WRI Member Bios* Continued - Page 2

*WRI members through 2012

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Sharon Hillier is the Richard Sweet Professor of Reproductive Infectious Disease and vice chair for faculty affairs in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She holds secondary appointments in the School of Medicine’s department of microbiology and molecular genetics and with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and is a senior investigator at the University of Pittsburgh-affiliated Magee-Women’s Research Institute. Dr. Hillier is an internationally recognized microbiologist whose work has influenced a nascent field of research in which women’s health and HIV prevention concerns intersect. In 2006, she was named principal investigator for the Microbicide Trials Network where she leads an international team of investigators and community and industry partners. She is also serving a two-year term as chair of the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) Advisory Council.

Dr. Hillier received her undergraduate degree as well as a doctorate in bacteriology and public health at Washington State. She then pursued postgraduate studies in clinical and public health, microbiology and laboratory medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Rowena Johnston is Vice President and Director of Research at amfAR, responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s pioneering research program. Dr. Johnston has overseen the reorganization of amfAR’s research program in order to target work directed at improving HIV prevention and treatment interventions, support the career development of young HIV/AIDS researchers, and aggressively pursue a cure for HIV. Dr. Johnston serves on a number of HIV-related advisory committees and as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals and conferences. She has published several scientific papers, and has been an invited speaker at numerous educational institutions around the country as well as at international conferences. She regularly speaks to the press about emerging research findings.

Dr. Johnston received her PhD in biopsychology in 1998 from the University of Michigan. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the department of neurology at Emory University and a visiting research fellow at the cellular neurology branch of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Naina Khanna is an independent consultant and coordinates Positive Women's Network-United States of America, a national membership body of HIV-positive women, inclusive of transgender women, that advocates for policies and programs at local, state and national levels reflecting the needs of women affected by HIV. She formerly served as policy director at Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease (WORLD) in Oakland, California. Naina currently serves on the Steering Committee for the 30 for 30 Campaign and was appointed to President Obama’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) in 2010.

Ms. Khanna has also served on the Coordinating Committee for the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy, the Board of Directors for AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families, the Conference Coordinating Committee for the 2012 International AIDS Conference, the Steering Committee for the National Women and AIDS Collective (NWAC), and the Interim Steering Committee for the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance. She is a nationally recognized speaker and advocate on gender justice, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and meaningful involvement of people living with and impacted by HIV.

Caroline Mitchell is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington in Seattle, where her research focuses on identifying protective mechanisms in the healthy vagina that may decrease the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections like HIV. She is currently funded through the NIH for a project entitled “Female genital immune response to the vaginal microbiota.”

Dr. Mitchell received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her MPH from the University of Washington. She was a Women’s Studies major in college, and spent two years in the Peace Corps in Southern Africa prior to medical school, both of which fostered her commitment to improving women’s sexual and reproductive health.

Tonia Poteat has been involved in the fight against AIDS since 1989 when she began volunteering at an AIDS service organization while in college. She is a certified HIV Specialist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. She has devoted her clinical practice to providing compassionate, knowledgeable medical care to people with HIV since 1996. She currently serves as the Senior Technical Advisor for Key Populations in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

Dr. Poteat graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1991. She received a Master of Medical Science degree from Emory University’s Physician Assistant Program in 1995 and a Master of Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory in 2005. She completed her PhD in International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2012.

Maura Riordan has worked within the field of HIV/AIDS for most of the past 25 years. She currently serves as vice president, director of access and innovation with AIDS United, a national policy and grant making organization based in Washington DC. She joined AIDS United in 2010 to oversee the Access to Care (A2C) initiative, AIDS United’s largest grant-making portfolio. She has also served on The Well Project Board of Directors since 2010.

Previously, Ms. Riordan served as executive director of WORLD in Oakland, CA for seven years. WORLD focuses on support, advocacy and education for women living with HIV/AIDS. Following this work, she served as a consultant to medical clinics seeking to integrate peer-based services into their clinical delivery systems. In 2008 Maura facilitated a series of national consultations in preparation for the rollout of the Obama Administration’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The topics included prevention, care and treatment, and health disparities.

Linda H. Scruggs is Director of Programs for AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families in Washington, DC. AIDS Alliance is a national non-profit membership organization – a network of more than 200 members and 560 affiliate organizations providing HIV prevention and care to women, children, youth and families living with and at high-risk for HIV and AIDS. She has worked in the HIV/ AIDS community for over 15 years. Her work began as a health advocate for women at Johns Hopkins University.

Ms. Scruggs has served on numerous committees and boards, including National Black Women’s HIV/AIDS Network, National Positive Women Network, MHHSC (SAMSHA) National Consumer Advisory Network, WIN National Steering Committee, Baltimore, Ryan White Planning Council, Marco International Advisory Council, Tibotec Therapeutics Grace; Community Advisory Board, and the Quality of Life Board, African American United Methodist Church. She has founded numerous HIV support groups in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area. She is the co-author of Making Connections—Building Family Support Networks for Families Living With HIV, Getting Started: A Consumer Advisory Board Manual and Getting it Right: an Assessment Tool for Consumer Advisory Boards, as well as a number of number of articles and reviews related to HIV and AIDS treatment and care.

