Course Faculty

Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH, is Executive Director and Medical Epidemiologist at the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness. Before coming to the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Dr. Aragón worked for seven years as director of Community Health Epidemiology and Disease Control at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), and as Deputy County Health Officer for the City and County of San Francisco. At SFDPH, he directed communicable disease control and prevention, bioterrorism preparedness and response planning, and the epidemiologic and effectiveness research unit. Dr. Aragón's education and training include UC Berkeley (BA Molecular Biology, DrPH Epidemiology), Harvard Medical School (MD, MPH), and UC San Francisco (Internal Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and AIDS epidemiology fellowship). He maintains a personal web site at http://www.medepi.net/aragon/.

Christine Cahill

Ann Cass, MPH is a Communicable Disease Specialist with the California Department of Health Services Tuberculosis (TB) Control Branch. She has 15 years of experience working in the field of communicable disease control. Anne’s current responsibilities include providing consultation and technical assistance to 5 local TB control programs in Southern California. Anne also acts as the Lead Program Liaison for the Tuberculosis Indicators Project (TIP), a project in which local TB programs and the State TB Control Branch work together to use data to improve program performance. Before working in TB control, Anne worked in Sexually Transmitted Disease Control for 4 years as a Communicable Disease Investigator. In that capacity, she performed disease control activities including field and contact investigations, surveillance, and patient and provider education. Anne earned her MPH from San Diego State University with an emphasis in Health Promotion.

Sara H. Cody, MD, is the Communicable Disease Control Officer/Assistant Health Officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. Programs under Disease Prevention and Control include STD Prevention and Control, Hepatitis C Prevention and Control, as well as Surveillance and Investigation of all reportable diseases except tuberculosis. Prior to this, she worked for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer. As an EIS officer, she was assigned to Division of Communicable Disease Control at the State Department of Health Services in Berkeley, California. She completed internal medicine residency at Stanford University Hospital, and medical school at Yale University.

Bruce B. Dan, MD, is a specialist in infectious diseases and medical communications. He is President of MedNet Communications, Executive Director and Managing Editor of NBC/GE Healthcare's The Patient Channel, Adjunct Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and Courtesy Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Dan was the Senior Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association and Director of the AMA's Department of Scientific and Clinical Affairs. He was the Executive Editor and Anchor for Medical News Network, Director of Medical Affairs for the Center for Bio-Medical Communication, Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer for Medcast Networks, and Senior Medical Consultant for WebMD.

Dr. Dan was the Medical Editor and on-air correspondent for ABC News, Chicago and was the founding Medical Editor and Anchor for American Medical Television on CNBC. He created the JAMA Report, the AMA's weekly video news release, which is the most watched news segment in television. Dr. Dan was Medical Correspondent and Resident Physician for the award winning PBS programs Newton's Apple and HealthWeek, as well as the creator and anchor for Medical News Report, an international news program for physicians. His Doctor's Corner aired nationwide on National Public Radio, and he can be seen daily on The Patient Channel.

Dr. Dan received his MD degree from Vanderbilt University Medical School with an internship and residency in internal medicine; later completing postdoctoral fellowships in infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and in computerized medicine at Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He was a member of the U.S. Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Deputy Chief of the CDC's Toxic Shock Syndrome Task Force.

Wayne Enanoria, PhD, MPH, is the Public Health Epidemiologist at the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness. His primary research interest is the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Dr. Enanoria's previous work experiences include the Tuberculosis Control Section at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), the Reproductive Epidemiology Section, and the Office of AIDS at the California State Health Department. More recently, he has worked in Community Health Epidemiology and Disease Control at the SFDPH conducting communicable disease outbreak investigations, disease surveillance and epidemiologic research.

