Posts classified under: People

Christina M. Ramirez, PhD

Christina M. Ramirez, PhD research interests generally relate to uncovering the mechanisms behind HIV and viral pathogenesis. To this end, Christina works closely with investigators in the clinical and basic sciences. Christina is particularly interested in drug resistance mutation/recombination, viral fitness and HIV co-receptor utilization. Christina works to develop methods to understand the evolutionary dynamics of gene regions under the selective pressure of the host immune system and antiretroviral. Christina also is interested in complex, high-dimensional data analysis where we have large p and small n.  This has led to the development of machine learning methods for complex data with correlation.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Shao, S., Henrique Ribeiro, P., Ramirez, C. M., & Moore, J. H. (2024). A review of feature selection strategies utilizing graph data structures and Knowledge Graphs. Briefings in bioinformatics, 25(6), bbae521.

2. Zhang, J., Sehl, M. E., Shih, R., Breen, E. C., Li, F., Lu, A. T., Bream, J. H., Duggal, P., Martinson, J., Wolinsky, S. M., Martinez-Maza, O., Ramirez, C. M., Horvath, S., & Jamieson, B. D. (2024). Effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy initiation on epigenomic DNA methylation in persons living with HIV. Frontiers in bioinformatics, 4, 1357889.

3. Sehl, M. E., Breen, E. C., Shih, R., Li, F., Zhang, J., Langfelder, P., Horvath, S., Bream, J. H., Duggal, P., Martinson, J., Wolinsky, S. M., Martinez-Maza, O., Ramirez, C. M., & Jamieson, B. D. (2024). Decreased but persistent epigenetic age acceleration is associated with changes in T-cell subsets after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy in persons living with HIV. Frontiers in bioinformatics, 4, 1356509.

 

Last updated: 11/25/2025

Cherie Blair MD, PhD

Cherie Blair MD, PhD is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she specializes in Infectious Diseases. She went to medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at UCLA. During her fellowship training, she participated in the UCLA STAR program where she obtained a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her interests include sexually transmitted infections, HIV prevention, substance use, and public health. Currently, her research is primarily focused on the impacts of substance use and sexually transmitted infections on systemic and mucosal inflammation. She is a clinical provider at the UCLA CARE Center, where she focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV and other STIs.

Contact email: CherieBlair@mednet.ucla.edu 

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Blair, C., & David, H. M. (2025). Evaluating Linkage to Care Among Patients With HIV Viremia in Los Angeles, California. Cureus, 17(9), e91612.

2. Blair, C. S., Cambou, M. C., & Landovitz, R. J. (2025). Update on HIV Chemoprevention. Annual review of medicine, 76(1), 43–56.

3. Blair, C. S., & Shoptaw, S. J. (2024). Managing Stimulant Use Among People With HIV: Harm-Reduction Strategies From Behavior to Medication. Topics in antiviral medicine, 32(5), 571–578.

 

Last updated: 11/18/2025

Chelsea L. Shover, PhD

Chelsea L. Shover, PhD is an epidemiologist and Assistant Professor-in-Residence at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research. She completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles and a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Her research focuses on substance use, infectious disease, and their shared social and structural risk factors. Her 2019 study on the changed association between cannabis laws and opioid overdose mortality was named among that year’s top 10 Proceeding of the National Academy of Science papers contributing to public understanding of science. She co-authored a report published in The Lancet: “Responding to the opioid crisis in North America and beyond: recommendations of the Stanford–Lancet Commission.” Alongside her academic work, she has served as an epidemiologist in government and non-profit positions, most recently as Supervising Epidemiologist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 response in homeless shelters and encampments. Supported by a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, her lab’s current projects include methods to use rapidly available overdose data to inform public health policy, as well as community-based implementation of harm reduction strategies. Using medical examiner data, her team has identified key local drug supply changes (i.e., fentanyl’s westward spread; xylazine’s increasing presence in various markets) and then worked with policymakers and community organizations to improve on-the-ground overdose prevention.

CV: Chelsea Shover CV - May 2022

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Friedman, J. R., Palamar, J. J., Ciccarone, D., Gaines, T. L., Borquez, A., Shover, C. L., & Strathdee, S. A. (2025). Characterizing Declines in US Overdose Deaths Compared to Exponential Predictions. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences, 2025.10.24.25338732.

