Debbie Bain Brickley, DrPH, MPH, is Director of Learning for UCSF’s Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Action (UPIEA) and has more than 20 years of experience in global health training and education. She has a background in epidemiology and biostatistics, primarily focused on global HIV prevention research and training. In 2020, Debbie began designing, creating and implementing courses in COVID-19 case investigation, contact tracing and outbreak management.
Laura Buback is a technical advisor who has been supporting SFDPH for the COVID-19 response since March 2020. She has supported Case Investigation/Contact Tracing/Outbreak Management work through leading Standard Operating Procedures, Trainings, and piloting new workflows. In August 2020, she also began supporting the University of Guam and Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services to strengthen their COVID-19 response.
Jess Celentano provides programmatic direction and leadership to the UCSF Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Inclusion (UPIEA) team. In close collaboration with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Jess and a small group of colleagues built San Francisco’s contact-tracing platform from the ground up, and then translated lessons learned and best practices into state and nation-wide trainings for COVID-19 contact tracers and case investigators.
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.
Jesús Pérez Formigó is joining the Global Health Security project team as a Senior Epidemiologist. Jesús has over 15 years of experience working with National and International disease surveillance systems, conducting surveillance data analysis, outbreak investigations, epidemic Intelligence gathering and on surveillance/epidemic early warning activities specially in Africa, Latin America and Middle East. Jesús holds an MPH and FETP degree.
I manage the production team in our efforts to provide daily production services to the VTA+ and CoP program team. Additionally, I provide training and guidance to staff and teams, on best practices for an accessible and engaging virtual meeting. Finally, I am a founding member of the Accessibility Working Group, whose goal is to help integrate universal learning design principles into the planning and creation process for all VTA+ programming.
After graduating from Princeton University, Dan Kelly, MD MPH PhD, went to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he pursued a Global Health Fellowship after his third year. In Sierra Leone, a local doctor and he were inspired to start Wellbody Alliance, a health and human rights non-profit organization that provides high-quality healthcare to the rural poor. Wellbody Alliance cared for the half million people living in rural Kono district and was severely affected by the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic.
I’ve worked in higher education since 2002, providing technical support to faculty and staff. Prior to coming to UCSF, I worked for Austin Community College as an Educational Technology Specialist. In that role I helped with technical issues in the classroom and with the learning management system. I was born in San Marcos, TX and attended Texas State University where I received my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology. I’m currently pursuing my Master of Education in Educational Technology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Elizabeth Rojo is a Program Manager for the Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Action (UPIEA) working on COVID-19 related efforts. In particular, she works with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and several Community Based Organizations on the creation of a Cultural Humility Module for Case Investigators/Contact Tracers as well as the expansion of Communities of Practice across the State. Prior to COVID-19, she worked in global health and research areas that include: HIV, Emergency Medicine, Global Health Education, and Minority Aging.
For nearly 15 years, Andrew has collaborated with ministries of health, national laboratories, statistics agencies, and non-governmental organizations to monitor, prevent and train public health workers to control HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. As Director of the Learning Hub for UCSF’s Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Inclusion (UPIEA), Andrew oversees standards for the design, delivery, and evaluation of trainings related to COVID-19 preparedness and response.
