California Epidemiologic Investigation Service Fellowship (Cal-EIS) Fellows

2023-2024​

​Jacquelyn A​ramkul, MPH​​

Jackie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from UCLA in 2019, where she focused much of her studies on Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. As an undergraduate student, Jackie volunteered in Tijuana, Mexico to promote preventative health initiatives and community improvements. Prior to starting her graduate degree, Jackie completed an internship with Morehouse College Public Health Institute and the CDC Center for Global Health. Her qualitative analysis contributed the CDC CGH Annual Report for 2022 which highlights how CGH addresses global health inequities. Jackie returned to UCLA for her Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology, with special interests in zoonotic diseases and One Health topics. While completing her graduate studies, Jackie was a teaching associate for the Life Sciences department where she taught Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology. In 2023, she was awarded the Life Science Core distinguished teaching award. Jackie also completed an internship with the Los Angeles County Veterinary Public Health program. She worked with an interdisciplinary team to address animal and human health issues in LA County such as SARS-CoV-2, rabies, leptospirosis, and influenza. Jackie served as the principal investigator for a project on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of dog owners in LA County regarding canine diseases. She completed her MPH degree from UCLA in 2023 and is a Cal-EIS fellow at the San Diego Health and Human Services Agency. Jackie intends to serve a vital role in the development of the One Health Epidemiology Program in San Diego and further investigate the ecology of diseases. ​

Atoosa Azarang, MD, MPH

Atoosa received her Medical Degree from Kerman University of Health Science in Iran. After immigrating to US and prior to starting graduate school, she worked as a research assistant at MIND Institute and UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, which piqued her interest in human's brain and cognition. She finished her MPH with a concentration in health policy and leadership at University of San Francisco in 2022. During her graduate studies, she completed her internship at the non-profit level with Health Education Council. As part of the program administrator role, she oversaw Social Connection program which assisted disadvantaged families to connect with mental health resources in their communities. Atoosa is interested in applying epidemiologic facts into design and implementation of health-related programs at the community. As a Cal-EIS Fellow with the Alzheimer's Disease Program at the Chronic Disease Control Branch, she is looking forward to contributing to Alzheimer's disease research, understanding the impacts of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia on the health and wellbeing of the patient's primary care givers, and implementing programs to lower the burden of this disease on disadvantaged families.​

​​​​​​Tiffani Berra, DPT, MS, MPH​​

Tiffani received her B.S. in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) from the University of Southern California. As a physical therapist, her clinical practice focused in Women's and Men's pelvic health, orthopedics, and school-based pediatrics. While practicing as a physical therapist, Tiffani returned to the University of Southern California to complete her MPH in Biostatistics and Epidemiology and for her capstone project, she completed a program evaluation of the Cancer Rehabilitation Program in which several of her physical therapy patients had previously participated during or after undergoing treatment for cancer. While continuing to practice throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Tiffani worked as a school-based physical therapist and further recognized the impact of infectious disease and health disparities and inequities within the local community of the school system in which she was working. Motivated by this, she committed to completing her career transition to public health, and specifically epidemiology, and returned to graduate school to complete her MS in Epidemiology from UCLA. There she completed her thesis on efficiently identifying childhood vaccination acceptance and hesitancy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by evaluating a shortened vaccination demand questionnaire. While completing her MS, Tiffani also worked with CDPH on the Valley fever enhanced surveillance project to gain hands-on experience in applied epidemiology.

As a Cal-EIS fellow, Tiffani is thrilled to be working in Solano County where she is looking forward to working in a multidisciplinary team of professionals to address public health challenges, further develop her epidemiology skills, and explore more areas of epidemiology over the next year. After the fellowship, she aspires to continue to serve the public as an epidemiologist at the county or state level.​

Jeremy Busto, MPH

Jeremy graduated from California State University, Stanislaus, where he received his B.S. in Chemistry with a Biology minor. It wasn't until the end of his baccalaureate program when he discovered his passion for public health, when he took an epidemiology course for his minor in Biology. Jeremy went on to obtain his Master's in Public Health at Walden University. His practicum assignment for his MPH degree consisted of creating a training manual for disease investigators and entering more than 3,000 syphilis cases into an online database. Jeremy is currently pursuing his PhD in Public Health Research with a focus on Epidemiology.

