Willi McFarland, MD, PhD (he/him)

Willi was born in the rural, homogeneous, New England town of Lyme, Connecticut. The most notorious thing that happened in Lyme was an outbreak of the tick-borne disease that bears the town’s name. This outbreak was Willi’s 5th grade class and launched him towards research in infectious disease control. He earned a BS in microbiology from Stanford, an MD and Master of Public Health from Tulane, and a PhD in epidemiology from Berkeley. He is a Board-Certified physician in the specialty of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Willi is Professor at the University of California San Francisco in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Director of the Center for Public Health Research within the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

HIV/AIDS has been the most compelling infectious disease health threat throughout Willi’s life and career. He has dedicated his effort towards seeing the arc of this epidemic end for all groups bearing the burden of this disease. His research focuses on HIV epidemiology and prevention, methods of surveillance, surveys to include marginalized populations, and novel prevention interventions. His work pioneered approaches to increase the representation of diverse populations through peer referral, outreach, and hybrid methods adapted to the contexts of different communities, including trans and nonbinary communities. Willi is committed to training the next generation of researchers for the end-game of the HIV epidemic and to address the continuing health disparities that AIDS has acutely revealed to the scientific world.

Willi is a SHINE Strong Faculty, Mentor, and Co-Principal Investigator.

Kelly D. Taylor, PhD, MS, MPH (she/her)

Kelly is a senior research scientist with the Institute for Global Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Technical Director of Community Engagement with the UCSF Pandemic Initiative for Equity and Action. Educated at University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University, and University of California Berkeley, Dr. Taylor is a behavioral scientist with a background in community psychology, epidemiology, and evaluation methodology. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in AIDS prevention at the University of California San Francisco, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. Her primary research interests are in implementation science - bridging the research-to-practice gaps, community based-participatory action research, and psychosocial determinants of health in communities most impacted by health disparities domestically, in Sub-Saharan Africa and the African diaspora. She is especially interested in the treatment of HIV and other chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Her current projects include identifying racial/ethnic health disparities among Black trans women in the African diaspora, using virtual reality-based training to mitigate clinician bias in patient-provider encounters, community engagement in combatting COVID-19.

Kelly is a SHINE Strong Faculty, Mentor, and Co-Investigator.

Caitlin Turner, MPH, PhD Candidate (she/her)

Caitlin is a social epidemiologist and uses quantitative analytic methods to shed light on social and policy impacts on health for trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary communities. She joined the Trans Research Unit for Equity (TRUE) in 2017 after completing a Master’s degree in Epidemiology/Biostatistics at UC Berkeley, and is now completing a Ph.D. in Epidemiology at UC San Francisco. She aims to leverage rigorous epidemiological methodologies to amplify the voices of the community members TRUE serves and the social justice movements that they lead, with the intention of translating research findings to positive, structural impact. As much as she loves research, Caitlin is devoted to compassionate teaching and mentorship. She aims to disrupt oppressive educational practices and advocate for students. Caitlin is a cisgender white woman, was raised in a blue collar family, and lives with disabilities. Her passions include intersectional feminism, pizza, rock climbing, horror movies, and cats.

Caitlin is a SHINE Strong Faculty.

Karen Aguilar (she/her)

Karen Aguilar is the lead patient navigator at the Gender Health San Francisco program. This program is world renowned as the first surgery access program developed by a public health system in the U.S. Karen has been with the program since inception and has helped shape surgery access for trans and non-binary people in San Francisco through her work. Karen’s pronouns are she/her/hers. She is a Mexican immigrant woman of trans experience. Karen is bilingual, with her mother tongue being Spanish and her second language being English. Her work in trans health has informed the groundbreaking work in HIV and gender affirming care since the beginning. She was an advocate for and volunteer for the first population-based HIV research study with trans women in San Francisco, the Transgender Community Health Project. Karen was also one of the first health educators and outreach workers for an early trans-specific program at Proyecto ContraSIDA por Vida, which was an agency that was developed in response to the impact of HIV on Latino/a/x communities in San Francisco. She was a researcher who informed and participated in data collection for the first global HIV incidence study of trans women in the world called the Trans*National Study. She has presented her work in many settings, including at the annual World Professional Association in Trans Health (WPATH) meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in the United States. Karen was awarded a “Heroes and Hearts” Award from the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation in 2018 for her work at Gender Health SF. Karen is working on her college degree, with her studies temporarily on hold as she continues to dedicate her time to shaping trans health in San Francisco. She loves Mexican food and recently starting a vegan diet. She firmly believes in respect to be respected.

