Track Chairs

Dr. Harris has over 25 years of public health experience, of which 20 years have been spent in field of HIV, and 11 years in a state health department. Her professional experience in HIV includes working as HIV Surveillance Coordinator in South Carolina, and at CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention as an epidemiologist in HIV Incidence and Case Surveillance Branch and the Behavioral and Clinical Surveillance Branch. In addition to her work in HIV, Dr. Harris’ directed the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), in the Division of Reproductive Health, and served as the Deputy Branch Chief of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, within the Division of Viral Hepatitis.

For the past 3 ½ years, Dr. Harris has served as the Associate Deputy Director for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Science in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP), and currently serves as Acting Deputy Director for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Science within the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Dr. Harris is a graduate of Winthrop University where she received a BS in Biology and of the University of South Carolina, School of Public Health, where she received a MSPH and PhD in Epidemiology.

Dr. Bridget Anderson is the Director of the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS Epidemiology. Her doctorate is in Sociology, with concentrations in Demography, Urban Studies and Research Methodology. She has over two decades of experience with communicable disease surveillance, case control studies of infectious disease, and other population and health related research. Dr. Anderson is an associate of the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, University at Albany, The State University of New York and has served as a consultant to the Poverty and Race Research Action Council on a project for the Opportunity Agenda, a communications, research and advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. Finally, Dr. Anderson is active nationally within the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) HIV Subcommittee and with the CDC in a variety of capacities, including current service as the elected chair of the subcommittee.

Edward Tepporn is the Executive Vice President at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, a national health justice organization which influences policy, mobilizes communities, and strengthens programs and organizations to improve the health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. APIAHF's Capacity For Health (C4H) Project has provided HIV-related capacity building assistance to community based organizations and health departments for over two decades. Edward received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology from Washington University in Saint Louis. He was also a Nelson Mandela Scholarship recipient in the MSW program at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Prior to joining APIAHF in 2002, Edward served as Director of Education at Saint Louis Effort for AIDS and as Community Co-Chair of Missouri's Statewide HIV/STD Prevention Community Planning Group. He is currently a board member for the Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services.

Cindy Lyles, PhD, has been working within the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) at CDC since 1999 as a Mathematical Statistician and a Behavioral Scientist. Through 2013, Dr. Lyles was a Team Leader within the Prevention Research Branch (PRB). As a team lead, she oversaw two key research synthesis and translation activities which focused on conducting systematic reviews of the HIV prevention scientific literature, identifying evidence-based HIV prevention interventions (EBIs) and strategies, and preparing select EBIs for national dissemination for use by local prevention agencies. During 2008-09, Dr. Lyles served as Acting Deputy Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences and is currently the Associate Deputy Direction for Behavioral and Social Sciences in DHAP. Cindy received two Bachelors – Mathematics and Math-Education – from the University of South Florida and her MS and PhD degrees in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Matthew Golden is the Director of the Public Health – Seattle & King County HIV/STD Program, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, and the Director of the UW Public Health Capacity Building Center. He received his BA in history from Grinnell College, his MD and MPH from Johns Hopkins University, and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Washington. Dr. Golden's research seeks to integrate public health practice with operational research in the area of HIV/STD prevention. Much of his work has related to the implementation of expedited partner services for gonorrhea and chlamydial infection, HIV partner services, and the use of field outreach to improve the HIV care continuum.

Dázon Dixon Diallo is Founder and President of SisterLove, Inc, established in 1989, the first women’s HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Justice organization in the southeastern United States. Dr. Diallo currently chairs the Metro Atlanta HIV/AIDS Health Services Planning Council, is a founding member of the 30 for 30 Campaign for Women in the National HIV AIDS Strategy, and she serves on the HIV/DV National Advisory Committee for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. . In 2012, Diallo joined the Board of the National Women’s Health Network, and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from her alma mater, Spelman College. She currently convenes the only national coalition of women’s health advocates focused on HIV and biomedical prevention, the US Women & PrEP Working Group. . Dr. Diallo holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (C’97) and bachelor’s degree from Spelman College (C’86), Atlanta.

Angel Luis Ortiz-Ricard, JD has worked in the HIV Prevention field for over 20 years dedicating most of his professional life to working on behalf of the HIV infected and affected community. For the past 14 years, Mr. Ortiz-Ricard has worked for the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. In 2001 he started his journey at CDC as a Project Officer, working in this capacity with grantees across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. In 2007, he became the Team Leader responsible for overseeing HIV prevention programs in the Southern Region of the US and Puerto Rico. Currently, Mr. Ortiz Ricard serves as the Associate Deputy Director for Programs at the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Prior to joining CDC, Mr. Ortiz-Ricard served as the Manager of the Capacity Building Assistance Program at PROCEED, Inc., a national CDC-funded Capacity Building Assistance provider.

Mr. Ortiz-Ricard holds a Juris Doctor from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico.

Heather Hauck is the Director of the Division of State HIV/AIDS Program (DSHAP), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HIV/AIDS Bureau DSHAP provides federal resources, technical assistance, and monitoring to states and territories to ensure access to quality HIV care and treatment services for people living with HIV. Ms. Hauck was formerly the Director of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Infectious Disease and Environmental Health Administration (IDEHA).

Ms. Hauck is a past Chair of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) and was a member of the organization from 2003 - 2012. She served on NASTAD’s Executive Committee, Membership Committee, and the NASTAD Global Program Ethiopia team.

