World AIDS Day 2009

Daniel Cothran, Executive Co-chair, is a second-year MPH student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. As exemplified by his past leadership in student organizations ranging from Advocates for Human Rights (Campus Y) to the UNC-CH Safer Sex Squad, Daniel believes strongly in being a part of a student body that is globally engaged. In addition to his leadership activities, Daniel has worked in a research lab devoted to curing HIV through eradication of latent HIV infections; researched options for justice and protection for survivors of gender-based violence in Khayelitsha, South Africa; and adapted and helped implement an evidence-based gender and sexual health curriculum among men in the state of Karnataka, India. 

Executive Co-chair Juliana Thornton, hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa received her Bachelors in Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 2005. Following this she returned to Johannesburg to work as Research and M&E Manager with a national PEPFAR-funded NGO working with HIV/AIDS-affected children and communities across South Africa. In July 2008 she moved to North Carolina to begin her MPH in the Maternal and Child Health Department at UNC. Juliana has also conducted research in Tanzania and has traveled to Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mexico for research and pleasure. Most recently Juliana was in Durban, South Africa assisting in a UNC research project concerning HIV testing policies in antenatal clinics in the Ethekwini District.

Ali Groves, Service Co-Chair,is a first year doctoral student in Health Behavior and Health Education who has spent a number of years living and working in sub-Saharan Africa on women's reproductive health. She is currently working on a project designed to integrate HIV/AIDS testing into regular antenatal care in Durban, South Africa. Though she loves this project, she retains a soft spot in her heart for the country of Lesotho, where she spent time in her early 20’s teaching English and coaching volleyball at an all girls’ high school. After finishing her Master’s degree in Baltimore, she worked locally, running a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Towson, Maryland. Part of her job included traveling to local high schools to give sex-ed talks to hormonal adolescents. This was so fun she decided to join the Service Committee so she could continue to talk about HIV/AIDS and Global Health with high schools students here in North Carolina.

Kendra Rosa, Service Committee Co-Chair, is a second year MPH student in Maternal and Child Health. After her undergraduate schooling, she worked for two years in healthcare workforce development for a labor union in San Francisco. Kendra then decided it was time for a change of scenery and headed to Pune, India for a year, to work on HIV/AIDS prevention among commercial sex workers and MSM. This past summer Kendra completed a practicum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she danced samba, ate feijoada, spoke Portuguese, and trained interviewers for a qualitative research project. She was able to do an especially good job during the training because she had honed her skills teaching North Carolinian middle and high school students during her first year as an active Service Committee member. Kendra likes nature documentaries, contraceptives, food, and friends.

Aliza Liebman, Education Co-Chair, is a second year MSPH/PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology. She came to Chapel Hill from Boston where she graduated from Brandeis University in 2006 with degrees in Biology and Health: Science, Society, and Policy. Aliza first became interested in public health while taking a medical anthropology course and listening to her professor speak about communities in Thailand and Africa. Aliza spent four years during and after college working as a research assistant for a sleep deprivation and the immune system study, and two years after college working as a research assistant for the smoking cessation unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. While she found sleep and smoking cessation interesting, her true passion lies in improving access to health care for women around the world, particularly in relation to sexual and mental health. This past year, she managed a research study that will be sending HPV self-test kits to poor, rural women in North Carolina.  She is interested in infectious diseases, particularly STIs, women's health, and the role of gender power imbalances and stigma in disease control. Although Aliza has not had the chance to live abroad yet, she hopes to travel soon to Thailand, India, the Philippines, or anywhere in Africa. Aliza also enjoys cooking, watching movies, and reading.

Liz Greene, Fundraising Chair, is a third-year MPH student in the Health Behavior and Health Education Department. She has a BA in International Relations and spent a semester abroad in Kenya where she interned with an organization helping to rehabilitate street children. Liz loved Africa so much that she signed up for the Peace Corps so they'd pay her to go back. She spent over two years as a Community Health volunteer in Niger, education rural community members on basic and preventative health topics. During that time she also worked with Plan Niger on a nutrition rehabilitation project. After returning stateside, she was employed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Office of Population and Reproductive Health. She is now looking forward to raising lots of money for world-saving purposes in her role as Treasurer/Fundraising Chair of the SGHC.

Erin Pearson, Health and Human Rights Co-Chair, is a first year MPH student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health. After majoring in the biological basis of behavior (basically neuroscience), Erin left the laboratory for the exciting field of global health. Erin worked with the Asia Society in China on a project to combat stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS through positive utilization of the arts and media. Erin has also worked on women's rights issues with Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) in South India where she focused on intimate partner violence and child marriage. She continued her work on adolescent reproductive health and child marriage and discovered her passion for research while working at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Erin is excited about the fantastic speakers that will be participating in the Health and Human Rights series this year!

Heather Sponsel, HHR Co-Chair This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Randi Gordon, Narratives of HIV Co-Chair, is an undergraduate senior at UNC majoring in International Studies with a concentration in Global Health and her area of focus is Latin America. After graduation, she hopes to attend medical school (fingers crossed) and enter an M.D/M.P.H program. Her first experience of international public health occurred this past summer when she volunteered with an organization named Global Medical Brigades in Honduras. While working in and around Tegulcigalpa, the crew gave medical assistance and medication to over 1,000 Hondurans during the course of a week. Even though it was her first volunteer experience abroad, she plans to do more volunteering in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her interest in raising consciousness about HIV began during her sophomore year while taking a Public Health class entitled Interdisciplinary Perspectives on AIDS. Presently, Randi wants to get more students, both undergraduate and graduate, involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Kate Barker, HIV Narratives Co-Chair, is a first year MPH student in the Public Health Leadership Program. She has a BA from Hamline University in both International and Environmental studies with a focus in international development. Her first experience living abroad was in Dakar, Senegal where she studied sustainable development in the context of community-based organizations. After her undergrad work, she joined the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Bureau for Global Health in Washington, DC where she focused on private sector involvement in health interventions. Feeling the pull to live abroad again, she transitioned to New Delhi, India to work for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In her current role as the co-chair for SGHC’s HIV Narratives committee, Kate is excited to bring a focus on the global AIDS epidemic to the UNC community. 

Vinh Hoang, Communications Chair This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it