This is Jeremy's second fellowship year. During his first year of the fellowship, Jeremy conducted a major project on homelessness in Stanislaus County, where he analyzed the relationships between sociodemographic variables and chronic homelessness using SAS and Stanislaus County's Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS). However, prior to entering Cal-EIS, Jeremy was a CalREDIE Data Assistant for Stanislaus County's COVID-19 Emergency Response Team, where he entered and processed data through CalREDIE and CalCONNECT, and led a team of other data assistants through the darkest days of the pandemic. Jeremy has also worked for a small virtual startup company as a public health outreach intern, where he assisted in tripling the company's number of social media followers, as well as a volunteer for Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, where he reviewed and edited community health assessments, directed clients to appropriate services, and created a training manual. Jeremy's career interests are centered around bridging gaps in care for underserved populations. Upon completion of the Cal-EIS program, Jeremy hopes to work as an epidemiology researcher in an academic institution or at the federal, state, or local level. 

​Jocelyn Chung, MPH

Jocelyn received her B.S.inBiology with a minor in Statistics at the University of California, Riverside. She completed her Master's in Public Health at the University of California concentrating in Epidemiology. She will be completing her Cal-EIS fellowship at Marin County Department of Public Health. Prior to her graduate studies, Jocelyn was involved in the California Breast Cancer Research Project for a community health organization as a student researcher. There, she discovered her passion for public health and epidemiology. For her MPH practicum project, she worked as an intern in the World Trade Center Health Program under NIOSH and the CDC to explore the Asian population in the program and those who were affected by 9/11 exposures. Throughout her work and studies, Jocelyn developed an interest in communicable diseases. She hopes that throughout her fellowship experience, she may learn more about how to use data and statistics to drive solutions to public health problems.​

​​Erin Cleary, MPH

Erin received her BSEd in Health, Kinesiology, and Leisure Studies and her MPH in Epidemiology, both from Baylor University. Erin's interests lie in both communicable and non-communicable diseases. She served as a principal investigator and research assistant on projects while working towards her undergraduate degree. These projects worked to examine health disparities, better mental health, prevent domestic violence, and assess chronic conditions in religious populations. With these studies, she learned to collect and analyze data as well as communicate findings to stakeholders. During graduate school, Erin worked with the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District to investigate COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks, assist with a CASPER and Community Health Needs Assessment, join the Medical Reserve Corps for the county, and manage data for various tasks. These experiences sparked an interest in learning data analysis across different software and mitigating exposure to infectious diseases. Erin is currently completing her Cal-EIS Fellowship with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in the Veterinary Public Health department. She is excited to learn more about zoonotic diseases, One Health concepts, improve her data collection and analysis skills, and further develop as an epidemiologist.​

Matthew Colbert, MPH

Matthew received his B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and his MPH in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before completing his graduate education, Matt worked in the Monterey County Public Health Lab during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding the county's response in helping receive, accession, and prepare suspected COVID-19 specimens for testing. Matt also worked in the mycology and mycobacteriology sections of the laboratory aiding in testing patient samples for these organisms. Matt's interests lie largely in infectious diseases, infection prevention and control, and outbreak management.

​Matt will complete his Cal-EIS Fellowship with the Monterey County Health Department in the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit. He seeks to widen his experience and skillset as an epidemiologist and improve the health of Monterey County residents through infectious disease and outbreak surveillance and management. After the fellowship, Matt seeks to continue increasing his experience and serving the public through working as a public health epidemiologist within California focusing on infectious disease surveillance and control.

