the University of California-San Francisco

Ilanito Cerna-Turoff is a long-time activist, researcher, and educator. In recent years, he has structured an HIV testing program for Black and Latino/a transgender youth at the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center and has been the coordinator of two pediatric HIV studies at the University of California, San Francisco. Currently, he sits on two community advisory boards and is conducting HIV research in South America on a Fulbright Research Grant.

Community Working Group Member of the HIV Prevention Trials Network 065 Study

Hadiyah Charles is an advocate and grassroots women’s health HIV activist that works closely and extensively on policy and advocacy issues with women living with HIV/AIDS, their families, and communities. Her ultimate goal is to educate those beyond the HIV “community” about biomedical combination HIV prevention strategies. She is particularly interested in bridging the gap between sexual reproductive health advocates and HIV advocates around female initiated prevention methods, specifically microbicides for women. Though microbicides are her focus, she is still involved with educating communities at large about the importance of other biomedical prevention tools such as vaccine research, and pre- and post-exposure prophylactics, as these are all part of a comprehensive response to ending the HIV epidemic to which she is personally and professionally committed.

Hadiyah is a community working group member of the HIV Prevention Trials Network 065 study, the main purpose of which is to assess the feasibility of a community-level test, link to care, plus treat strategy in the United States. This study will serve as a proof-of-concept formative study. It will provide key information that could guide the design and anticipate the costs of a future large randomized, community-level clinical trial of full implementation of a test-and-treat strategy in the US. Findings from this study could also inform test-and-treat efforts in other developed countries with epidemics similar to that in the US. Hadiyah is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Women’s Health.

Steve Houldsworth
Engagement Coordinator at the Beacon Project, Saint Louis Effort for AIDS

Steve Houldsworth lives in Saint Louis, Missouri, with his husband, Graham, and their two adorable cats. Steve has worked at Saint Louis Effort for AIDS (EFA) since 2006. While at EFA, he has served as the Volunteer Coordinator, as a Ryan White Case Manager, and, for the past three month, as the Engagement Coordinator for the Beacon Project, an Access to Care intervention funded by AIDS United. The Beacon Project identifies people living with HIV/AIDS who have not seen an HIV specialist within the past 12 months and attempts to connect them to services via intensive case management and peer support. Prior to coming to EFA, Steve spent ten years working for Webster University in St. Louis as an administrator and faculty member. Originally from Lynn, Massachusetts, Steve holds a BA in Religion from Bowdoin College and an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College.

Ebony Johnson
Member of the District of Columbia Development Center for AIDS

Ebony Johnson has been involved in HIV research and care for over a decade. She is a member of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network CAB, Connect 2 Protect, Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group Community Constituency Group, International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group ICAB and the Women’s Interagency Health Study.

Most recently, Ebony became a member of the District of Columbia Development Center for AIDS. She has championed HIV research, with specific focus on inclusion of women, young people and persons living with HIV. She delivered presentations at the International AIDS Conferences in Mexico and Vienna, the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, the CDC Prevention Leadership Conference, VOICES conference and a myriad of other fora. At the heart of Ebony’s passion are the people who are impacted by research. Through the support of AVAC, she delivers presentations and hosts focus groups on biomedical prevention interventions, research ethics and leadership for women.

Venton Jones
Senior Program Associate for Communications and Member Education at The National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition

Venton Jones currently resides in Washington, DC as Senior Program Associate for Communications and Member Education at The National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition (NBGMAC). Prior to his work in Washington, DC, Venton was a strong advocate in his hometown of Dallas, Texas, serving in a number of leadership roles, including President/Founder the non-profit organization, DFW Pride Movement. He received his B.S in Community Health from Texas A&M University and his M.S. in Health Care Administration from The University of Texas at Arlington.

As a member of AVAC's PxROAR team, Venton’s project, Prevention +, is a social marketing initiative that works to use new media (Facebook, Twitter, blogging etc.) to educate and engage Black gay men around biomedical HIV prevention advocacy and research. Prevention + uses the platform of NBGMAC to improve the health and well-being of Black gay men through advocacy focused on research, policy, education and training—particularly around the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS among Black gay men. To register for updates from the Prevention +, go to www.nbgmac.org.

Using his public health background and work in the community, Venton strives to increase HIV prevention and awareness in the African American community (particularly youth), advocate for LBGT equality and promote positive public health and socioeconomic outcomes for Black gay men.