2. Bejarano-Romero, R., Sánchez-Lira, J. A., Rafful, C., Pitpitan, E. V., Esparza-Méndez, L. E., Poimboeuf, M., Shover, C. L., & Goodman-Meza, D. (2025). Exploring potential underestimates in fatal overdose mortality across major metropolitan areas in Mexico between 2005 and 2019. BMC public health, 25(1), 3912.

3. Harel-Canada, F., Salimian, A., Moghanian, B., Clingan, S., Nguyen, A., Avra, T., Poimboeuf, M., Romero, R., Funnell, A., Petousis, P., Shin, M., Peng, N., Shover, C. L., & Goodman-Meza, D. (2025). Enhancing substance use detection in clinical notes with large language models. Drug and alcohol dependence, 276, 112888. Advance online publication.

 

Last updated: 11/25/2025

Amanda Miller, PhD, MS

Dr. Amanda Miller has been conducting HIV and substance use research since 2010. She received her doctorate from University of California, San Diego (UCSD), her masters from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and she is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Miller’s research primarily focuses on the synergy between alcohol use, experiences of intimate partner violence and HIV. Her dissertation research examined how alcohol use and intimate partner violence impact HIV care and treatment outcomes in Uganda. Her postdoctoral research is focused on addressing perinatal alcohol use among pregnant and breastfeeding women who are at high risk of HIV infection of living with HIV in South Africa. She is also co-investigator on a study to assess the feasibility of integrating point of care syphilis testing into routine antenatal care in Uganda and has ongoing mental health research at the same study site aimed at characterizing drivers of poor mental health and substance use and identifying gaps in mental health literacy in this setting to inform adaptation of interventions to address these issues.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Saham, N., Miller, A. P., Mugamba, S., Thomas, T., Magada, B., Wynn, A., Ddaaki, W., Kyasanku, E., Bulamba, R., Olwa, V. O., Nkale, J., Kigozi, G., Nalugoda, F., Kigozi, G. N., Daama, A., Nakigozi, G., & Wagman, J. A. (2025). Barriers to Routine Antenatal Syphilis Screening in Uganda: Provider Perspectives and Practices. Global qualitative nursing research, 12, 23333936251375457.

2. Bulamba, R. M., Kyasanku, E., Nalugoda, F., Daama, A., Nkale, J., Miller, A. P., Byansi, W., Namutundu, J., Kigozi, G., Nalwoga, G. K., Balwanaki, C., Watya, S., Ekström, A. M., Mugamba, S., Ndejjo, R., & Nakigozi, G. (2025). Assessing Knowledge, Uptake and Factors associated with cervical cancer screening among women in selected communities of Wakiso district in Uganda: A population-based study. PloS one, 20(9), e0317641.

3. Kiene, S. M., Miller, A. P., Ediau, M., Tuhebwe, D., Sileo, K. M., Naigino, R., Hahn, J. A., Reed, E., Anecho, A., Mukasa, B., Lin, C. D., Wanyenze, R. K., & Tumwesigye, N. M. (2025). A pilot randomized controlled trial of Kisoboka, a behavioral economic and motivational interviewing intervention to reduce high-risk alcohol use and improve antiretroviral therapy adherence for men in Uganda. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 10.1111/add.70169. Advance online publication.

 

Last updated: 11/21/2025

Edgar Enrique Sanchez, MPH

Edgar Enrique Sanchez, MPH, serves as the CHIPTS Core Coordinator. Responsibilities include supporting center-wide communications (maintaining the CHIPTS website, email listservs, and social media accounts); collecting and organizing information for evaluating center-related activities; supporting center data compilation and literature reviews; and providing administrative and coordination support for center events and meetings. Prior to working with CHIPTS, Mr. Sanchez provided administrative support to both government agencies and local non-profit organizations in Los Angeles County. He is heavily involved in community outreach, having promoted health education on a series of health challenges: Type 2 Diabetes, Leukemia & Lymphoma, and most recently COVID-19. He is a recent graduate from California State University – Los Angeles and has a Masters in Public Health.

Contact: EESanchez@mednet.ucla.edu

Gabriel Edwards, MD, MPH

Gabriel Edwards, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Project Scientist at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. His work centers around studying mobile peer-based service navigation interventions to reduce risk of HIV, STIs, and recidivism among the recently incarcerated. He leads efforts by the Policy Impact Core to disseminate CHIPTS investigators’ research findings to policymakers and policy advocates. Prior to his position at UCLA, he completed a post-doc year at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he focused on mental health care transitions for people with serious medical illness leaving the hospital. He earned his BA at University California, Berkeley, MD at Oregon Health & Science University, and most recently his MPH at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

 

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Schrode, K. M., Edwards, G. G., Moghanian, B., Weiss, R. E., Reback, C. J., McWells, C., Hilliard, C. L., & Harawa, N. T. (2025). Randomized Controlled Trial Testing an HIV/STI Prevention Intervention Among People Leaving Incarceration Who Were Assigned Male at Birth, Have Sex with Men and A Substance Use Disorder. AIDS and behavior, 29(12), 3806–3821.