Kiley Doherty, MPH

Kiley will be completing her Cal-EIS fellowship with Marin County Department of Health and Human Services. She received her B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Arizona in 2020. She went on to complete the MPH Epidemiology and Biostatistics program at the University of California, Berkeley in 2022. For her MPH practicum requirement, she worked with Marler Clark Law Firm's epidemiology team. Marler Clark is a law firm that represents people affected by foodborne outbreaks and recalls. In this role Kiley worked with local, state, and federal health departments to obtain the evidence, such as results of whole genome sequencing testing, to determine if a client was involved in an outbreak or recall. Her Master's capstone research was a systematic review evaluating risk factors associated with the development of hemolytic uremic syndrome in children infected with Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli. Following her graduation, Kiley was the 2022-2023 Dave Theno Food Safety Fellow for the non-profit organization STOP Foodborne Illness. As a part of her fellowship, Kiley completed her Graduate Certificate in Food Safety from Michigan State University and is planning to publish a research project she completed with MSU. During her time as a Cal-EIS fellow, Kiley hopes to build on and apply her knowledge of epidemiology and practice her data analysis skills. After the fellowship she aspires to work as an epidemiologist at the county or state level. 

La'Ryn Eskridge-Williams, MPH

La'Ryn Eskridge-Williams received her B.S. in Recreation and Tourism Management with a concentration in Therapeutic Recreation from Cal State Northridge and her MPH from Azusa Pacific University with a concentration in Health Equity and a focus in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. During her undergraduate degree, she worked as a health educator with Peer Health Exchange to provide health education to high school students in under-served high schools. As a health educator, she led small groups and engaged students in direct conversations about mental health, sexual health, and substance abuse. Committed to 

professional development, she completed the National Society of Leadership and Success training program that helps students achieve personal growth, career success, and empowers them to have a positive impact in communities.

During her MPH program, she received a two-year community health fellowship with Area Health Education Center (AHEC) that serves marginalized communities through community-based training in K-12 schools, county hospitals, community clinics, health centers, and colleges across California. Throughout her time at AHEC, she worked at Garden High School where she took vitals for high school students and shadowed physicians and nurses who provided sports physicals, sex education, and other health services to the student body. Second, she volunteered at a foodbank called the Food Pharmacy at LAC+USC Medical Center that provides fresh produce to low-income community members in the city of Torrance.

La'Ryn completed her practicum with the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs and participated in their Graduate Student Epidemiology Program where she worked for Columbus Public Health in Ohio to research the impact of COVID-19 on maternal and child health. During her practicum she conducted a literature review, interviewed key stakeholder's, collected data from the Ohio Database Reporting System and the Ohio Pregnancy Assessment Survey, and analyzed the data using SAS.

Her passion for maternal and child health inspired the topic for her graduate thesis that investigated the Socioeconomic Factors Affecting the Rates of Hysterectomies in African American Women Using the California Health Interview Survey. La'Ryn's devotion to women's sexual and reproductive, interest in epidemiology, and desire to identify and resolve racial health disparities in communities of color led her to apply for CAL-EIS, where she is excited to complete her fellowship with El Dorado County Health and Human Services in Placerville.

Eamonn Hartmann, MPH

Eamonn received his B.A. in Public Health with a minor in Political Science from Pacific University, Oregon, and his MPH in Health Promotion and Behavioral Science from San Diego State University. Prior to beginning graduate school, he worked as a residential counselor at New Narrative Integrative Mental Health (formerly Luke-Dorf, Inc.) where he implemented treatment plans for several residents experiencing serious and persistent mental illness. Subsequently, he worked as a research assistant at the Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC) in the Portland Veterans Health Administration (VHA). At CIVIC, Eamonn provided support on a study involving veterans with chronic pain on long-term opioid therapy with a focus on assessing quality of life outcomes and the opioid discontinuation process. During his graduate studies, Eamonn assisted with two different studies that examined the relationship between social determinants of health and veteran suicide. For his final project in his MPH program, Eamonn collaborated with a local non-profit in San Diego called Urban Restoration Counseling Center (URCC) to identify factors associated with client engagement in URCC's Therapy for All program. As a Cal-EIS fellow with San Mateo County, Eamonn is looking forward to developing his skills in epidemiology, especially in the fields of substance use and mental health.​