Curtis L. Fritz, DVM, MPVM, PhD, is a native Californian and, despite spending the first 22 years of his life in the Los Angeles Basin, is still a fairly rational and decent fellow. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Whittier College before relocating to Davis to add another dozen letters behind his name. After completing his veterinary medicine education at UC Davis, he lingered around for another five years doing Masters and Doctoral work in epidemiology and preventive medicine. With 28 consecutive years of sitting in the classroom to his credit, Dr. Fritz finally stepped into the real world of the gainfully employed when he accepted a position with the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Assigned to the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Disease in Fort Collins, Colorado, Dr. Fritz investigated outbreaks of Lyme disease in California, plague in India, tularemia in South Dakota, and dengue in Micronesia during his two-year assignment. Aching to return to the Golden State, in 1996 Dr. Fritz took a position as epidemiologist in the Vector-Borne Disease Section of the California Department of Health Services. Dr. Fritz provides epidemiologic support for the Department’s tick-, mosquito-, and rodent-borne surveillance and control programs, as well as to the Infectious Diseases Branch in general. He is a recognized statewide authority on hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome and tick-borne relapsing fever. When he is not investigating disease outbreaks or arguing with Microsoft Word, he seeks physical diversion and psychological release in training for and competing in triathlons. He is member of the Davis Mad Cows Triathlon Team and was ranked “All American” by the US Triathlon Federation in 2003.

Debra Gilliss, MD, MPH, is a medical epidemiologist in the Infectious Diseases Branch of the California Department of Health Services (CDHS). Dr. Gilliss has worked as the Bioterrorism Epidemiology Section chief and co-lead for epidemiology and surveillance activities for the CDC funded bioterrorism preparedness program. She has experience in outbreak investigations, drills and in emergency response for infectious disease, chemical and radiological incidents. Prior to obtaining a position in CDHS, Dr. Gilliss completed a preventive medicine residency in the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Stacy Goldsby, BA, is the Bay Area Field Services Manager with the California Department of Health Services STD Control Branch where she supervises a team of Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) in the Sexually Transmitted Disease Units of Alameda and Santa Clara counties. She also serves as the liaison for the surveillance and case management activities of DIS units in the 9 Bay Area counties of Alameda, Berkeley, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. Before joining the branch in 2002, Stacy worked as a DIS for 15 years in San Mateo County’s Disease Control and Prevention Unit. She specializes in case and contact investigations of sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, food borne pathogens, and other communicable diseases.

Sandra Jo Hammer

Kim Harrison, MPH, is a Project Coordinator and Staff Research Associate with the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters (http://www.cphd.ucla.edu). Her main project with the Center is managing a CDC-funded project to determine the public's knowledge, attitudes and beliefs surrounding terrorism and risk. Ms. Harrison is also responsible for coordinating workshops on a variety of topics for public health departments throughout California and Nevada. Ms. Harrison recently co-authored an educational manual on preparing and planning disasters for Head Start administrators. Prior to her work with the UCLA Center, she worked for Santa Barbara County Public Health Department's Emergency Medical Services Department and a host of other governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Sandra Huang, MD, is the Director of the Communicable Disease Control Unit at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where she supervises surveillance, disease control, and epidemiologic response activities. Before joining the San Francisco Department of Public Health, she was the Chief of the Bioterrorism Epidemiology Section of the Infectious Diseases Branch at the California Department of Health Services. Dr. Huang was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, where she provided epidemiologic assistance to health departments in the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Pakistan. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and received her training at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is also a member of the clinical faculty.

Sonja Ingmanson, MPH, is a Project Coordinator and Staff Research Associate with the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters (http://www.cphd.ucla.edu). Her responsibilities include developing, coordinating and conducting a host of workshops on disaster-related topics. Ms. Ingmanson's previous work experience includes developing a bioterrorism curriculum manual for San Diego County Public Health Department and numerous research projects for the Institute for Public Health associated with San Diego State University.

Âna-Marie Jones is currently the Executive Director of Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters (CARD) (http://www.FirstVictims.org/), located in Alameda County, California. CARD coordinates, trains and supports community service organizations in disaster preparedness, response and recovery activities. Ms. Jones also serves on several emergency preparedness and response venues, including the Alameda County Bio-terrorism Planning Project, the Metropolitan Medical Response System (a terrorism response planning program for the City of Oakland), the Alameda County Operational Area Council, the San Leandro Disaster Council, the City of Oakland's Emergency Management Board, various emergency services associations, and the Statewide Emergency Volunteerism Advisory Group (SEVAG). Before joining CARD in April 2000, Ms. Jones worked for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services Coastal Region on projects supporting community organizations and people with special needs. She was also the acting Executive Director of the Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network, a 5-year funding initiative dedicated to creating emergency preparedness and response resources for vulnerable and special needs communities.

