RESEARCH TEAM
UC San Diego
Investigators
UC
San Diego
Research
Staff
San
Ysidro
Health
The
Global
ARC
Interns
UC San Diego Investigators
Louise Laurent, MD/PhD is a Professor and the Vice-Chair for Translational Research in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, and Co-Director for the UCSD Center for Perinatal Discovery. She received her medical and doctoral degrees from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and her fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Her basic science research centers on using stem cell and genomic approaches to understand early embryo development and normal and complicated pregnancy, and her translational research focuses on discovery of biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis of pregnancy complications.Dr. Laurent and Dr. Tukey are the multi-PIs for the CO-CREATE project, and Dr. Laurent is the Technical Supervisor and Clinical Consultant for the UC San Diego EXCITE COVID-19 Testing Lab. For more information about Dr. Laurent click here. For more information about the UCSD Center for Perinatal Discovery click here.
UC San Diego
Co-Principal Investigator
Louise Laurent
Dr. Borsika Rabin, PhD, MPH, PharmD is an Assistant Professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, the Co-Director of the UC San Diego Dissemination and Implementation Science Center (DISC) and the San Diego CFAR Implementation Science Hub, and an Implementation Science (IS) expert on a number of large NIH and VA Center grants and research projects including the VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health and the Quadruple Aim QUERI Program (Denver VA). Dr. Rabin’s research focuses on improving population health outcomes in real-world clinical and public health settings through increasing the equitable reach, adoption, implementation, and sustained use of evidence-based interventions. She does this through the development of models, methods, and measures for dissemination and implementation science and their application across diverse topic areas, populations, and settings in order to demonstrate their wide utility and broad generalizability. Dr. Rabin also has extensive expertise in developing and implementing novel and diverse capacity building approaches for dissemination and implementation research. Click here to learn more.
UC San Diego
Co-Principal Investigator
Borsika Rabin
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Dr. Nicole Stadnick, PhD., MPH., is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego, Director of Dissemination and Evaluation of the UC San Diego Dissemination and Implementation Science Center, researcher at the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center and a licensed psychologist. Her program of federally, state and privately funded research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness and implementation of evidence-based practices intended for individuals seeking community-based health or mental health services. She has received NIH-funded fellowships from the Child, Intervention, Prevention, and Services Research Mentoring Network (2015-2016, the Implementation Research Institute (2017-2018) and the Mixed Methods Training Program for the Health Sciences (2019-2020). She currently leads several implementation projects focused on community-engaged, cross-system health services and implementation research for individuals, with complex health clinical presentations served in a variety of community settings including federally qualified health centers, low-and-middle income countries, publicly-funded mental health services and HIV/AIDS care programs. For more information about Dr. Stadnick click here.
UC San Diego
Co-Principal Investigator
Nicole Stadnick
Marva Seifert, PhD MPH is an assistant professor at University of California San Diego in the Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. Dr. Seifert’s research has focused primarily on the development and evaluation of rapid diagnostics for pulmonary infectious diseases, specifically tuberculosis and associated drug-resistant variants. She is particularly interested in leveraging novel technologies to develop innovative point-of-care solutions for traditionally difficult to detect pathogens. Most recently her work has focused on the uptake of SARS-CoV-2 testing in underserved communities. Click here to visit her UCSD page.
UC San Diego
Co-Investigator
Marva Seifert
Ilya Zaslavsky is director of Spatial Information Systems Lab at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego. His research focuses on distributed information management systems, spatial and temporal data integration, spatial data science, and online visual data analysis. Zaslavsky received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington (1995), and earlier a Ph.D. equivalent from the Russian Academy of Sciences (1990). He has been leading design and technical development in several large cyberinfrastructure projects supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies.
UC San Diego
Co-Investigator
Ilya Zaslavsky
UC San Diego Research Staff
Kelli Cain is a Senior Research Manager in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego. She has a master’s degree in health psychology from San Diego State University and a research background in public health, built environment and physical activity. She has been managing research studies for 20 years including numerous NIH grants focused on health outcomes in all age groups. She also manages the IPEN international coordinating center for built environment and physical activity research that includes partners from over 15 countries. Click here for more information.
UC San Diego
Senior Research Manager
Kelli Cain
Maria Linda Burola is a bilingual Clinical Research Coordinator for the CO-CREATE Project with UC San Diego Health. She graduated from UC Davis in 2012 with a degree in Spanish and Chicano/a Studies, then received her MS in Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Maria Linda’s research focus is in childhood obesity interventions and has extensive experience working with women’s health, diabetes in pregnancy, and group pregnancy care within FQHC and non-profit organizations.