​Samuel Holland, MPH

Sam was born and raised in Napa. He received his B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from San Francisco State University where he participated in an avian malaria research lab. He then attended U.C. Berkeley's Infectious Disease and Vaccinology MPH program. There, he worked as a graduate student instructor for one of the MCB laboratory courses for undergraduates. In the summer of 2022, he had the chance to work with Napa County Public Health where he updated the Communicable Disease Information Manual (a tool assisting in conducting a case investigation), performed an analysis on bacterial STI trends within the county, and shadowed the Epidemiology team on infection prevention site and outbreak visits. His MPH Capstone focused on the STI analysis he did for the county. In his last year with the MPH program, he got to work as an administrator for an mpox case-control study collaborating/integrating with U.C. Berkeley and CDPH's STD Branch in an attempt to determine vaccine effectiveness, transmission dynamics, and risk factors associated with infection. There, he helped build the questionnaire utilized by the team, helped oversee the interviewers, performed data analysis, and helped bridge different data sources together. He will be completing his Cal-EIS Fellowship with Napa County Public Health. He hopes to obtain a PhD in Epidemiology where he aims to focus on mitigating the impact of infectious diseases.

​​​​​​​​Brandon Ja, MPH

Brandon Ja received his BA in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and his BS in Nursing from CSU Sacramento. He returned to Berkeley to complete his MPH in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a public health nurse for Yolo County In-Home Supportive Services. During his MPH program, Brandon had the opportunity to intern at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa with their infection prevention department. As a Cal-EIS fellow, Brandon will be working with El Dorado County under their public health division. He hopes to gain further experience in epidemiology in preparation for working as an epidemiologist at the state or county level.

Janak Kaur, MPH

Janak received her B.S. in Public Health Sciences from the University of California, Irvine and her M.P.H. from the University of Southern California. While in graduate school, Janak worked as a COVID-19 Liaison and a K-12 Regional Specialist where she oversaw contract tracing and onsite testing for students in the San Bernardino City Unified School District and assisted in developing health and wellness guidelines and education materials for the school community. For her practicum, Janak was involved with Children's Hospital Los Angeles where she assisted in a longitudinal study assessing the transition of care from adolescence to adult health care. Janak is interested in studying chronic health disparities in underserved and immigrant communities, as well as learning more about the systemic changes that can be made at local and state levels to address chronic disease and healthcare inequity. She is thrilled to join the Cal-EIS fellowship and work with the Riverside County Public Health (Riverside University Health System) and advance her epidemiological skillset. 

Ahmed Kiran, MPH

Ahmed Kiran will be completing his Cal-EIS fellowship with the California Department of Public Health Environmental Health Investigations Branch. He completed his MPH at UC Davis, following a BS in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. Ahmed has been very involved in community activities, including as a research coordinator for a mobile COVID testing team targeting underserved communities as part of UC Davis's Center for Reducing Health Disparities and as a volunteer and board member of Shifa Community Clinic providing medical services to uninsured patients. These experiences, along with growing up in the Central Valley, have spurred his interest in environmental health, epidemiology, and health equity issues. After completing Cal-EIS, Ahmed hopes to use his skillset to continue serving the public, addressing health inequities, and improving the lives of disadvantaged communities. 

​Kathryn Lin, MPH

Kathryn Lin (she/her) received her B.S. in Human Biology with a concentration in Human Health and Diseases from Indiana University Bloomington in 2019. After graduating, she worked in a gut immunology laboratory at Mayo Clinic Rochester and investigated risk factors and causes for 

late- and early-onset neonatal sepsis. In 2021, she returned to higher education to pursue an MPH at University of California, Berkeley, with a specific focus on Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Data Science, both of which she hopes to use in her public health career. During this time, she also volunteered and eventually worked with the City of Berkeley Public Health Officer Unit on STI surveillance and investigation projects, community health assessments, public interest programming, and more.

Kathryn will be joining the Alameda County Public Health Department for the duration of her Cal-EIS fellowship where she hopes to continue working in applied epidemiology and infectious disease surveillance.

