Scientific Committee
Chair
Co-Chair
Assessment Track
Co-Chairs
Members
Kate Brookmeyer
Dr. Kate Brookmeyer is a behavioral scientist in the Division of STD Prevention with expertise in women’s sexual health, complex assessment, evaluation, and innovative behavioral intervention and prevention efforts. She has worked at the intersection of harm reduction and STI treatment and prevention as well as the integration of behavioral services in STI clinics and LHDs. Prior to her role in STD, Dr. Brookmeyer worked in the Division of Violence Prevention conducting surveillance and program evaluation in Eastern Africa. Dr. Brookmeyer joined the CDC in 2007 after graduating with a Ph.D. and MA in developmental psychology from Georgia State University, with an undergraduate degree in Psychology.
Jacky Jennings
Dr. Jennings (she/her/hers) is a Professor and an infectious disease, social epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with joint appointments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Jennings is a leading expert on infectious disease transmission dynamics and the arc of her work has been on reducing extreme racial, sexual minority and youth disparities in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. She is the Director of the Center for Child and Community Health Research (CCHR), a center which focuses on the translation of evidence on disparities to public health practice, and the Biostatistics, Epidemiology And Data management (BEAD) Core which provides research support services to investigators. She is a CDC- and NIH-funded investigator and an active mentor with mentees ranging from STEM high school students to junior faculty. She is the mother of two and daughter of an immigrant.
Emily Learner
Emily is an epidemiologist on the Epidemiology Research Team in the Behavioral Science and Epidemiology Branch in the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. Her current work focuses on response and detection of antimicrobial resistant gonorrhea, and surveillance of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. She is interested in understanding the role of sexual networks in STD prevention and transmission, and epidemiologic methods to improve estimation of case rates, prevalence, and incidence of STDs.
Nicole Liddon
Evelyn Olansky
Evelyn Olansky is an epidemiologist with expertise in survey design and project implementation, particularly those focused on sexual and gender minority populations, sexual behavior, HIV, or how to achieve health equity. Her contributions to developing best practices for engaging transgender and nonbinary communities have informed several Federal data collections and data systems, most prominently the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System.
Christine Khosropour
Dr. Khosropour is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose work involves both research and applied epidemiology in the field of HIV and STI prevention. Her research focuses on sexual behavior, chlamydia epidemiology, extragenital STIs, and implementation of PrEP and HIV care engagement programs. Since 2015, she has provided capacity building assistance to state and local health departments to guide the implementation and evaluation of HIV/STI public health programs. Dr. Khosropour received her BS in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin, MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University, and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Washington.
Supriya Metha
Bill Miller
Clinical & Lab Track
Co-Chairs
Members
Stephen Jordan (IUSM)
Dr. Jordan is an infectious diseases physician scientist and assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University. He completed his internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr Jordan’s research program involves studying nongonococcal urethritis in men, including the pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium, and the immunopathogenesis of Chlamydia trachomatis infections in women. He provides inpatient service at Eskenazi Hospital and outpatient service at the Bell Flower Sexual Health Clinic.
Ellen Kersh
Ellen Kersh, PhD is the STD Laboratory Reference and Research Branch chief in CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. She oversees STI laboratory reference services, research, and diagnostic assay development. She directs CDC’s national and international laboratory capacity building to monitor antibiotic resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and to detect syphilis, chlamydia, and Mycoplasma genitalium.
Ellen received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Biochemistry from the Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Her postdoctoral studies were with Dr. Rafi Ahmed at the Emory Vaccine Center on memory immune responses to acute and chronic infections. She joined the CDC HIV Laboratory Branch and contributed to studies on Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV prevention, HIV acquisition risk during STI co-infections.
During the COVID-19 response, she served on the HHS Testing and Diagnostics Work Group, addressing national diagnostic testing challenges and developing testing programs and recommendations.