UC San Diego
Lead Clinical Research Coordinator
Maria Linda Burola
Breanna Reyes is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator for the CO-CREATE project with UCSD Health. She graduated from UC San Diego in 2018, then received her MPH in Health Promotion and Health Education from Cal State San Marcos. She has experience working with diverse communities in the San Diego region in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, mental health and migrant health. Her passions include addressing health inequities and hopes to one day become a Physician Assistant.
UC San Diego
Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Breanna Reyes
Angel graduated from UC San Diego in the Summer of 2022 with a B.S. in Public Health - Epidemiology. He is currently completing his Master of Public Health Epidemiology degree at UC San Diego. His goal is to complete his education and complete a PhD in Epidemiology/Biostatistics. His interests include health behavior and infectious diseases.
UC San Diego
Student Researcher
Angel Lomeli
Arleth is a recent graduate from UC San Diego who majored in General Biology and Global Health. She is currently pursuing her MPH with a concentration in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley. As an aspiring physician, her goal is to make an impact in the healthcare industry through direct patient care and academic research.
UC San Diego
Research Assistant
Arleth Escoto
San Ysidro Health
Fatima is the Director of the Department of Research and Health Promotion at San Ysidro Health (SYH) a high performing Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that provides safety net care to over 97,000 patients annually in the South Bay region of San Diego. She is a Mexican physician native of the San Diego/Tijuana border region, have a Medical Degree and a Masters in Public Health with over 15 years of clinical experience focused on research and health prevention programs specifically among underserved populations. Herresearch over the last years has focused on infectious disease epidemiology, border health research, and elimination of health disparities, with an emphasis on chronic diseases, HIV care and prevention, tuberculosis (TB), specifically vulnerable groups (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities, such as Hispanic/Latino population), both domestically and internationally. She has also initiated research activities examining health services utilization and the potential of mHealth technology integration into existing health services in order to improve treatment adherence and reduce the burden of high priority diseases, such as diabetes, TB and HIV. In 2016, SYH was awarded a NIH pilot grant the ‘All of Us Research Program’ and Fatima is the PI at SYH. Most recently, by the recommendation of the California State Senate she was selected to be a Member of the new Advisory Council for the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM). She is committed to expanding the mission of SYH to further address health disparities and access to care issues among our most underserved communities.
San Ysidro Health
Partner Co-Investigator
Fatima Munoz
Linda received her Master in Public Health with an emphasis in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from San Diego State University (SDSU) and received her “Certified in Public Health” credential in 2015. Linda has over 10 years of experience working with underserved populations focusing on STI/HIV prevention, nutrition and chronic disease prevention. Soon after earning her degree, Linda began to work for San Ysidro Health overseeing a new 5-year CDC-funded grant in HIV prevention in the South San Diego Region. Since then, Linda has managed multiple grant-funded research programs including the NIH funded All of Us Research Program formerly known as the Precision Medicine Initiative. Her expertise specifically encompasses qualitative research methods, program and protocol development, program implementation, evaluation and data management and analysis in the context of FQHCs.
San Ysidro Health
Partner Co-Investigator
Linda Salgin
Jeannette L. Aldous, MD is the Clinical Director of Infectious Disease at San Ysidro Health, a large Federally Qualified Health Center serving the US-Mexico border region in San Diego County. She received her medical degree from UCSD, completed residency in Internal Medicine at University of Colorado and returned to UCSD for a Fellowship Infectious Disease. Dr. Aldous has a career focus on health disparities in historically underserved communities and serves as the director for San Ysidro Health’s HIV, Tuberculosis, Infectious Disease, and Gender-affirming Medicine programs. Since March, Dr. Aldous has been directing San Ysidro Health’s COVID-19 response; providing education and engagement on COVID-19 prevention, testing, treatment, and community impact.
San Ysidro Health
Healthcare Provider
Dr. Velasquez
Norma Porras is a Program Coordinator for the Research and Health Promotion (RHP) Department at San Ysidro Health. She has an Associate’s Degree in General Studies/Bilingual Paralegal Studies from Southwestern Collage. Norma has over 9 years of experience working in healthcare services, specifically facilitating access to care among underserved population. She began her journey in research as a Research Assistant at UCSD for the Salud research study based on a curriculum developed by Stanford University in 2013. In 2018, Norma joined San Ysidro Health working on the 211 for Healthy Kids project and was subsequently invited to join the All of Us Research Program. In 2019, she began working on the HRSA Health Center Patient Survey and has engaged with over 1,000 SYHealth patients from different clinic sites. Most recently, in July 16th, Norma was promoted as a Program Coordinator for the COVID19 Testing grant, Co-Create. In her free time, Norma’s volunteers as an animal rescuer in Tijuana Mexico.
