George Rutherford is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF. He is a senior advisor to UPIEA. He is a former state health officer and has worked in international health for over 25 years supporting HIV surveillance and treatment globally. During the COVID-19 pandemic he has served as an advisor to the city of San Francisco in their contact tracing efforts and his leading several sero-prevalence studies.
Alex Ernst provides broad technical oversight, from day-to-day contact tracing workflow to materials development and quality-improvement activities to data analysis and reporting. Pre-COVID-19, she worked primarily on HIV M&E and epidemiology projects, specifically recent HIV infection surveillance worldwide.
Taytum is the Digital Communications Specialist for the Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Inclusion (UPIEA) and Virtual Training Academy (VTA). She creates communication and outreach materials to communicate UPIEA and the VTA’s impact and offerings. Previously, she was the communications manager at World Affairs, working on their website, communications, and radio program and podcast. Taytum has degrees in environmental science and dance, and began her communications career working in environmental advocacy in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Jaime Sepulveda, the Haile T. Debas Distinguished Professor of Global Health, is the Executive Director of UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences. A member of the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet, he leads a team of over 300 faculty and staff engaged in translating UCSF’s scientific leadership into programs that positively impact health and reduce inequities globally. Sepulveda oversees several education and training programs, including the Masters of Science in Global Health Sciences degree program, the first such program in the nation, and the PhD program in Global Health.
Nathan Smith is a technical lead for data quality assessment and improvement (DQA / DQI). He provides support to contact tracing, working alongside the contact tracing team in the design and implementation of a DQA / DQI system for COVID. He also serves as the Associate Deputy Director of Programs for UCSF’s Global Strategic Information group. In this role he provides support to various projects focused on routine program monitoring and evaluation.
Susie Welty is the lead on special initiatives for the UCSF Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Inclusion (UPIEA). She has 15 years of public health experience primarily in HIV/AIDS in east Africa. She works as a contact tracer, case investigator, team lead, and trainer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health pandemic response. She also supports new initiatives for UPIEA. Susie grew up in a Quechua Indian village in Ecuador, and witnessed firsthand people turned away from health care because of their ethnicity.
Karen White has 20 years of public health experience developing and managing complex global HIV programs. She has expertise in developing strategic work plans, and budgets, communicating with funders and partners, as well as in staffing, hiring and managing deliverables across projects. Since March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in California, Ms. White has served as the Technical Project Director for the UCSF Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Inclusion (UPIEA).