Christina Muzny (UAB)
Dr. Christina Muzny obtained her medical degree at the Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center College of Medicine followed by an internal medicine residency and an infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She joined the ID faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2010. She has since obtained an MSPH in Public Health (Epidemiology) at the UAB School of Public Health. Her clinical and research interests focus on the HIV and STIs in women, specifically vaginal infections including BV and trichomoniasis. Dr. Muzny currently has R01 and R21 funding from NIH/NIAID to study the pathogenesis of BV. She has also participated in multiple clinical trials on the treatment of trichomoniasis in women. Dr. Muzny is a tenured Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UAB with secondary appointments in the UAB Department of Epidemiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Brian Raphael
Brian Raphael has served as the Team Lead for Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma genitalium in the STD Laboratory Reference and Research Branch, Division of STD Prevention at CDC since 2019. He oversees antimicrobial susceptibility testing for gonorrhea, STD diagnostics using automated commercial platforms, integration of whole genome sequencing into public health responses for antibiotic resistant gonorrhea, and development of laboratory developed tests for the molecular detection and characterization of STD pathogens.
Hilary Reno
Hilary Reno, MD, PhD, FIDSA is an Associate Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Division of Infectious Disease, who focuses on the care of patients with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV prevention. Her current research focuses on access to sexual health care and the quality of that care on a regional level. Dr. Reno has been the medical director of the St. Louis County Sexual Health clinic for 15 years. She is medical director of the St. Louis STI/ HIV Prevention Training Center and a medical consultant with the CDC, Division of STD Prevention.
Arlene Seña (UNC)
Sancta St. Cyr
Sancta St. Cyr, MD, MPH is the project officer for the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP), the national sentinel surveillance system for antibiotic resistant gonorrhea. She joined the Surveillance and Data Management Branch of the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017 as a medical officer. In her role, she regularly contributes to programs and publications involving antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. She recently co-led the gonorrhea subcommittee for the CDC 2021 STI Treatment Guidelines.
Dr. St. Cyr earned her medical degree from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans. She trained in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She also completed her infectious diseases fellowship and master of public health in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Stephanie Taylor (LSU)
Individual-Level Intervention Research Track
Co-Chairs
Members
Anna Cope
Anna Cope has been an Epidemiologist in the Field Epi Unit of the Epidemiology and Statistics Branch for the past 6 years. She is assigned to the North Carolina Division of Public Health in Raleigh, NC. Anna has conducted several studies assessing partner services effectiveness, DIS satisfaction, and electronic options for partner notification in North Carolina and across the country. Prior to joining the Field Epi Unit, Anna received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Casey Copen
Casey Copen is a Behavioral Scientist with the Behavioral Science and Epidemiology Branch (SBEB) in the Division of STD Prevention at CDC. In her current role she focuses on research exploring sexual risk behavior and healthcare seeking with priority populations such as adolescents and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. She is currently a co-lead for the Network Epidemiology of Syphilis Transmission study, or NEST, where she provides overall leadership, coordination and management support for three jurisdictions participating in the study. Prior to her present position, she was a statistician with the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) Team, Reproductive Statistics Branch at CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in Hyattsville, MD. She has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Southern California and an MPH in Health Behavior/Health Education from the University of Michigan.
Sam Eppink (J)
Dr. Eppink is an Economist with the Division of STD Prevention’s Clinical, Economic, and Health Services Research Branch. He is trained in applied microeconometrics and specializes in health economics and public policy. Dr. Eppink has published multiple studies pertaining to the cost of illness, health disparities, and the socioeconomic conditions of sexual and gender minorities. In his work he applies quantitative techniques from econometrics, mathematics, and statistics in conjunction with economic theory to analyze and address complex multidisciplinary issues pertaining to public health, policy, and administration. Dr. Eppink is currently a committee member of the DSTDP Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Group’s Scientific and Programmatic Activities Workgroup. He has previously served as Research Co-Chair for Vanderbilt University’s Council of Economic Graduate Students and as a CDC Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness Fellow. He holds a PhD in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
David Katz
Victoria Mobley
Abigail Norris Turner
Dr. Norris Turner is an infectious diseases epidemiologist at Ohio State University. For nearly 20 years her research has focused on characterizing the behavioral, clinical and immunological factors associated with acquisition of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Her work, carried out in partnership with government and community collaborators, has explored the health concerns of vulnerable populations in a range of settings in the US and internationally. She has a secondary research interest in developing methodological approaches to better measure sensitive and stigmatized health exposures and outcomes. Dr. Norris Turner is also President-Elect of the American STD Association.