Kathleen Squires is professor of medicine and director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Thomas Jefferson University. Prior to joining Thomas Jefferson University Dr. Squires was an associate professor at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She was also the associate chief for HIV affairs, Division of Infectious Diseases at the Keck School of Medicine and the medical director of the HIV Clinic of the LAC/USC Medical Center. Dr. Squires is board certified in Internal Medicine and the subspecialty of Infectious Diseases. She served as the principal investigator for the Quintiles HIV Clinical Trials Unit, the chair of the NIH AIDS Clinical Trials and Epidemiology Study Section and is a past chair of the HIV Medicine Association. She has published studies in peer-reviewed journals, including AIDS, Annals of Internal Medicine and JAIDS. Dr. Squires is an active clinician and investigator focusing on antiretroviral clinical trials and HIV infection in women.

Dr. Squires received her Bachelor’s of Arts at Princeton University and her Medical Degree at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1981. She completed her internship in Obstetrics and Gynecology and her residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of Medical College of Pennsylvania. She was also a fellow at Cornell University Medical College/The New York Hospital in the Division of Infectious Diseases. She has been the recipient of many awards including the Female Physician of the Year Award from the CARES Group, LAC + USC Medical Center, in 2004.

Kimberly Struble is a Medical Team Leader in the Division of Antiviral Products at the Food and Drug Administration. She has served in positions with Drug Information and the Division of Antiviral Products as a project manager and clinical reviewer since 1993. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. In 2002 she joined Tibotec as Director of U.S. Regulatory Affairs and Director of Global Research and Development. She rejoined FDA in May 2003.

She currently leads a team responsible for the development of new products for the treatment and prevention of HIV infection, hepatitis B and C, herpes infections, influenza and other emerging viral infections. She is a member of the Department of Health and Human Services HIV Treatment Guidelines Panel, serves on committees including the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research and is FDA’s representative to CDC for Occupational and Nonoccupational Post-exposure Prophylaxis Public Health Service working group. She serves as the primary clinical representative to several women and HIV-initiated research projects at FDA.

Fulvia Veronese is the assistant director for Translational Research and the Preclinical Team leader for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Prevention Science Program of the Division of AIDS. Prior to her current positions, she worked at the NIH Office of AIDS Research as the coordinator for Basic Science and Microbicide research. Her research interests include immunological approaches to treatment and prevention of human retroviral infections; the development of safe, effective, and acceptable microbicides and PrEP for the prevention of HIV; pathogenic mechanisms involved in HIV infection and disease; and basic biomedical research in support of HIV prevention activities. She received her PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Milan, Italy.

Chuck Wira is an internationally recognized scientist with specific expertise in endocrinology and mucosal immunology as it relates to the immune system at mucosal surfaces of the female reproductive tract. Dr. Wira’s research focuses on how female sex hormones influence innate and adaptive immunity in the female reproductive tract of animal models and humans. He has been Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded Program Project grant for 14 years, having published approximately 175 research papers in this area. Dr. Wira is actively involved in a Dartmouth Medical School Fogarty Grant that is working with colleagues at Dartmouth and the University of Muhimbili, Tanzania to bring scientists to Dartmouth for training in HIV-related mucosal immunology. He also sits on the board of directors of an NGO at the University of Nairobi, Kenya that focuses on improving women’s health against a spectrum of diseases including AIDS. Dr. Wira’s laboratory includes graduate students and research associates from the United States, China, India, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Australia.

Dr. Wira is an active member of the Society for Mucosal Immunology, American Society for Reproductive Immunology (ASRI), American Society for Microbiology and the International Society for Immunology of Reproduction (ISIR). Dr. Wira was the Secretary General of ISIR and is the President of ASRI (2008-2010). He has received numerous awards including an NIH Merit Award and the ASRI Distinguished Investigator Award in Reproductive Immunology. Dr. Wira is an Advisor to NIH. Examples include: NIH Women, Girls and HIV AIDS Group, NIH Planning Group for HIV-related research; Women and Girls Planning Group; and the OAR Microbicides Planning Group. He is currently working with NIH to organize a meeting sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on prevention of HIV transmission and mucosal immunity in the male and female reproductive tract in Hanover, NH (June 30 to July 2, 2010).

Dr. Carmen D. Zorrilla graduated from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in 1978. She has been a faculty member of the OB-GYN Department there since then and a Professor since 1998. She is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Academy of HIV Medicine. In 1987, she established the first longitudinal clinic for Women Living with HIV in Puerto Rico. She participated in the PACTG 076 as one of the first 10 pilot sites and was instrumental in making AZT available to pregnant women living with HIV in Puerto Rico. Her clinic, in which more than 400 infants have been born to HIV-positive women, has had a nearly zero transmission rate during the past 10 years.

Dr. Zorrilla has participated in diverse clinical and behavioral research projects for women living with HIV and has many publications. She has been a consultant for national and international organizations including the National Institutes of Health, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control, the Institute for Health Care Improvement. She was a member of the Office of Women’s Health Advisory Committee and the CDC/HRSA AIDS and STD Advisory Committee.

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