Nichole Little
Founder and Executive Director at Sexual Health Education Research & Outreach

Nichole Little is the Founder and Executive Director at Sexual Health Education Research & Outreach (SHERO), a community sexual health and personal development network located in Oakland, California. As a member of AVAC's PxROAR, Nichole incorporates biomedical HIV prevention information as well as information related to the clinical trials process into HIV 101 trainings and workshops throughout the Bay Area. A large component of the trainings and workshops is to collect community concerns around PrEP and Microbicides as possible interventions potentially available in their communities. SHERO's philosophy is to train the trainers (popular opinion leaders) to mobilize the community as we address the WHOLE COMMUNITY including members of Faith-based, LGBT, collegiate/social and the heterosexual women communities.

Julie Patterson
Director of Capacity Building at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland

Julie Patterson is the Director of Capacity Building at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland. For the past 8 years, she has directed the HIV/AIDS Capacity Building Initiative which provides a series of HIV/AIDS professional development workshops to human service professionals who serve Greater Cleveland. Founded in 1984, the Taskforce is the oldest AIDS service organization in Ohio.

Julie is a former community co-chair of the Cuyahoga County HIV Prevention Regional Advisory Group and is a founding member of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit of Case Western Reserve University/ University Hospitals of Cleveland’s Biomedical HIV Prevention Community Advisory Board. Prior to her work in Cleveland, Julie was an HIV educator and advocate in Seattle, Washington, serving in a number of roles with the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health and what is now the Lifelong AIDS Alliance. She received her B.A in from Tufts University and her M.P.H. from The University of Michigan.

Carlos Pavão
Consultant

Carlos Pavão has been involved in the evaluation, development and the provision of health promotion and healthcare services for eighteen years with a special emphasis on serving the underserved including racial and ethnic minorities, and those who are economically disadvantaged. Mr. Pavão has extensive experience in planning and implementing, capacity building, planning for sustainability, and evaluation of public health and healthcare programs in HIV and substance abuse prevention, mental health promotion, tobacco control, adolescent health (especially sexual risk behavior), healthy school initiatives, and cardiovascular health and nutrition education. Throughout his eighteen years of public health experience, Mr. Pavão has focused on the nexus between dissemination research and public health programming, specifically developing and implementing innovative community based programming for linguistic and sexual minority populations. Mr. Pavão’s consultant work with NIH and several IRBs has further developed his interest in the protection of human subjects as it relates to research dissemination and translational science.

Charles Stephens
Project Specialist at AID United

Charles Stephens is a Project Specialist at AID Atlanta. He is also a member of the Emory University Hope Clinic Community Advisory Board and has been a part of the Black AIDS Institute African-American HIV University and the CDC Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership. He’s interested in black gay men’s health advocacy, public memory, and culture-based organizing.

Matthew Rose
Membership and Financial Associate at the National Coalition for LGBT Health

Matthew Rose is a Membership and Financial Associate at the National Coalition for LGBT Health. He is also a member of the Capital Area AIDS Prevention Effort CAB. Mathew’s PxROAR project is a meta-analysis of existing research and recommendations around informed consent, including a literary review that would ultimately be turned into a community tool explaining why these processes exist and how communities benefit from them. Additionally, the project serves to help educate highly affected communities about the importance of biomedical prevention research in HIV and the protections that exist for them as individuals considering enrolling in a trial.

Mudia Uzzi
Evaluation Specialist at AID Atlanta

Mudia Uzzi is an Evaluation Specialist at AID Atlanta, Inc. in Atlanta, GA. In this role, he supports the monitoring and evaluation of the Evolution Center, a community center for young Black gay and bisexual men. Through the PxROAR program, Mudia works with a group of young Black gay men to raise awareness and encourage discussions about PrEP, microbicides, HIV vaccines and biomedical HIV prevention research to Evolution Center members and other young Black gay and bisexual men in Atlanta. Mudia integrates his interest in research/evaluation and biomedical HIV prevention by collecting and analyzing data on a range of domains during the workshops, forums and retreats he implements through the PxROAR program.

Lisa Diane White
Director of Programs at SisterLove, Inc.

Lisa Diane White is the Director of Programs at SisterLove, Inc. Founded in 1989, Sister Love is the oldest nonprofit in Georgia dedicated specifically to the education, prevention and support needs of women at risk for HIV infection and AIDS. Lisa has been working with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases HIV Vaccine Research Education Initiative’s Local Partnership program since its launch in 2006. Its goal is to increase awareness of the need for an HIV Vaccine (as well as Microbicides and Pre- and Post-Exposure Prophylactics) in African American communities most affected by HIV/AIDS; improve the public’s knowledge and attitudes toward clinical trials and research and enhance the partnership between community and HIV clinical trial researchers and foster an environment that supports clinical trial volunteers.

As a member of PxROAR, her advocacy project is titled Black Women: HIV Prevention Biomedical Clinical Trials and Tribulations. Her goal is to identify and eliminate barriers to Black women’s participation in biomedical clinical trials by identifying and improving upon the women’s true level of understanding of the biomedical clinical trials process and what is required to participate.