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:

Lois Takahashi, PhD, is a UCLA Luskin professor emeritus who’s research focuses on public and social service delivery to vulnerable populations in the U.S. and in Southeast Asian cities. Her expertise spans several issues, including homelessness and HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles, community opposition directed at social services (the NIMBY syndrome) in the U.S., social capital and health for vulnerable populations, and environmental governance in the U.S. and Southeast Asian cities.

She is currently investigating the dynamics of social capital, especially related to health in impoverished and marginalized communities. Her environmental governance research (with her collaborators Amrita Daniere and Jeffrey Carpenter) has investigated the role of low-income residents and non-governmental organizations in environmental management and policy making in Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Javier, J. R., & Takahashi, L. M. (2024). Anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Racism in Academic Pediatrics: Recommendations for Training, Research, and Clinical Practice. Academic pediatrics, 24(7S), S147–S151. h

2. Chin, J. J., Forbes, N., Lim, S., & Takahashi, L. M. (2024). Correlates of HIV Testing Among Asian Immigrant Female Sex Workers in New York City and Los Angeles County. AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education, 36(3), 182–197.

3. Voisin, D. R., Takahashi, L., Walsh, J. L., DiFranceisco, W., Johnson, A., Dakin, A., Bouacha, N., Brown, K., & Quinn, K. G. (2024). An exploratory study of community violence and HIV care engagement among Black gay and bisexual men. AIDS care, 1–8. Advance online publication.

Last updated: 1/17/2025

Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, JD, is an Adjunct Professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare. She serves as Associate Director of the Southern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center which brings the most relevant and timely evidence to bear on California’s efforts to develop and maintain efficient, cost-effective, and accessible programs and services to people living with or at risk for HIV. Ayako’s interests focus on HIV-related health disparities at the intersection of race/ethnicity, sexual and gender identity, and migrant status. Prior to her position at Luskin, she served as a Director in the Clinical and Experiential Learning department of UCLA School of Law. Ayako taught courses focused on HIV law and policy and, as a licensed attorney, she directed the Los Angeles HIV Law and Policy Project (LA HLPP), a legal services collaborative dedicated to addressing the unmet legal needs of primarily low-income people living with HIV in Los Angeles County.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Beltran, R. M., Hunter, L. A., Packel, L. J., De Martini, L., Holloway, I. W., Dong, B. J., Lam, J., McCoy, S. I., & Ochoa, A. M. (2024). A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Pharmacists’ Readiness to Provide Long-Acting Injectable HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in California. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 97(2), 142–149.

2. Cohen, C., Hunter, L. A., Beltran, R. M., Serpico, J., Packel, L., Ochoa, A. M., McCoy, S. I., & Conron, K. J. (2024). Willingness of Pharmacists to Prescribe Medication Abortion in California. JAMA network open, 7(4), e246018.

3. Hunter, L. A., Packel, L. J., Chitle, P., Beltran, R. M., Rafie, S., De Martini, L., Dong, B., Harris, O., Holloway, I. W., Miyashita Ochoa, A., & McCoy, S. I. (2023). Opportunities to Increase Access to HIV Prevention: Evaluating the Implementation of Pharmacist-Initiated Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in California. Open forum infectious diseases, 10(11), ofad549.

Last updated: 1/16/2025

Latoya Small, MSW, PhD, focuses on health disparities, specifically, the intersection of mental health, treatment adherence, and HIV among women and children in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa in her research. Her global research addresses the urgent need for theory-driven, empirically-informed, and sustainable psychosocial HIV treatment approaches for perinatally HIV-infected youth in South Africa.

In the U.S., Dr. Small examines how poverty-related stress, parenting, and mental health interact and relatedly impact adherence in HIV medical services among Black and Latina mothers in urban communities. An extension of her work examining vulnerable youth includes mental health and discrimination among transgender young people.

Dr. Small takes a collaborative approach in her scholarship, recognizing that traditional intra-disciplinary boundaries can impede the development of effective and sustainable research interventions. Her work aims to produce accessible, evidence-informed interventions that bolster youth development and maternal health.

