Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Steering Committee
In October 2020, the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Steering Committee was formed as a strategy to identify new partners and voices across sectors to guide the implementation of the EHE Plan. Steering Committee members not only advise EHE programs and strategies, but serve as catalysts for collective action to end the HIV epidemic by leading individual projects of their choice related to achieving EHE goals.
Jerry P. Abraham, MD, MPH, CMQ
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Jerry P. Abraham, MD, MPH, CMQ
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Dr. Jerry P. Abraham (he/him/his) is a Family & Community Medicine Physician & Global Injury Epidemiologist working in South Los Angeles at Kedren Acute Psychiatric Hospital. He is Secretary of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, Trustee of the California Medical Association, and Delegate to the American Medical Association. He teaches Medical Students and Psychiatry & Family Medicine Resident Physicians as Clinical Instructor at Charles Drew University School of Medicine, a Historically Black Institution in Los Angeles. He is a regular Health Policy and Health Care Contributor and Commentator on Spectrum News 1 among other media outlets as well as for governmental & non-profit organizations. He continues to advise on COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness, Infection Control, and Disease Prevention.
Oscar Arellano, BA
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Oscar Arellano, BA
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Oscar Arellano (he/him/his) is the Harm Reduction Program Manager and is responsible for the certification, creation, development, and coordination of all Harm Reduction Program services at SSG HOPICS in SPA 6. To provide interventions in connection with outreach, to improve the health and wellbeing of non-homeless/homeless participants affected by substance use disorders. To reduce the impact of substance and sex-related harm by addressing health disparities and increasing safe practices. Mr. Arellano has four years of working at SSG HOPICS by providing social services to a marginalized community, always focused on finding different strategies to improve the community he currently works in and lives in South LA. Mr. Arellano holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in Sociology from CSUDH and has recently been accepted to an MSW program at APU.
Alasdair Burton
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Alasdair Burton
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Alasdair Burton is a retired mainframe Systems Programmer, and a Volunteer Peer Support Group facilitator. He is one of Los Angeles County's Commissioners on HIV (LACoH) for an HIV Stakeholder seat. He is also one of the Co-chairs of the LACoH's Consumer Caucus, for consumers of Ryan White Act services, working to help raise awareness of those services for Persons Living With HIV (PLWH) in LA County. He has served on several Community Advisory Boards since the 1990s, while being a participant in many clinical trials. More than 20 years ago, he was one of the first three participants in one of the first clinicals trials of Gene Modification of Autologous Stem Cells to protect them against HIV, which have gradually shown more and more success. While they have yet to find a sufficiently effective combination to be deemed an HIV Cure, he continues to encourage people to participate in clinical trials, and to become more familiar with and more comfortable with their own individual medical health and health overall, as a member of LACoH's Aging Caucus.
Zelenne L. Cárdenas
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Zelenne L. Cárdenas
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Zelenne Cárdenas (she/her/hers) is the director of prevention services for Social Model Recovery Systems, Inc, a human services organization. She works diligently on behalf of people who face the most devastating manifestations of poverty in the downtown Los Angeles area known as Skid Row. She has been an activist for the past 20 years, helping to build multi-ethnic coalitions and increase civic participation. Cárdenas has served as a consultant to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as to several counties throughout the State of California. She received The California Wellness Foundation's (TCWF) Community Leader Fellowship to support her violence prevention work. In 2004, Cárdenas was named a Local Hero of the Year by KCET-TV and Union Bank of California during Hispanic Heritage Month and honored with California Peace Prize for her work in Skid Row by TCWF. In 2007, she was awarded La Opinión's, a leading Spanish-language daily newspaper in the U.S.), the Mujeres Destacadas/Outstanding Woman award for her leadership. In 2008, Bank of America, through its Neighborhood Excellence initiative, named her a Local Hero for work in the skid row community.
Raniyah Copeland, MPH
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Raniyah Copeland, MPH
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Raniyah Copeland (she/her/hers) is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Equity & Impact Solutions, a consulting firm that provides strategic advising and support to companies and organizations in their efforts to advance racial, gender, and health equity. Previously, Raniyah led the nation’s only HIV ‘thank and do tank’ that is exclusively focused on ending the HIV epidemic in Black America, the Black AIDS Institute, and led the organization to its largest financial and programmatic vitality in its 20-plus year history. In 2019, she was named one of “The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans.” and in 2021 was recognized as one of 100 Black HIV Advocates by Poz Magazine. In 2021, Raniyah was appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and currently serves as a board member for Essential Access Health. A proud So Cal native, Copeland earned a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies and Public Health from UC Berkeley, and a Master of Public Health from Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science.