William Nelson, MPH

Will received his B.S. in Public Health Sciences and Biology from Santa Clara University, where he was heavily involved in public health projects to increase contraceptive availability, mitigate alcohol-related injuries, and promote healthy relationships. After graduation, he joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, a year-of-service program that emphasizes solidarity and service with local communities. He was placed at ACR Health, a non-profit organization that works with People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) in Syracuse, New York. In this role, he worked in the Volunteer Department, Medical Clinic for PWUD, and Syringe Exchange Program (SEP). After completing his year of service program, ACR Health hired him to be the Central New York Harm Reduction Supervisor, where he oversaw the fixed site for SEP, SEP mobile outreach to the inner city, and SEP mobile outreach to the rural outlying areas.   

To further advance his career aspirations as an epidemiologist, Will enrolled in the UC Davis Master of Public Health program under the epidemiological track. As part of the program, he completed courses in biostatics, epidemiological methods, SAS, GIS, and Informatics. For his practicum project, he worked with Harm Reduction Services, a non-profit SEP in Sacramento, to conduct a community needs assessment. Additionally, Will was a member of the following UC Davis committee's: admission, recruitment, and University of California Student Health Insurance Plan.   

​Will is excited to be a part of the Cal-EIS team and start working with Sutter County. He is looking forward to improving his epidemiological skills and promoting health equity for the residents of Sutter County.

Samantha Perez, MPH

Samantha “Sam" Perez is a current Cal-EIS Fellow from Fresno, CA. She received her B.S in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She worked in multiple health clinics in Alameda & Contra Costa County that provided medical care to the undocumented and houseless communities in the area. As her passion for public health grew, she desired to gain a more global health perspective. She then joined the Peace Corps and served as a Community Health Volunteer in Madagascar for two years where she worked at a rural health clinic alongside local midwives. She conducted health sensitizations on numerous health topics such as maternal and child health, water sanitation, malaria prevention, and family planning. She also played a role in the national malaria health campaign that distributed bed nets across the island, and she helped with the measles vaccine campaign after the outbreak in 2019. When she arrived back in the U.S, she moved back to her hometown where she completed her Masters in Public Health at California State University, Fresno. During her time, she interned at the Tulare County Department of Health and Human Services where she discovered the Cal-EIS fellowship opportunity. After her time in Tulare, she desired to learn more about public health at the county level. Sam will complete her Cal-EIS Fellowship at the County of San Luis Obispo (SLO) Health Agency where she will work with the Infectious Disease and Chronic Disease Epidemiologists. She is excited to advance her epidemiology skill set, and she is looking forward to working with a multidisciplinary staff and about their approach to combating various health challenges that impact SLO County’s community members.​

​Clarisa Prieto, MPH

Clarisa earned a BS in Environmental Health Science from California State University, San Bernardino, and an MPH in Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology from Claremont Graduate University. During her graduate studies, she interned at the Healthy Communities Institute with San Antonio Regional Hospital to evaluate and analyze wellness education among the adolescent population in the Inland Empire. As a Cal-EIS fellow with Long Beach Health & Human Services, she is excited to further develop her skills and engage in resources that meet the needs of Long Beach communities. Clarisa hopes to continue serving the public as an epidemiologist at the local or state level after the fellowship. Her interests include communicable diseases, health geography, and health disparities in underserved communities.

Adrianna Rojas, MPH

Adrianna will complete her Cal-EIS Fellowship training with the Tobacco Control Branch at the California Department of Public Health. She has a BS in Public Health from California State University Northridge (CSUN) and an MPH in Global Health Epidemiology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. During her time at CSUN, she investigated the relationship between problematic internet use, smartphone addiction, and depression, and anxiety among college students. While at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico, she worked on analyzing longitudinal data among the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS) population from the years 2000-2020, utilizing Mexican national surveys to aid in running simulation models to understand the long-term and short-term economic and health-related impact of following MPOWER guidelines - a framework established by the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) to provide a foundation for countries to manage and implement tobacco control. Her capstone research at Michigan examined the role of health insurance affiliation and mental health on tobacco cessation outcomes in Mexico among the IMSS population. As a graduate research associate, she has also worked on projects relating to social vulnerability, climate change, and skilled nursing facilities. Through her research and training, she has gained expertise using various statistical tools and advanced methods (e.g., multivariate Poisson and logistic regression, and complex sample weighting). She looks forward to contributing to preventative tobacco control efforts, advancements in health equity and learning from the multidisciplinary team at the California Tobacco Prevention Program.