Contact: lsmall@luskin.ucla.edu

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Byansi, W., Sensoy Bahar, O., Small, L., Namatovu, P., Nabayinda, J., Kiyingi, J., Mwebembezi, A., Nakigozi, G., Hoagwood, K., McKay, M. M., & Ssewamala, F. M. (2024). The longitudinal impact of an evidence-based multiple family group intervention (Amaka Amasanyufu) on family cohesion among children in Uganda: Analysis of the cluster randomized SMART Africa-Uganda scale-up study (2016-2022). Family process, 10.1111/famp.13007. Advance online publication.

2. Small, L., & Mellins, C. (2024). Mental Health and Treatment Engagement among Low-Income Women of Color Living with HIV. Social work in public health, 39(4), 393–404.

3. Small, L. A., Godoy, S. M., Lau, C., & Franke, T. (2024). Gender-Based Violence and Suicide Among Gender-Diverse Populations in the United States. Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research, 28(1), 107–122.

Last updated: 1/17/2025

Mark Peterson, PhD, is a Professor and former department chair in the Department of Public Policy at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs, with joint appointments in the Department of Political Science, the Department of Health Policy and Management in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and the UCLA School of Law, as well as a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. He is a political scientist specializing in American national institutions and the policy-making process, especially the interactions among the presidency, Congress, and interest groups, both within the general domain of domestic policy and with specific attention to health care policy. He also studies public opinion on health and health care issues, as well as the political-institutional factors that shape the influence of research evidence on policy decision making. Among other center affiliations at UCLA, he is a member of the Internal Advisory Board for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He is on the Faculty Taskforce for the California Health Benefits Review Program and an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Contact: markap@ucla.edu

Ian Holloway, PhD, MSW, MPH is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an Associate Professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His applied behavioral health research examines the contextual factors that contribute to heath disparities among sexual and gender minority people. Dr. Holloway is an expert in social network analysis and is particularly interested in how social media and new technologies can be harnessed for health promotion and disease prevention. He has served as the PI on research studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Department of Defense, and the California HIV/AIDS Research Program. He currently directs the Southern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center, which brings the most relevant and timely evidence to bear on California’s efforts to develop and maintain efficient, cost-effective, and accessible programs and services to people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS.

Contact: holloway@luskin.ucla.edu

Featured Publications:

1. Hong, C., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Pushpanadh, S., Stephenson, R., Keum, B. T., Goldbach, J. T., Graham, S. M., & Holloway, I. W. (2025). The Associations Between Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Health Outcomes Among Sexual Minority Men: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Trauma, violence & abuse, 26(1), 58–72.

2. Liang, C., Suen, S. C., Hong, C., Kim, A., Singhal, R., Simon, P., Perez, M., & Holloway, I. W. (2024). A Microsimulation Model of Mpox in Los Angeles County: Implications for Future Disease Prevention and Control Strategies among Men Who Have Sex with Men. Open forum infectious diseases, 11(Suppl 2), S137–S145.

3. Beltran, R. M., Hunter, L. A., Packel, L. J., De Martini, L., Holloway, I. W., Dong, B. J., Lam, J., McCoy, S. I., & Ochoa, A. M. (2024). A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Pharmacists’ Readiness to Provide Long-Acting Injectable HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in California. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 97(2), 142–149.

Last updated: 1/16/2025

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Tatara, E., Ozik, J., Pollack, H. A., Schneider, J. A., Friedman, S. R., Harawa, N. T., Boodram, B., Salisbury-Afshar, E., Hotton, A., Ouellet, L., Mackesy-Amiti, M. E., Collier, N., & Macal, C. M. (2024). Agent-Based Model of Combined Community- and Jail-Based Take-Home Naloxone Distribution. JAMA network open, 7(12), e2448732.

2. Mimiaga, M. J., & Harawa, N. T. (2024). The dangers of medication sharing at private sex parties. The Lancet. Infectious diseases, 24(12), e734–e735.

3. Blegen, M. B., Faiz, J., Gonzalez, D., Nuñez, V., Harawa, N., Briggs-Malonson, M., Ryan, G., & Kahn, K. L. (2024). Qualitative perspectives of Medicaid-insured patients on ambulatory care at an academic medical center: challenges and opportunities. BMC health services research, 24(1), 1139.

Last updated: 1/15/2025