Casey Pinto (J)
I am an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Penn State with a research focus on rural health disparities in the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents. I am specifically interested in the behavioral and/or social environmental factors that are associated with STI prevalence and how these vary between rural/urban populations. In addition, I have more than a decade of experience as a nurse practitioner in infectious disease, and as the sole-provider in two STI clinics.
Shaunta Wright
Program Science Track
Co-Chairs
Members
Ann Burchell
Matthew Hogben
Dr. Hogben has worked in the Division of STD Prevention at CDC since 1999. During that time, he has conducted or overseen social science and epidemiologically based research with individual-level and structural assessments and interventions in clinical settings and as public health “wrap-around” activities. Specific investigations include work on increasing sexual health care access and use, on novel interventions related to STI/HIV partner services, and on the influence of social determinants of health on STI and sexual health. His current work is aimed at increasing disease intervention impact and improving health equity as intertwined goals in improving population health outcomes. Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Hogben obtained a doctoral degree in social psychology from the State University of New York (SUNY) and took up a fellowship in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.
Karen Johnson
Dr. Karen A. Johnson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, School of Social Work. She received her Ph.D. from the Columbia University, School of Social Work and completed post-doctoral training in Global Mental Health and Implementation Science from Columbia University / New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Johnson is an affiliate with the Columbia University Social Intervention Group and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for AIDS Research. Dr. Johnson has also completed research fellowships at UAB, Johns Hopkins University, and is currently a Visiting Scholar at Yale University. Dr. Johnson’s research explores historical, cultural, and contextual factors such as trauma, racism, oppression, religiosity, stigma, and place that drives sexual risk behaviors in low-income, drug-using, criminal legal system involved Black women living in the Northeast and the deep South. Her work also focuses on evidence-based intervention adaptation, acculturation, and implementation.
Carmen Logie
Dr. Carmen Logie is an Associate Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto and the Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations, Adjunct Professor at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment & Health, Research Scientist at the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity, and Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital. With >200 peer-reviewed publications, Logie’s research program advances understanding of stigma and other ecosocial factors associated with sexual health disparities. Her research focuses on HIV/STI prevention, testing and care cascades in Canada, Uganda, and Jamaica with people living with HIV, forcibly displaced youth, LGBTQ communities, sex workers, Indigenous youth, and persons at the intersection of these identities. She is a Deputy Editor at the Journal of the International AIDS Society and she is on editorial boards for Social Science and Medicine Mental Health and PLOS Global Health.
Janet Saul
Christina Schumacher
Ian Spicknall
Austin Williams
Austin is an economist in the Division of STD Prevention (DSTDP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prior to starting his current position, Austin worked as a research economist at RTI International and served as a Prevention Effectiveness Fellow in DSTDP. He received a PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Austin's expertise includes cost and cost-effectiveness analysis, econometrics, simulation, causal inference, and policy evaluation. He has applied these methods to study a variety of topic areas within public health, including sexually transmitted infections, COVID-19, chronic respiratory disease, and health disparities.
