Postdoctoral Trainees.

BITA AMANI. Amani received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a M.H.S. in Reproductive Biology from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene & Public Health. She completed her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009. Her dissertation focused on the intersection between Sexually Transmitted Disease and Obesity among US Young Adults. Through the lens of HIV, her primary research focus is to examine the relationship between methodological biases and social constructions of groups based on race, gender, sexuality and class. Her primary HIV scientific mentor is Mary Jane Rotheram.

EVE GARROW. Garrow is in her second year of training.  She received a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.S.W. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed her Ph.D. in Social Welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Her dissertation focused on the effects of government funding on the delivery of nonprofit human services to vulnerable populations. She specializes in the application of organizational theory to nonprofit human services, and on the relationship between the public, private and nonprofit sectors.  Her primary HIV scientific mentor is Professor Oscar Grusky.

PREDOCTORAL TRAINEES
 
FELICIA DE LA GARZA MERCER. Received a National Research Service Award (NRSA) from NIMH in 2008 and completed her doctoral exams in June 2009. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Brown University in 2004, and her M.A. in Psychology from UCLA in 2005.  She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Clinical Psychology (with a minor in Quantitative Methods) from UCLA, as well.  Her primary research interests are HIV and STIs in women and couples, female sexuality, romantic relationships, and psychoneuroimmunology.  Her HIV scientific mentors are Dr. Hector Myers and Dr. Gail Wyatt, and her primary psychology advisor is Dr. Andrew Christensen.

GABRIEL N. STOVER. Stover is in her second year of training. She received her BA in Women’s Studies from San Francisco State University in 1994, her MPA in Health Policy Analysis from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service in 1999, and is working on her PhD in Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at UCLA.  Her interests include health care seeking behavior, high risk adolescents, STI/HIV prevention, and CBPR and evaluation methods.  Her main HIV/AIDS scientific mentor is Dr. Marguerita Lightfoot and Dr. Deborah Glik is her CHS advisor.

HARMONY RHOADES. Rhoades is in her third year of training.  She received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego in 2003 and her M.A. in Sociology from UCLA in 2005.  She is currently working on a joint articulated degree program toward both the Ph.D. in Sociology and the M.S. in Epidemiology at UCLA, and recently advanced to candidacy in the Sociology Ph.D. program.  She has served as a research assistant on the 'Organizational Factors in the Early Detection of HIV' study (RO1-MH62709 - PI O. Grusky), and her dissertation work utilizes this dataset to examine the association between organizational context and HIV testing outcomes.  Her primary research focuses on HIV/AIDS, but her research interests include the intersection of numerous social and biological factors that may influence health outcomes, including features of the environment, culture, gender, sexuality, and reproduction.  Her primary HIV scientific mentor is Professor Oscar Grusky.

KIYOMI TSUYUKI. Tsuyuki is in her second year of training.  She received her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2000 and her M.P.H. in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2003.  She is currently working on a Ph.D. in Community Health Sciences with a minor in Social Demography at UCLA. Her primary research focuses on HIV/AIDS, fertility, sexual and reproductive health, gender, and race. Her geographic areas of interest include Latin America and Brazil in particular. She is currently exploring the life course perspective and the influence of eco-social and relationship factors on dual protection among women living with HIV/AIDS in Brazil. Her primary HIV scientific mentor is Dr. Tom Belin and her CHS advisor is Dr. Donald Morisky.

RACHEL L. KAPLAN. Kaplan is in her second year of training.  She received her B.A. in English at James Madison University in 1999 and her MPH from The George Washington University in 2005. Previously Kaplan was Research Coordinator and then Middle East region Program Coordinator at the Women's Global Health Imperative (WGHI) formerly at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and now at Research Triangle Institute.  She is the Executive Director for the Global Network of Researchers on HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa and her interests include qualitative methods, human rights, gender issues, and women's health within the context of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East. She is now a candidate for the Ph.D. in Social Welfare at UCLA. Her primary HIV scientific mentor is Dr. Tom Coates and her Ph.D. Committee Chair is Professor Laura Abrams.