Conference Speakers 2010
(Click Name to View Bio)

Dr. Tilles is the Director of the AIDS Education and Training Center, Professor Emeritus in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, Irvine, and Chair for the California Chapter American College of Physicians.  Dr. Tilles is the PI responsible for the oversight and operation for the UC Irvine site of the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center. He is a professor of medicine, microbiology and molecular genetics.  He has been serving on the Orange County HIV Planning Council since 2001 and fulfills the mandated membership category of Hospital Planning Agency or Health Care Planning Agency.

Michelle Roland, MD, was appointed Chief of the Office of AIDS (OA) in the Center for Infectious Diseases, California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on July 1, 2007.

Dr. Roland’s background, experience, skills, and interests prepared her well to accept the position as Chief of OA. She has participated in the many “worlds” of HIV as a friend, volunteer, advocate, doctor, researcher, teacher, and policy maker.

Prior to joining CDPH/OA, Dr. Roland worked as a physician for over ten years in the HIV/AIDS Program (“Ward 86”) at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco (SFGH/UCSF).  She remains committed to her HIV/AIDS clinical practice, working there one-half a day per week.  She received her medical training at University of California, Davis, and completed a three-year primary care internal medicine residency program in 1997 at SFGH/UCSF.

Dr. Roland’s HIV/AIDS policy work has included several advisory roles such as serving on OA’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program Medical Advisory Committee, serving as Public Policy Chair of the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and consulting with the World Health Organization to develop international post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) guidelines. 

Dr. Roland is a researcher committed to evidence-based practice, developing important research questions and implementing studies with practical clinical and prevention implications.  Her areas of research interest include:  1) HIV prevention utilizing PEP following consensual sexual exposures and sexual assault, combined with comprehensive behavioral and psychosocial interventions; and 2) evaluating the safety and efficacy of kidney and liver transplants for people with HIV. 

At OA, Dr. Roland continues her work to develop collaborations, facilitate communication, and ensure that OA’s work is of the utmost relevance.

Calvin J. Cohen, M.D., M.Sc., is the Director of Research at Community Research Initiative of New England. In addition, he is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Staff Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Research Director at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. Dr. Cohen's research interests include the study and antiviral treatment of HIV/AIDS and related topics. He has served as co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the AmFAR Community-Based Clinical Trial Network and was a co-investigator of the Harvard AIDS Clinical Trial Unit. Dr. Cohen is currently a co-principal investigator of the New England AIDS Education and Training Center, and is a member of the Executive Committee of INSIGHT, an NIH-supported network of clinician-researchers. His articles are published in Annals of Internal Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, and The Lancet. Dr. Cohen is the recipient of the Outstanding Physicians Award for his work at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care - Robert H. Ebert Teaching Award, the Community Recognition Award from the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, the Upjohn Award for Excellence in Medical Training, and the Wainwright Bank Social Justice Award.

Dr. Cohen earned his B.A. degree at Cornell University, his M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and his M.Sc. at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Trevor Hawkins, MD received his MD from Manchester University in the UK in 1971 and did postgraduate work at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He left for India in 1975 where for 6 years he was the Medical Director of a small, 50 bed Hospital with a large OP population.

He saw his first patient with HIV disease in 1986 in the USA and thus started his lifelong interest in HIV disease.
He is the founder and Medical Director of the Southwest CARE Center, an HIV specialty clinic serving Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.

He is an associate clinical professor IN THE Dept. Family Practice at UNM where he teaches residents and fellows about HIV and is heavily involved in clinical research into HIV disease with a particular interest in Pharmacokinetics.
He is the recipient of numerous awards for services to people with HIV disease in his community.

Glenn J. Treisman, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of AIDS Psychiatry Services at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and professor of medicine and psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Dr. Treisman, who has been described as the "father of AIDS psychiatry," describes the relationship between psychiatric disorders and HIV/AIDS and demonstrates the ways in which effective recognition and treatment of mental disorders can increase a patient's ability to obtain better treatment, improve compliance with medical regimens, and reduce incidents of high-risk behavior