Navya Tanniru, MPH

Navya received her B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and her Master's in Public Health (MPH) with an emphasis in Epidemiology from the University of California, Davis. During her undergraduate years, Navya worked in the Health Education and Promotion Department at the UC Davis Student Health and Counseling Services to promote student health equity and implement campaigns on alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, safe partying, and harm reduction to UC Davis students. Prior to graduate school, Navya helped coordinate studies related to technologies and ways to better diagnose, treat, and prevent various infectious and chronic diseases as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator at UC Davis Health's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. These experiences helped develop Navya's interests in substance use, chronic and infectious diseases, and health disparities. During her graduate studies, Navya worked as a Graduate Student Assistant with the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System team at the Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch (SAPB) at CDPH where she contributed to the surveillance of the drug and overdose epidemic in California. For her MPH practicum, Navya worked with SAPB to provide educational information and data related to opioid use and overdose in California to the public. 

Navya is excited to be completing her Cal-EIS fellowship with the Cannabis team at the Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch at CDPH to further develop her knowledge and skills in applied epidemiology. Following the fellowship, Navya hopes to continue to serve the public as an epidemiologist at the state or county level.​

Jason Tin, MPH

Jason received his B.S. in Global Disease Biology and his Master's in Public Health (epidemiology emphasis) from the University of California, Davis. Jason's professional interests include global health and communicable disease control, which has led him to become a Cal-EIS fellow for the CDPH Center for Environmental Health's One Health program.

In his undergraduate and graduate career, Jason has been exposed to ample experiences related to global health and communicable diseases. These experiences include leading fellow undergraduate peers in multiple volunteer trips and empowering under-resourced communities abroad through a holistic approach, investigating the moral foundations of uncivil online discourse regarding COVID-19 vaccines, and understanding diarrheal disease and avenues of prevention for Nepali children under 5 years old. He looks forward to gaining more practical epidemiology experience through Cal-EIS and expanding his knowledge with the One Health Division on emerging disease threats. After the fellowship, Jason hopes to pursue higher education and to lead a global effort in controlling communicable diseases worldwide.

Katherine Velasco, MPH

Katherine received her B.S. in Public Health from University of California, San Diego and her Master's in Public Health (MPH) from San Diego State University. As an undergraduate research assistant, she worked for the CASA Study, a randomized controlled trial that aimed to see the effect of cigarette packs with graphic images on smokers' risk perception, perception of the appearance of their cigarettes, and overall smoking behavior. During her MPH, she worked on a study that looked at the impact COVID-19 has had on Latina mothers and their daughters residing in San Diego. Additionally, she worked virtually with the Imperial County Public Health Department and assisted them in conducting a needs assessment. Coming from an underserved community has shaped her interest in reducing health disparities. She is excited to apply and further develop her epidemiology skills while working in different areas of public health. Katherine will be completing her fellowship with Monterey County Public Health Department. After completing Cal-EIS, Katherine hopes to work as an epidemiologist at the state or local level to positively impact the health of the public.

Gabriella Villegas, MPH

Gabriella received her B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies with a minor in Global Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley and MPH in in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a certificate in Global Health. At 12 years old, Gabriella was introduced to public health through an early intervention program targeted at youth at risk of dropping out or failing to graduate, SKILLZ summer school. Although Gabriella did not know it yet, SKILLZ incorporated the socioecological model and promoted health equity. Gabriella began her public health journey with one of the partnering organizations, Day One Pasadena. Gabriella ultimately became a facilitator for SKILLZ teaching youth about substances and incorporating harm-reduction perspectives. With this opportunity Gabriella was able to work with Planned Parenthood, College Access Plan, and many local organizations. During their undergraduate studies, Gabriella continued to work in the non-profit sector targeting youth, specifically at Berkeley Youth Alternatives. Gabriella also worked with other organizations targeting youth such as Central Valley Scholars and the Fred Finch Youth Center. 