Policy Track
Co-Chairs
Members
Deborah Arrindell
Ryan Cramer
Jeffrey Crowley
Jeffrey S. Crowley, MPH is the Program Director of the Infectious Diseases Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law and an adjunct professor of law. Crowley’s work has focused on federal health care policy with an emphasis on Medicaid, Medicare, and issues impacting people with HIV and other people with disabilities. From 2009 to 2011, he was the Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) and Senior Advisor on Disability Policy for President Barack Obama. In this capacity, he led the development of the first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. In 2019, he was appointed to a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on the Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States that released its report in March 2021, Sexually Transmitted Infections: Adopting a Sexual Health Paradigm.
Melissa A. Habel
Melissa A. Habel, MPH, is a Health Scientist in CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, Office of Communications, Policy, Partnerships, and Planning. She serves as a scientific advisor and provides leadership on strategic planning and implementation, goal setting and progress tracking, and supports implementation and monitoring of special initiatives to advance the mission of DSTDP. She has experience in survey and analytic design aimed at assessing and monitoring behaviors and contextual factors that contribute to STD transmission and acquisition; policy analysis; community assessment and engagement strategies; evidence-based communication and social marketing strategies; and the development, evaluation, and translation of prevention intervention at the individual, group, and structural, levels. Additional research interests and publication areas include STI self-testing, expansion of STI service provision in pharmacy and retail health clinic settings, young adult health, and remote health care.
Rebekah Horowitz
Rebekah currently oversees the sexually transmitted infections portfolio at NACCHO within the HIV, STI, viral hepatitis, and harm reduction team. She has been leading that work since 2018.
Prior to joining NACCHO, she worked on the policy team at the National Coalition of STD Directors, participating in state and federal policy efforts.
She holds her JD and MPH from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
Penny Loosier
Bill Pearson
Dr. Pearson currently serves as the lead of the Health Services Research Team in the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Pearson has conducted health services research since 2000, focusing his work on cost, quality, and access to care issues related to the delivery of health services across the public health and healthcare spectrum. He received his doctoral degree in health services research from the University of South Carolina and his masters degree in healthcare administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Naomi Seiler
Clinical Case Series
Co-Chairs
Members
Bruce Furness
Bruce (“Bryce”) W. Furness, MD, MPH is a Medical Epidemiologist with the CDC’s DSTDP who has been embedded within the Washington, DC DOH since 2002. He has acted in many different capacities: as the Acting Chief, Division of STD Control; as the Chief Medical Officer, Southeast STD & Tuberculosis Control and Chest Clinics; and, currently, as the Strategic Information Division’s STD Medical Epidemiologist. Highlights of his tenure include starting and evaluating the District’s Internet Partner Notification Program to manage pseudo-anonymous partners of syphilis and HIV cases; starting and managing the District’s School-based STD Screening Program; starting and running Whitman-Walker Health’s Transgender Health Clinic; guiding WWH’s Gay Men’s Health & Wellness Clinics; and improving the DC Health and Wellness Center’s PrEP Clinic. He is a subject matter expert on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender health and has recently published several articles on transforming primary care for LGBT people.
Aniruddha (Anu) Hazra
Dr. Aniruddha (Anu) Hazra is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the University of Chicago and Director of STI Services at the Chicago Center of HIV Elimination. In addition to his work at UofC, he is co-Medical Director of Howard Brown Health’s 55th Street Clinic; Howard Brown Health is a prominent federally qualified health center specializing in the needs of LGBTQ people living in the Midwest.
His research centers around sexually transmitted infections and their impact on sexual and gender minorities as well as other vulnerable populations living on the South Side of Chicago. These interests are complemented by his clinical work in complex HIV management, PrEP care, Hepatitis C management, gender affirming hormone therapy, high resolution anoscopy, and treatment of opioid use disorder. Above all else, he is passionate about the equitable delivery of healthcare to LGBTQ people of color.
Candice McNeil
Meena Ramchandani
Assistant Professor at the University of Washington and co-medical Director of the Public Health - Seattle & King County Sexual Health Clinic. She is an infectious disease and primary care physician at the Madison and MAX HIV Clinics in Seattle, Washington. She is also the editor and host of the National STD Podcast.
Kim Workowski