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Since 2002, Dr. Amy Sitapati has been working at academic Ryan White Part C (Title III) programs. Her experience working with communities of minority sexual orientations, refugees, native African immigrants, Mexican border populations, and urban blacks, has enabled her to recognize the complex social barriers unique to each group. She has become increasingly involved in teaching at a local and international level, in using media to improve the knowledge of the community and in serving as a patient advocate. Her research interests have focused on anal dysplasia, women of color living with HIV, and routine HIV screening. In 2005, Dr. Sitapati established The Center for Infectious Disease Management and Research (CIDMAR), a new Ryan White Part C center of excellence dedicated to the provision of culturally competent, state of the art HIV medical care to its 225 patients. As CIDMAR’s Medical Director, she developed a multi-disciplinary practice that provides primary medical care and HIV testing. In June of 2007, she met with the First Lady, Mrs. Laura Bush, to discuss the first hospital-wide routine HIV screening program in the Nation. In October 2007, Dr. Sitapati returned to the Owen Clinic at the University of California, San Diego to continue her vision to provide exceptional medical care; serve as an instructor for students and residents; develop and deliver clinical research; and design a strong infrastructure to support a world class HIV practice. As an active primary care internist, she is dedicated to serving patients living with HIV in her community as well as throughout the world.

Sexual health psychotherapist, trainer and author Douglas Braun-Harvey bridges sexual and mental health and facilitates individual, group and organizational change. Through his psychotherapy, training, writing and consultation, HIV infected women and men discover, develop, implement and maintain their unique vision for sexual health. Douglas trains principles of sexual health within a wide range of health and human services including drug and alcohol treatment, psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, HIV prevention and treatment, sexual abuse and maltreatment, family court services and OCSB.

Doug Braun-Harvey led a ten state wide regional training days for the California State Office of AIDS Early Intervention Programs. Thirty-six early intervention projects in 41 California counties provide a coordinated comprehensive interdisciplinary service for women and men HIV infected or at high risk for acquiring an HIV infection. The Early Intervention Program (EIP) provides medical, transmission risk reduction, psychosocial, health education and case management services for youth and adults with a targeted focus on infected persons at high risk for transmitting HIV and to assist HIV infected persons from marginalized populations.

Marvin E. Belzer , M.D., FACP, is an associate professor of clinical pediatrics and medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine. He graduated from medical school at USC in 1986. He completed his internship and residency at the University of California Irvine in primary care internal medicine. He completed his fellowship in adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in 1991. Since 1991, Dr. Belzer has been the medical director of the Risk Reduction Program, and he is the Director at the Division of Adolescent Medicine since 2009. Dr. Belzer has one of the largest adolescent HIV clinics in the western United States. He has developed a clinical research program that is engaged in large multisite clinical trials for youth infected with HIV. Current research network affiliations include the Adolescent HIV/AIDS Trails Network and the IMPAACT network. Dr. Belzer is involved in multiple studies evaluating medication adherence. He also is involved in HIV prevention studies for high-risk adolescent populations.

Judith Daar, JD is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Whittier Law School, where she was named the Harry S. Zekian Scholar in 2008. She also holds the appointment of Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California Irvine, School of Medicine. Dean Daar’s course coverage includes classes in Health Law, Bioethics, Reproductive Technologies, Property, and Wills & Trusts. Dean Daar is the current President of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, having been first elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2010.

In 2008, she was appointed to the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. In 2007, she was appointed to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Committee on Informed Consent in ART. In 2005, Dean Daar became that year’s Chair of the Association of American Law School’s Section on Law, Medicine and Health Care. She is a member of the UCI Medical Center Medical Ethics Committee, where she serves on the Bioethics Consultation Team. Since 1986, Dean Daar has been the chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Bioethics Committee, Subcommittee on Reproductive Issues. She has also served as a member of the Harbor-UCLA Hospital Institutional Review Board, and the ABA Coordinating Group on Bioethics. Dean Daar has lectured extensively in the field of reproductive medicine, including giving testimony to the National Academies of Science, Committee on Science, Technology, and Law. Her scholarship focuses in the area of reproductive technologies where she has authored numerous articles on topics including stem cell research, human cloning, frozen embryo disputes, prenatal genetic technologies, and the regulation of reproductive medicine.

Her book, REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND THE LAW, was published in January 2006. Her forthcoming book, THE NEW EUGENICS: SELECTIVE BREEDING IN AN ERA OF REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE, will be published by Yale University Press.

Laveeza Bhatti, MD, Ph D is an Infectious Disease Specialist at the Westside Healthcare Center. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Subspecialty Board in Infectious Diseases. Dr. Bhatti specializes in HIV care and infectious diseases and is a leading researcher and educator.  In addition to conducting research, she has been an educator at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the UCLA School of Medicine.  Her research in cellular immunology and virology has been published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Cellular Immunology, The Faseb Journal, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Journal of Virology.  Her work has been awarded and recognized by the World Health Organization, and the American Association of University Women.  Dr. Bhatti has received further recognition from King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan.  She has conducted several international trainings and provided clinical mentorship for doctors treating HIV in China, Uganda and South Africa.  She is currently a Clinical Instructor at the UCLA School of Medicine and Director of one of the largest Hep C/HIV Co-infection clinics on the west coast.