During her graduate studies, Gabriella spent most of her time outside of the classroom teaching. She served as a teaching assistant for the UCLA Institute of Society and Genetics Human Biology and Society major senior capstone course. She also studied and began training dogs. During the second year of her MPH, Gabriella was appointed as a teaching fellow for the UCLA Cluster Program Sex Cluster. In this experience Gabriella had the opportunity to design and facilitate her own seminar spring quarter that built off concepts from the past two quarters where professors were teaching “sex[uality]" from their respective disciplines. In this experience, Gabriella introduced first year university students how to write an analytical research paper and how to carry out a literature review for topics related to sex, gender, reproductive health, sexuality, etc. For their MPH practicum, Gabriella moved to Puerto Rico for the summer to explore resilience among a group of gynecological cancer patients before and after hurricanes Irma and Maria. 

Gabriella will be working for the California Department of Public Health - Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health. She looks forward to learning from her new network and gaining new knowledge and skills. She hopes to contribute to efforts that create a sustainable and equitable future for all.

​Laila Zaib, MPH

Laila Zaib received her B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and her MPH degree from the University of California Davis. Before entering graduate school, she volunteered as an undergraduate and a community volunteer at the Shifa Community Clinic—a free clinic in Sacramento that served the uninsured and underserved population. Through her volunteer work at the Shifa Community Clinic, she developed a keen interest in how culturally competent care, without linguistic barriers, can contribute to disease prevention and improve health outcomes in minority populations.

During her time as a graduate student, Laila undertook a practicum project involving a retrospective study to evaluate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on accessibility to healthcare services among the underserved and uninsured population served by the Shifa Community Clinic's telehealth program. Coming from an immigrant family, these experiences have significantly shaped her passion for addressing health disparities, understanding social determinants of health, and focusing on community health at the individual and population levels.

She will be completing her fellowship at the Yuba County Health and Human Services Department, aiming to further enrich her understanding of epidemiology, infectious diseases, disease surveillance systems, maternal and child health, as well as the process of conducting a community health assessment. These pursuits are integral to enhancing her research skills and utilizing her expertise to tackle health inequalities and disparities within this region.

​​​Mayra Zamora, MPH

Mayra received her Bachelor of Science in Public Health from California State University, Los Angeles, and her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Prior to graduate school, Mayra worked as a research assistant for The FILLED Project, a Greater Los Angeles-based study of Filipino Americans' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A direct response to both the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Filipino American health workers and to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities' demands for data disaggregation, the study cemented Mayra's interest in the social determinants of health. During her graduate studies, she expanded on her work in The FILLED Project by becoming an integral member of the SEA US, HEAR US project, a community-engaged, mixed-methods study that aims to understand the clinical and social implications of COVID-19 among Southeast Asian Americans and to inform testing and vaccination efforts in their communities. As a member of the SEA US, HEAR US team, she assisted in survey design, data collection and management, and trained community stakeholders and SEA US, HEAR US staff in data collection procedures. For her field studies in epidemiology, she interned for the Population and Community Health Sciences Branch of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, where she developed and executed an analysis plan for the study of the relationship between online gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health outcomes among U.S. adults. For her capstone, she analyzed data from The FILLED Project to examine associations between Filipino Americans' attitudes toward telehealth, their experiences with racial/ethnic discrimination in medical care, and their use of telehealth during the pandemic. Mayra's dynamic research experience has shaped her interest in epidemiology as a means of addressing health disparities and advocating for health equity. As a Cal-EIS Fellow with the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, she is excited to advance her training in epidemiologic surveillance and other essential public health services. After her fellowship, she hopes to continue her path as an epidemiologist to inform policies and community interventions at the state or local level.​

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