Our Team

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Our work is achieved in partnership with community through four aims:

Community Engagement:
At the center of our work lies our commitment to partnering with those who are disproportionately impacted by preterm birth, Black and Brown communities. Learn more about our Community Advisory Board.

Aim 1: Discovery and Precision Health-Focused Research:
We seek to better understand the chronic stressors, such as racism, and protective factors that may affect preterm birth and the health outcomes of mothers and their babies. Learn More.

Aim 2: Interventions Research Across the Reproductive Life Course:
We seek to reveal, and ultimately mitigate, the behavioral, institutional, and policy-level barriers that impede scale-up of effective interventions to reduce preterm birth and poor outcomes among those born too soon. We are also dedicated to evaluating promising new interventions across the reproductive life course (Women's Health Equity, prenatal, and postnatal strategies). Learn More.

Aim 3: Collective Impact and Policy:
We seek to engage health, government, social service, and community stakeholders to advance mutually reinforcing activities that contribute to population-level reductions in preterm birth. Learn More.

Aim 4: Communication, Collaboration, and Capacity Building:
We work to disseminate knowledge, partner with diverse stakeholders, and build the capacity of academic and community leaders domestically and globally. Learn more about our Postdoctoral Transdisciplinary Research Fellowship and Benioff Community Innovator Program.


 

Aim Chart


Executive LeadershipDesigned Bar

Alexis Cobbins

Solaire Spellen

Interim Executive Director

Larry Rand

Larry Rand

Principal Investigator

Areca Smit

Areca Smit

Communications Director

OperationsDesigned Bar

Julie Harris

Executive Program Coordinator

Dante King

Dante King

Racial Equity Consultant

Selina Lao Mason

Selina Lao Mason

Project Manager

Je'Meshia Wade

Operations Analyst

Etecia Burrell

Operations Manager

 

 

Community Engagement Designed Bar

Shanell Williams

Director of Community Engagement and Partnership

 

 

 

Discovery Research (Aim 1)Designed Bar

Rebecca Bear

Rebecca Baer

Senior Epidemiologist

Laura Jelliffe-Pawlowski

Laura Jelliffe-Pawlowski

Director

Safyer McKenzie-Sampson

Safyer McKenzie- Sampson

Graduate Student Researcher

Scott Oltman

Scott Oltman

Senior Epidemiologist

 

 

 

 


Discovery Collaborative Co-Investigators


James
Anderson

UCSF

Rebecca Baer
UCSD

Gretchen Bandoli UCSD

Jessica Block
UCSD

Brittany Chambers
UCSF

Christina Chambers
UCSD

Joe DeRisi
UCSF

Elissa Epel 
UCSF

Jennifer Felder
UCSF

Elena Flowers
UCSF

Dawn Gano
UCSF

Anu Manchikanti Gómez
UC Berkeley

Rita Hamad
UCSF

Marta Jankowska
UCSD

Kord Korber
UCSF

Jue Lin
UCSF

Chuck McCulloch
UCSF

Monica McLemore
UCSF

Lou Muglia
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Tania Pacheco-Werner
CSU Fresno

Matt Pantell
UCSF

Nisha Parikh
UCSF

Mark Petersen
UCSF

Brian Piening
Providence Cancer Center

Aric Prather
UCSF

Elizabeth Rogers
UCSF

Kelli Ryckman
University of Iowa

Karen Scott
UCSF

Michael Snyder
Stanford

Martina Steurer-Muller
UCSF

Jacqueline Torres
UCSF

 

Interventions Across the Reproductive Lifecourse (Aim 2)Designed Bar

Women's Health Equity (Aim 2a) and Prenatal Care (Aim 2b)


Kim Coleman-Phox

Kim Coleman-Phox

Associate Director

Christine Dehlendorf

Christine Dehlendorf

Faculty Member (2a)

Miriam Kuppermann

Miriam Kuppermann

Director


EMBRACE Study


Bridgette Blebu

Bridgette Blebu

Co-Investigator

Brittany Chambers

Brittany Chambers

Co-Investigator

Jen Felder

Jenn Felder

Co-Investigator

Deborah Karasek

Deborah Karasek

Co-Investigator

Miriam Kuppermann

Miriam Kuppermann

Principal Investigator

Kim Coleman-Phox

Kim Coleman-Phox

Co-Investigator

Chuck MuCulloch

Chuck MuCulloch

Co-Investigator

 

 

 


Collective Impact and Policy (Aim 3)Designed Bar

Expecting Justice, San Francisco Collective Impact for Healthy Births


San Francisco Department of Health Backbone Team

Zea Malawa

Zea Malawa

Program Director

Latriece Love Goodlett

Latriece Love Goodlett

Associate Director

Breezy Powell

Breezy Powell

Program Assistant

Fresno GROWS Hub for Civic Engagement


Fresno GROWS Backbone Team 

Hope Flint

Hope Flint

Administrative Assistant

Sapphire Underwood-Moore

Sapphire Underwood Moore

Communications Coordinator

 


Fresno GROWS Steering Committee 

  • Dr. Venise Curry, Community Champion, Fresno GROWS Steering Committee Co-Chair
  • Shantay Davies-Balch, Community Champion, Fresno GROWS Steering Committee Co-Chair, BLACK Wellness and Prosperity Center
  • Rose Mary Rahn, Fresno DPH
  • Yolanda Randles, West Fresno Family Resource Center
  • Heather Brown, Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC)
  • Nicole Hutchings, Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC)
  • Fabiola Gonzales, First Five, Fresno County
  • Lupita Ramirez, First Five Fresno County
  • Dr. Jonathan Fuchs, UCSF California PTBi
  • Dr. Bridgette Blebu, UCSF California PTBi

Policy Core


  • Jonathan Fuchs
  • Deborah Karasek
  • Selina Lao Mason
  • Solaire Spellen
  • Jacqueline Torres
  • Hope Williams
  • Shanell Williams

 

 

Communications, Collaboration, Capacity Building (Aim 4)Designed Bar

Communications Team


Areca Smit

Areca Smit

Communications Director

Giannina Ong

Giannina Ong

Communications Manager

Loren Newman

Loren Newman

Designer and Voices for Birth Justice Manager

Korise JubertKorise Jubert III

Social Media and Video Production Manager

 

 

 


Capacity Building (Transdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship Program)


Jonathan Fuchs

Jonathan Fuchs

Associate Director

Miriam Kuppermann

Miriam Kuppermann

Director

Nicole Santos

Nicole Santos

Associate Director

 

 

 


Current Postdoctoral Fellows


Kayla Karvonen

Postdoctoral Fellow

Victoria Keeton

Serwaa Omowale

Postdoctoral Fellow

 

Serwaa Omowale

Elze Rackaityte

Postdoctoral Fellow