Dr. Bhatti received her medical degree from the King Edward Medical College and her Ph.D in microbiology and immunology from the UCLA School of Medicine.

Tom Donohoe, MBA, is director and principal investigator for the UCLA/Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC) and is an assistant adjunct professor of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is also associate director of the UCLA Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. He has worked with the UCLA PAETC since 1990 and has served as volunteer bilingual faculty and helped organize over 20 HIV/AIDS training programs in more than 15 states in the Republic of Mexico. In 2002 he helped organize UMBAST, the US/Mexico Border AETC Steering Team with the Texas/Oklahoma and Mountain Plains AETCs, and the National Resource Center (NRC). UMBAST currently coordinates US/Mexico border HIV training efforts and includes the website www.aetcborderhealth.org.

Tom has been honored for his volunteer work by more than a dozen Mexican cities, states and non-governmental agencies and received special recognition from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his commitment and dedication to the field of HIV mental health and substance abuse and his work with the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Mental Health Task Force in Los Angeles.  In August, 2006 he received the Ryan White Care Act AETC leadership award in Washington DC.  

Yvonne Bryson, MD, is invited around the world to speak about her research involving mother-to-child HIV transmission. Dr. Bryson is professor of pediatrics and chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Her funded research currently involves developing clinical trials of new treatments for children with HIV infection and continued work on the mechanisms of mother-to-child transmission. She is a member of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the U.S. Public Health Service Maternal Child HIV Task Force.

Dr. Bryson was one of the investigators who studied Nevirapine, an anti-HIV drug that slows down and helps prevent damage to the immune system. Her studies in the late 1990s demonstrated that Nevirapine also reduces AIDS transmission from mothers to their unborn children. Today, the drug remains a primary treatment for preventing maternal-fetal transmission.

Fariba Younai, DDS, is a clinical professor of oral medicine in the Division of Oral Biology & Medicine at the UCLA School of Dentistry. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Division. She serves as the director of the Oral Medicine & Orofacial Pain Faculty Practice and the Oral Diagnosis teaching clinic at the UCLA Dental Center. Dr. Younai’s research interests are related to oral health issues among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). More specifically, she has studied patterns of oral disease in high-risk for HIV populations, the socioeconomic determinants of access to oral health care and the degree and nature of service utilization by PLWHA. Dr. Younai is a faculty of the American Academy of HIV Medicine and has developed the oral health curriculum for physicians specializing in HIV Medicine. She has been involved in the development of Dental Treatment Guidelines for HIV positive patients published by the New York State Department of Health and the Standards developed by the American Dental Association. At the local level, she has played a significant role in the creation and implementation of HIV medical care coordination framework in Los Angeles County.

Sharla Smith is the HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Consultant with the California Department of Education since April 2005. In this position, she is responsible for ensuring that the California Education Code regarding HIV/AIDS prevention education and comprehensive sexual health education is implemented in accordance with the law. Previously, she was the STD Community Interventions Program (SCIP) Regional Health Education Coordinator for the 22 Northern California counties for the California Department of Public Health STD Control Branch. In this position she provided consultation, training and technical assistance on matters relating to the primary prevention of STDs and community health education. She was also a behavioral trainer for the California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center. Since 1989, Sharla has implemented health education projects in the area of sexual and reproductive health with a special interest in adolescents and young adults. Prior to working for the STD Control Branch, Sharla was the acting health education director for the University of Michigan. Sharla began her career in public health while still an undergraduate at the University of California, Davis as the coordinator for the Peer Counselors in Sexuality Program. She has an MPH from the University of Michigan.

Dr Hurwitz is board-certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a leader in Southern California specializing in advanced, minimally invasive techniques.  His reputation for excellence results from years of training and dedication to the compassionate care of his patients.  Following graduation from Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans, Dr. Hurwitz completed residency, chief residency and surgical oncology fellowship training in the renowned General Surgery training program at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California.  He later took additional fellowship training in Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery at the University of Southern California, before entering practice in Newport Beach, California.

A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American College of Phlebology (the professional organization dedicated to the science and advancement of vein treatment), Dr. Hurwitz is also a leader in the medical community, serving as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach.  He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Medical Association, and has been selected as a Delegate to the California Medical Association House of Delegates, an organization advocating for the betterment of health care.