2. Edwards, G. G., Moghanian, B., Reback, C. J., Schrode, K. M., Weiss, R. E., & Harawa, N. T. (2025). Comparing PrEP use among men who have sex with men with a recent incarceration history. AIDS care, 37(5), 709–719.

3. Edwards, G. G., Miyashita-Ochoa, A., Castillo, E. G., Goodman-Meza, D., Kalofonos, I., Landovitz, R. J., Leibowitz, A. A., Pulsipher, C., El Sayed, E., Shoptaw, S., Shover, C. L., Tabajonda, M., Yang, Y. S., & Harawa, N. T. (2023). Long-Acting Injectable Therapy for People with HIV: Looking Ahead with Lessons from Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. AIDS and behavior, 27(1), 10–24.

 

Last updated: 11/18/2025

Paul Adamson, MD

Paul Adamson MD, MPH is a Clinical Instructor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he specializes in Infectious Diseases. He went to medical school at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He completed fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at UCLA. His interests include public health, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV prevention. Currently, his research is primarily focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of STIs among key populations in global health settings, with an emphasis in antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. He also participates in a variety of COVID-19 related research and advocacy projects. He is a clinical provider at the UCLA CARE Center, where he focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV and other STIs.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Biba, U., Bui, H. T. M., Nguyen, L. T., Dang, H. T., Bui, T. T., Nguyen, T. C., Dau, N. S., Pham, L. Q., Giang, L. M., & Adamson, P. C. (2025). Field evaluation of a dual treponemal/non-treponemal point-of-care test for syphilis within an HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis programme in Hanoi, Vietnam. Sexually transmitted infections, sextrans-2025-056652. Advance online publication.

2. Setrakian, N., Bui, H. T. M., Adamson, P. C., Hoang, T. N., Gorbach, P. M., & Giang, L. M. (2025). Impact of changing pre-exposure prophylaxis regimens on retention among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam (2020-2023): a cohort study. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 28 Suppl 2(Suppl 2), e26478.

3. Adamson, P. C., Bui, H. T. M., Pham, L. Q., Truong, P. T., Le, N. T., Le, G. M., & Klausner, J. D. (2025). Routine testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea in an HIV preexposure prophylaxis program in Hanoi, Vietnam: implications for low- and middle-income countries. AIDS (London, England), 39(9), 1152–1160.

 

Last updated: 11/18/2025

Alex Dubov, PhD

Alex (Oleksandr) Dubov, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Health and Bioethics at Loma Linda University. He earned his PhD in Bioethics from Duquesne University, where his thesis investigated the use of Behavioral Economics to facilitate crucial choices at the end of life. He has worked at Emory University Hospital as a Palliative Care Counselor and at Florida Hospital as a Certified Healthcare Ethics Consultant. Dr. Dubov completed his postdoctoral training at Yale School of Public Health Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS as a REIDS fellow (Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars). At Yale, he was awarded a grant to design a public health HIV prevention program based on preferences of Ukrainian LGBT. This research was also supported by the USAID fund and presented to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health. His research interests are in leveraging new and emerging technologies as innovative approaches for supporting the implementation of combination (biomedical, behavioral, and health system) interventions to prevent HIV infection among groups that are epidemiologically at high-risk for infection and whose prevention needs are complicated by their socially marginalized statuses in their communities.

Contact: adubov@llu.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Dubov, A., Basenko, A., Dymaretskyi, O., & Shoptaw, S. (2024). Impact of the Russian invasion on opioid agonist therapy programs in Ukraine: A qualitative study. Drug and alcohol dependence, 255, 111069.

2. Dubov, A., Altice, F. L., Gutierrez, J. I., Wickersham, J. A., Azwa, I., Kamarulzaman, A., Gautam, K., & Shrestha, R. (2023). Pre-exposure prophylaxis service among men who have sex with men in Malaysia: findings from a discrete choice experiment. Scientific reports, 13(1), 14200.