Prior to joining the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Ms. Hauck served as the Section Chief of the New Hampshire DHHS Division of Public Health STD/HIV Section in Concord, NH. Prior to her work in New Hampshire, Ms. Hauck was a co-director and a social worker in the Washington Hospital Center Social Work Department in Washington, D.C. She has a Master of Social Work degree from the National Catholic School of Social Service, Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Cristan Williams is a trans historian and pioneer in addressing the practical needs of the transgender community. She started the first trans homeless shelter and co-founded the first federally funded trans-only homeless program, pioneered affordable health care for trans people in the Houston area, won the right for trans people to change their gender on Texas ID prior to surgery, started numerous trans social service programs and founded the Transgender Center as well as the Transgender Archives. Cristan is the editor at the social justice website TransAdvocate.com, is a long-term member and previous chair of the City of Houston HIV Prevention Planning Group, serves on the national steering body for the Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services (UCHAPS) and is the Executive Director of the Transgender Foundation of America.

Jessica F. Lacy has served as the Deputy for Program in Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention’s Prevention Communication Branch since she rejoined federal service in January 2013. In that role, she oversees Act Against AIDS, a multi-faceted national health communication effort to refocus attention on domestic HIV and AIDS and support the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). Prior to her current role, Jessica worked as a Vice President at GCI Health. During her seven years there, Jessica managed an extensive media and integrated health communication portfolio and oversaw the implementation of national health communication and social marketing health care programs. From 2001-2006, Jessica served as a Health Communication Specialist working in CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Office of the Director. In this role, she developed communication strategies to advance public health program priorities and identified and managed emerging health communication issues. Jessica has over 15 years of health communication experience, where she has demonstrated her skills in project management, media relations, social marketing, public health partnerships, stakeholder relations, and digital and social marketing. In 2014, she was recognized as an Outstanding Multicultural Health Marketer of the Year by DTC Perspectives.

Gregorio Millett is a Vice President and Director of Public Policy at amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. Mr Millett is a former CDC Senior Behavioral Scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) who served in the White House Office of National AIDS Policy between 2009 and 2013 where he co-wrote the President Obama’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy and worked on its implementation across the federal government and nationally. Mr. Millett has co-authored publications with Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Surgeon General (Regina Benjamin) and former Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Howard Koh. His research expertise is racial/ethnic HIV disparities as well as HIV infection and circumcision among gay men, and he has published across top-tier peer-reviewed medical, psychological, policy and public health journals, including The Lancet, Lancet HIV, JAMA, AIDS, JAIDS, American Psychologist and Health Affairs.

Elton Naswood is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and grew up in Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation. Mr. Naswood is currently a Senior Program Analyst, Capacity Building Division at the Office of Minority Health Resource Center.

He previously was a Capacity Building Assistance Specialist at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC) and was formally the Founder and Program Coordinator for the Red Circle Project, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA).

He is currently a member of the Community Expert Advisory Council for the Indigenous HIV/AIDS Research Training (IHART) program at the University of Washington and the US Representative Leader for the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV/AIDS (IIWGHA).

Mr. Naswood received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in Sociology and American Indian Justice Studies from Arizona State University and attended the Graduate degree program in American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Christine Cagle serves as the Associate Director for Policy, Planning, and Communications in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.  In this position, she is responsible for providing leadership, guidance, and direction to three teams.  The Policy and Planning Team is responsible for monitoring implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the Division Strategic Plan, and coordinating budget formulation and performance planning; and preparing congressional testimony and briefing materials, correspondence and other policy and program documents. The Strategic Communications and Issues Management Team provides direct support to the division branches around policy issues and issues management and conducts environmental scanning to assess the division’s internal and external environment for support and threats in an effort to develop a comprehensive strategic issues management plan.  The Guideline Development Team is responsible for developing guidelines and recommendations based on evidence and expert input and keeps abreast of cutting edge and updated science on methodologies for guideline development.  

Randy Mayer has worked in HIV prevention and care at the Iowa Department of Public Health for over 15 years, and for the last 7 years has served as chief of the Bureau of HIV, STD, and Hepatitis. In this capacity, he has oversight for 20 staff that administers prevention, care, and surveillance programs for HIV, STD, and viral hepatitis. Currently the bureau receives nearly $6.5 million in federal and state funds, and works closely with local public health and community-based organizations to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with these disease conditions. In 2010, Randy served as a panel member on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Viral Hepatitis, which produced the report entitled, Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C. From 2012 to 2013, Randy served as Chair of NASTAD, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. In 2013, Randy received NASTAD’s Nicholas A. Rango Leadership award, and in 2014 he received a NASTAD Program Excellence Award for his work in addressing HIV criminalization and stigma. Randy holds a Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University, a Master of Science from Purdue University, and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota.

David Ernesto Munar has devoted his entire professional career to building comprehensive systems of care and prevention that meet the needs of vulnerable populations.

Since joining Howard Brown Health Center (HBHC) in 2014, Munar has focused his efforts ensuring the delivery of excellent health and wellness services to HBHC’s patient populations, strengthening finances and operations, and positioning the organization for long-term sustainability and growth.

Munar joined the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) in 1991 and, during his 23-year career at the agency, served as policy director, vice president of policy and communication, senior vice president, and president and CEO, a position he held from 2011 to 2014. As chief officer, Munar managed a $23 million portfolio of care, prevention and policy programs and services.

His two decades of accomplishments fighting HIV/AIDS has advanced sound health policy locally and nationally. In 2007, he helped launch the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy, which led to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy unveiled by President Obama in July 2010.

Munar’s work draws on career experience and perspectives as a bilingual Colombian‐American and gay man living with HIV. He is an avid runner and graduate of Northwestern University.