Karen is a SHINE Strong Advisor.

Akira Jackson (she/her)

Akira is the Executive Director of TAJA’s Coalition, a coalition of the San Francisco Bay Area’s trans-serving organizations, including the following: TGI Justice Project, El/La Para Translatinas, Trans March, Community United Against Violence, Transgender Law Center, St. James Infirmary, the SF LGBT Center, Trans Employment Program (TEEI), TRANS:THRIVE at the San Francisco Health Center, Dimensions Clinic, Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, and Trans Life at the SF AIDS Foundation. The goal of TAJA’s Coalition is to end all violence against trans women of color. Trans women of color experience violence, discrimination and harassment in many ways, including in their families, schools, workplaces, their relationships, the criminal justice system, and their communities. In order to end the violence, Akira organizes trans women of color to demand better services from our city by advocating for themselves and for each other. She regularly trains agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area to broaden their understanding of trans communities and on ways to make their services safe and welcoming to trans people of color. In addition to being a Black trans woman and recognized leader in the advocacy of trans rights in the San Francisco Bay Area, Akira is also an expert in the engagement, recruitment and delivery of HIV prevention interventions with trans women, especially black trans women.

Akira has expertise in consulting on trans issues related to competency that impact services for trans people in San Francisco. She currently consults on the Office of the Mayor’s ‘Our Trans Home’ project that has provided housing for 53 of San Francisco’s transgender people. She has also trained numerous organizations on trans cultural competency.

Akira is a SHINE Strong Advisor.

Vanessa Warri, BA, MSW, PhD student (she/her)

Vanessa Warri is a Nigerian-American community-based researcher, strategist, and advocate, committed to the liberation, empowerment, and safety of Black transgender women, queer and transgender people of color, and all communities existing at the various intersections of oppression. For over 12 years Vanessa has provided empowerment based direct services and peer education for transgender communities, LGBTQQIA+ young people, and system-involved individuals.

Some highlights of her professional background include lobbying in collaboration with Beyond Emancipation and Casey Family Programs within California state government for the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, which was signed into law in September 2010 – extending the maximum age of foster care from 18 to 21, and serving as a 2012 mayoral appointee on the San Francisco Youth Commission.

In addition, Vanessa worked as a research associate for the UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, where she facilitated several behavioral health interventions aimed to improve transgender women’s engagement with a primary healthcare provider, and led community-based research efforts in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) and the AMAAD Institute, exploring the experiences of Black LGBTQ+ people and their mental health needs.

As a 2018 Point Foundation undergraduate scholar, Vanessa attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), receiving a double major in Anthropology and Sociology. As a 2020 Point Foundation graduate scholar, Vanessa hopes to be able to support the next generation of Black queer and transgender people in their educational attainments by creating initiatives that center their lived experience and expertise in research about them, as she continues her education at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Social Welfare department. Her research will primarily focus on the efficacy of peer-developed and driven social empowerment initiatives for Black queer and transgender people that address social determinants of health outside of the healthcare engagement realm.

Vanessa is a SHINE Strong Advisor.

Sophia Y. Kong, PhD (she/her)

Sophia began working with adolescents when she was still an adolescent herself, as a mentor for an after-school program for young girls. From there, she worked in a variety of community organizations focused on empowering young people and building self-esteem. She has always loved working with young people, because she struggled as an adolescent, and believes that she could have benefited from extra emotional support. While working at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in 2002, Sophia became inspired by the mental health providers and decided to pursue a career in mental health. She earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2008 at California School of Professional Psychology, providing continuing and comprehensive mental and behavioral health care for individuals and families, consultation to agencies and communities, and mental health training, education and supervision. Her work with young people is diverse and includes working with individuals living with autism, young people living with HIV, sexual and gender minorities, and people living with terminal illnesses. She tailors interventions depending on the individual and has seen through her experience the effectiveness of combining various theories and professional methodologies.

Sophia is SHINE Strong’s Clinical Supervisor.