3. Dubov, A., Krakower, D. S., Rockwood, N., Montgomery, S., & Shoptaw, S. (2023). Provider Implicit Bias in Prescribing HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to People Who Inject Drugs. Journal of general internal medicine, 38(13), 2928–2935.

 

Last updated: 11/19/2025

Dvora Joseph Davey, MPH, PhD

Dr. Dvora Joseph Davey’s research focuses on how best to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in peri-conception, pregnant women and couples. She has expertise in study design and use of epidemiological methods to inform interventions aimed at reducing the burden of HIV and related diseases on women, children, and families. Most recently, she is examining the combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches to HIV prevention among vulnerable populations. Dr. Joseph Davey is currently an Associate Professor (In Residence) in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Geffen School of Medicine and in the Department of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa where she holds an Honorary Associate Professor Position at the University of Cape Town, South Africa School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is the PI of several NIH funded clinical trial and implementation science studies to evaluate how best to integrate PrEP and STI care into antenatal and postpartum care. She has been involved in research in Southern Africa since 2003 where she has developed and evaluated donor-funded epidemiological studies to inform effective, culturally relevant interventions aimed at reducing the burden of HIV and related diseases on women, children, and families. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Dr. Joseph Davey was a Country Director and Technical Director for an NGO implementing HIV prevention and treatment programs in Mozambique. Dr. Joseph Davey completed her PhD in Epidemiology at UCLA and her MPH from Columbia University in Population and Family Health.

Contact: djosephdavey@mednet.ucla.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Chen-Charles, J., De Vos, L., Vundhla, P., Gebengu, A., Rousseau, E., Bekker, L. G., Peters, R., Mussa, A., Morroni, C., Toska, E., Babalola, C. M., Klausner, J. D., & Davey, D. J. (2025). Correction: Empowering Women’s PrEP Choices: Qualitative Insights into Long-Acting PrEP Preferences and Decision-Making during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in South Africa and Botswana. AIDS and behavior, 10.1007/s10461-025-04925-2. Advance online publication.

2. Bekker, L. G., Joseph Davey, D., & Saidi, F. (2025). Two for two: lenacapavir during pregnancy and lactation. Lancet (London, England), 406(10512), 1560–1561.

3. Rotsaert, A., Essack, Z., Bosman, S., Davey, D. J., & Hensen, B. (2025). Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis initiation, continuation and adherence among pregnant and postpartum women receiving antenatal and postnatal care: a systematic review. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 28 Suppl 5(Suppl 5), e70035.

 

Last updated: 11/18/2025

Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, PhD

Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, PhD is a professor of clinical psychology and Director of the Global Center for Children and Families at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Her research interests include HIV/AIDS prevention with adolescents, children and family wellness, assessment and modification of children’s social skills, suicide among adolescents and homeless youths. Dr. Rotheram-Borus has spent the past 30 years developing, evaluating, and disseminating evidence-based interventions for children and families. She has directed and implemented several landmark intervention studies that have demonstrated the benefits of providing behavior change programs and support to families in risky situations. Several of these programs have received national and international recognition. She mounted and evaluated multiple interventions which have been selected and reviewed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Psychological Association (APA) as efficacious programs. She founded the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) at UCLA in 1998 and served as its Director from 1998-2016. She currently serves as an expert advisor to the CHIPTS senior leadership team.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Christodoulou, J., Asarnow, L. D., Norwood, P. P., Yalch, M., Vogel, S. L., & Tomlinson, M. (2025). The relationship of sleep problems between eight-year-old South African children and their mothers. Journal of global health, 15, 04122.

2. Arnold, E. M., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Christodoulou, J., Yalch, M. M., Murphy, D. A., Norwood, P., Comulada, W. S., Swendeman, D., & ATN CARES Team (2025). Increasing Sustained Viral Suppression Among Youth Living with HIV: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Stepped Care Intervention. AIDS and behavior, 29(7), 2287–2298.

3. Ma, A. M., Lewis, K. A., Wani, M., Liu, C., Ghalambor, S., Yuva Raju, R., Wong, C., Swendeman, D., ATN CARES Study Team, Abdalian, S. E., Arnold, E., Bolan, R., Bryson, Y., Chaplin, A., Comulada, W. S., Cortado, R., Donahue, C., Fernandez, M. I., Flynn, R., Fournier, J., … Urauchi, S. (2025). Online Peer Support for Youth at Higher Risk of or Living with HIV: A Qualitative Content Analysis. AIDS and behavior, 29(7), 2135–2143.

 

Last updated: 11/25/2025

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