San Ysidro Health
Program Coordinator
Norma Porras
Ana is Program Supervisor for the Research and Health Promotion Department at San Ysidro Health. She received her Masters in Public Health with a concentration in health systems, management, and policy from the University of Colorado. She has over five years of experience in chronic disease epidemiology research - specifically diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Ana has a passion for working with underserved populations and creating equitable change through health policy.
San Ysidro Health
Program Supervisor
Ana Perez Portillo
My name is Scarlet Flores. I’m the first Mexican American generation in my family. I was born and currently reside in San Diego, California, but for my childhood and teen years I lived in Tijuana, Baja California. I have an Associate in Allied Health, which opened an interest to continue in the path of health delivering as I learned about the healthcare system and its insights and noticing the challenges people experience within it. I’m currently an undergraduate for Global Health and Sociocultural Anthropology at UCSD. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music out loud, being outdoors, spending time with my family, friends and dogs, and volunteering for the American Red Cross.
San Ysidro Health
Promotora
Scarlett Flores
The Global ARC
Paul serves as the President/CEO of the Global Action Research Center located in San Diego, California. Paul has over 40 years of experience in community organizing, non-profit management, education, and training. Paul has taught in four universities and colleges and is currently a consultant to numerous community-based organizations and coalitions. For further information regarding Paul and The Global Action Research Center, please view the Global ARC's website by clicking here.
The Global ARC
CB Org
Paul Watson
Bill received his Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island in 1988 where he studied Community Psychology. While his work has varied over the years, it has remained focused on fighting the structural causes of poverty by working side-by-side with people in poverty to support them in bringing their voice into the public dialogue. This work has ranged from direct, grassroots community organizing to running a regional training center for Community Organizers to serving as Dean/faculty at Springfield College, School of Human Services that focused on providing access to postsecondary education to communities that have historically been denied that access. Bill’s more recent work includes conducting Participatory Action/Civically Engaged Research and providing support to immigrant/refugee communities and their organizations. Bill’s responsibilities at the Global ARC include overseeing and managing projects related to Community Youth Development, Environmental Justice, and Research and Evaluation.
The Global ARC
CB Org
Bill Oswald
Raphael serves as the Tech Lead for the Global ARC.
The Global ARC
Tech Lead
Raphael Lagoc
Marina has been with the Global ARC since 2015, starting as a volunteer at Ocean View Growing Grounds. Later, she started working as the Community Outreach Coordinator at the OVGG, promoting health and connecting community members to the Global Food Justice Movement through the urban garden and giving them the opportunity to connect with professors, researchers, students, community knowledge, and residents. Marina has also helped with teaching UCSD students interested in community organizing, taking them to do field work canvasing the community, creating surveys, and more. Additionally, Marina works as an advocate for residents, students, and parents, informing them about the opportunities that the San Diego Unified School District has for our children in school and giving advice to parents on advocating for their children's education. As the only member of the Global ARC who is fluent in both English and Spanish, Marina helps with translation on projects with San Diego’s Hispanic populations making alliance with different community organization as PSRO and Education Coalition. For 16 years, Marina has been a member of a non-profit organization, Latinos y Latinas EnAccion, and currently serves on their board of directors, promoting the immigrant vote, filling out immigration forms, providing citizenship classes, and more.Right now, she is working on the Board of Assessors of STOP – COVID19 and CO-CREATE, giving support to the Spanish speaker’s members to advocate for the Latino community.
The Global ARC
Translation Facilitator
Marina Castelo
Interns
Maria is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC San Diego majoring in Public Health. Her current career goals are attending PA school and ultimately having a career in medicine.
UC San Diego
Intern
Maria Balbuena Bojorquez
Kayleigh is a Master of Public Health student in the Epidemiology concentration at UC San Diego. She also earned her bachelor’s degree at UC San Diego, with a major in Environmental Science and a minor in Spanish. Her interests cover a range of public health topics, including environmental health and infectious diseases.
UC San Diego
Intern
Kayleigh Kornher
I graduated from UC San Diego with a B.A. in Biological Anthropology. I am a current Master of Public Health student in the Epidemiology concentration at UC San Diego. My interests include infectious diseases in clinical settings and health behavior. My ultimate career goal is to pursue a medical career specializing in infection prevention and clinical epidemiology.
UC San Diego
Intern
Kathia Nuñez
Ariel is a third year undergraduate student at UC San Diego majoring in Global Health. As a research intern for CO-CREATE, he is eager to learn and work towards minimizing health disparities among underserved populations, especially during these times of crisis. He aspires to become a compassionate, conscientious, and devoted physician. Click here to learn more
UC San Diego
Intern
Ariel Cohen
Clara is an intern working on website design for the CO-CREATE project. She graduated from the National Circus School of Montreal 2021.
UC San Diego
Intern
Clara Laurent
Elodie is an intern working on graphic design for the CO-CREATE project. She is a junior at La Jolla High School.
UC San Diego
Intern