Michael Joseph, BA is a Consulting Communicable Disease Representative with California Department of Health Services Tuberculosis (TB) Control Branch. He has 14 years of experience in communicable disease control. His current responsibilities include providing consultation and assistance to local TB control programs. He has co-developed and facilitated TB trainings throughout California and nationally in the area of conducting patient interviews and contact investigations and has served as faculty for the Francis J. Curry National TB Center for three years. He has extensive experience conducting outbreak investigations in a variety of settings. Before coming to TB control, Michael worked for the San Francisco Department of Public Health Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program for six years as a Public Health Investigator. In that capacity, he performed disease control activities including field and contact investigations, surveillance, and patient and provider education.

Amy Khan, MD, MPH, is a medical epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who is currently assigned to the Nevada State Health Division. Dr. Khan’s principal activities are to assist the State of Nevada in the development of its public health infrastructure, specifically helping to enhance epidemiology and disease surveillance capacities, and strengthen its readiness in the event of a public health emergency. Dr. Khan holds her Medical Doctorate from Wayne State University School of Medicine and received her Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine as well as Preventive Medicine.

Brian Labus, MPH, received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Purdue University, and Masters of Public Health degree in infectious diseases from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a senior epidemiologist and epidemiology informatics specialist with the Clark County Health District in Las Vegas, NV. He is primarily responsible for overseeing surveillance of communicable diseases, including outbreak investigation and bioterrorism response, as well as information systems development and management.

Janice K. Louie, MD, MPH, is a medical officer with the Immunization Branch at the California Department of Health Services (CDHS). Her primary areas of interest include surveillance and response planning for influenza, pandemic influenza and smallpox. Before coming to CDHS, Dr. Louie worked for the CDC Emerging Infections Program on surveillance for SARS, severe unexplained pneumonia and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Her previous training includes completion of a Preventive Medicine Residency at UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco and an adult Infectious Disease fellowship at UC San Francisco, where her research focus was on the prevention and management of HIV in developing countries.

Janet Mohle-Boetani, MD, MPH, received her MD from Stanford Medical School, completed an internal medicine residency at Stanford Hospital and then completed the Epidemic Intelligence Service training at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She received her MPH from UC Berkeley and is board certified in public health and preventive medicine. For the past 14 years she has worked as a medical epidemiologist: at the CDC, in Santa Clara County, and for the California Department of Health Services. For the past 7 years she has been in the Infectious Diseases Branch of CDHS where she regularly conducts or supervises foodborne outbreak investigations.

Erica Pan, MD, MPH, is Director of the Bioterrorism and Infectious Disease Emergencies Unit and a medical epidemiologist at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH). She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC San Francisco. Before her current position, Dr. Pan worked for the SFPDH Communicable Disease Control Unit on outbreak investigations, field team planning, epidemiology and surveillance, disease control protocol development and training. Her previous training includes completion of a Pediatric residency and Pediatric Infectious Disease fellowship at UC San Francisco.

Lisa Pascopella, PhD, MPH, is the Assistant Section Chief of the Surveillance and Epidemiology Section of the California Department of Health Services Tuberculosis Control Branch. Her research training is in epidemiology and molecular genetics of pathogens. She supervises the work of epidemiologists, project coordinators, student volunteers, and project specialists. Current work is focused on using epidemiologic data to improve the practice of tuberculosis control in the state of California.

Tom Prendergast, MD, MPH, received his MD from the Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, MO and his MPH in Environmental Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina, School of Public Health. He recently retired as the Health Officer for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. Prior to that position, he served as the Deputy Assistant Director for the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Mark Riddle, MD, MPH, TM, earned his doctoral degree in medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana where during the same time he also completed his Masters’ in Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He spent the following 6 ½ years in the U.S. Navy training to become a board certified physician specializing in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. During his residency he also gained acceptance to the Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) program at the Uniformed Services University of Public Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland where is currently a candidate and is working to complete a dissertation on the topic of, An economic evaluation for the acquisition of a travelers’ diarrhea vaccine for deployed U.S. Military forces and other travelers overseas. His last assignment with the military was in the Enterics Diseases Program at the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Maryland where he worked on developing clinical trials of candidate vaccines and field studies in military and pediatric populations in Turkey and Egypt. He began his most recent position as the Director of the Epi Center at Washoe County District Health Department in January 2004, where he has been working to enhance epidemiological capacity and public health emergency preparedness at the local public health level.

Jon Rosenberg

Michael Samuel,DrP.H., is the Chief of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Section of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Branch, California Department of Health Services. He is responsible for oversight of the systems for collection, analysis, and dissemination of data on STDs in California. Previously he worked as a Medical Epidemiologist for the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) component of the California Emerging Infections Program where he directed foodborne disease outbreak investigations and collaborated on national case-control studies and surveillance projects. Prior to that, Dr. Samuel was in charge of HIV/AIDS Epidemiology for the State of New Mexico In New Mexico, he was also part of the infectious disease epidemiology team, and worked on zoonotic diseases, including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, plague, and rabies. He has assisted with international HIV/AIDS, biostatics, and related computer application trainings in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua and El Salvador and was in charge of the Swiss Federal AIDS Epidemiology Unit in Switzerland. Dr. Samuel's education includes B.S., M.P.H. and Dr.P.H. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, with emphasis on biostatistics and epidemiologic methods. His doctoral work was with Professor Warren Winkelstein on sexual transmission of HIV in the San Francisco Men's Health Study.

Christian Sandrock, MD

Kathleen Tully, RN, MSN, PHN, has been a Public Health Nurse for 28 years, the past 18 in Communicable Disease Control. She has been involved in Emergency Preparedness planning since 2001 including: grant writing; Flu Pandemic and Mass Vaccination/Prophylaxis Planning team leader; and staff training. She was one of four Public Health staff to provide initial response to the “White Powder Incidents” in San Joaquin County following the Anthrax outbreaks in the eastern U.S. and assisted in the development of response protocols and staff training for these incidents.

Ginger Wick, RN, PHN, MSN, has worked for the San Joaquin County Public Health Services for 28 years. She had 10 years of experience as a field PHN when they were generalists and provided services in Maternal Child, CD, TB clinic, and were also the school nurses. She became a Supervising PHN, supervising field PHNs for 8 years then transferred to managing the Public Health Clinic for a number of years. While there, she wrote the grant and then coordinated the immunization registry effort in San Joaquin County, Regional Immunization Data Exchange (RIDE). She then moved over to be the Immunization Coordinator for San Joaquin County and continued to coordinate the immunization registry that subsequently branched out to include a region of 7 surrounding counties. She coordinated the smallpox vaccination effort for the county in 2002-2003. In mid 2003 she transferred to be the Program Manager of MCAH, where she oversees all of the MCAH programs.

Jane Wong, M.S., is the Public Health Microbiologist with the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness. In December, 2002, Ms. Wong retired from the State of California Department of Health Services Microbial Diseases Laboratory after 32 years of service. In her last 13 years there, she served as supervisor of the Special Pathogens unit. Her laboratory worked closely with the FBI on various bioterrorism issues, including the testing for Bacillus anthracis in environmental specimens during the fall of 2001. She has authored or co-authored over 25 papers and book chapters, and contributed to the CDC protocols for the identification of bioterrorism agents in the clinical laboratory. She has a special interest in the causative agents of zoonotic diseases such as plague, tularemia and brucellosis. She has also taught microbiology at Vista Community College in Berkeley. She has a B.A. in biology from Brown University and an M.S. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia (1966-68), where she taught biology and chemistry (1966-1968).

Celia Woodfill