Tyreik Gaffney-Smith
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Tyreik Gaffney-Smith
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Ty Gaffney-Smith (He, Him His) is the Outreach Coordinator for Out Here Sexual Health, powered by APLA Health, Ty was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and has been living in Los Angeles for 10 years and has been working in the non-profit sector for 13 years. Ty is a childhood cancer survivor and does work with the American Cancer Society in addition to being an advocate for young men’s health and wellness, including HIV and sexual health. In addition, Ty has spearheaded several Los Angeles city-wide campaigns included #HealthyHim (MSM 18-29) and #TheLinkUp (a virtual space for HIV + young men of color). Ty now leads the Outreach team at Out Here Sexual Health and has a passion for fun innovative ways to bring easy and fast sexual health services to the community.
Erin Jackson-Ward, MPH
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Erin Jackson-Ward, MPH
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Erin Jackson-Ward (she/her/hers) is the Director of the Community Benefit Giving Office (CBGO) at Cedars-Sinai, overseeing all outbound philanthropy on behalf of the health system. Erin directed the strategic redesign of the CBGO's funding priority areas, which include Access to Care, Social Determinants of Health and Civic Engagement. Previously, Erin oversaw implementation of Cedars-Sinai’s expanding presence in new communities. Prior to Cedars-Sinai, Erin was involved with nonprofits working primarily on the sociomedical needs of pediatric HIV, homeless, and formerly incarcerated populations. Erin is a current DrPH candidate in Health Leadership at Johns Hopkins, holds an MPH from Columbia, and a BA in Psychology from UCLA.
Dechelle Richardson (Chelley)
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Dechelle Richardson (Chelley)
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Dechelle Richardson (she/her/hers) is a Community Engagement and Training Coordinator for the HIV.E team under the EHE initiative, at the AMAAD institute. The two cohorts she oversees are the South LA and Women of Color cohorts which conducts story circle around South LA and a visibility campaign for WOC to be supported in being affected or infected by HIV. Chelley values creating and sustaining relationships with the community with a focus on education and enrichment. She has spent most of her life in the grassroots sector connecting with people door-to-door or 1 on 1 as a Jehovah’s Witness. Although she is no longer a Jehovah’s Witness, she learned how to relate to others, on any level and at any time. Additionally, she spent over 10 years working as an in-home caregiver, harnessing compassion for people even while experiencing emotional fatigue. Chelley’s love for people motivates her to be relentless in attempting to raise real capital for the community.
Charles Robbins, MBA
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Charles Robbins, MBA
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Charles Robbins (he/him/his) is an accomplished C-suite executive who has been transforming communities for the past three decades. His extensive community-based organization career spans health care, child welfare, homelessness, behavioral health, suicide prevention, and substance use disorder, with a forte in HIV and LGBTQ+ populations. He is a consultant with Health Management Associates. Prior, Charles held leadership positions at APLA Health, The Village Family Services, The Trevor Project, National LGBT Task Force, GLAAD, AIDS Medicine & Miracles, and Project Angel Heart. He holds an MBA in healthcare management from Western Governors University.
Kaleef Starks, BA
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Kaleef Starks, BA
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Kaleef Starks (she/her/hers) is a graduate of UCLA’s Gender Studies program (Class of 2020), Kaleef (also known as Kae) has been involved in community work since the age of 16 lending her voice to multiple spaces surrounding the topics of homelessness, racism, homophobia, transphobia, critical race theory, women’s rights, D.E.I. and overall helping people through her education, professional work young adults, and life experiences as a transgender woman of color. She is a woman who wears multiple hats and has experiences that are fitting for HIV Prevention. Entering the HIV Prevention space as a Biomedical Prevention Services Navigator (PrEP) for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) in May 2021, she currently works with transgender and non-binary youth ages 12-24 as a Sexual Health Educator / BLUSH Facilitator for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Center for Trans Youth Health and Development (CTYHD). Kaleef is passionate about community involvement and hopes to contribute to aiding EHE in its current efforts.
JavonTae Wilson
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JavonTae Wilson
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JavonTae Wilson (he/him/his) is a 29 year old Community activist, who has dedicated his life to addressing the issues that disproportionately impact Young Adults and Black Gay Men in Los Angeles County. JavonTae currently functions as Lead HIV Tester and Linkage Navigator at In The Meantime Men’s Group, Inc, a 22 year old 501C3 Community Service Organization dedicated to addressing the holistic wellness of Black gay, same gender loving, and bisexual men. JavonTae participates in the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV, the Department of Mental Health LGBTQ+ Taskforce and the Black/ African American Community Taskforce that primarily focused on the Black/ African American Community and HIV. He is also responsible for the HIV Testing and STI Screening component of In The Meantime’s BoiRevolution Initiative, an innovative, multi-layered intervention targeting young Black gay men in Los Angeles County.
Community Engagement
Community engagement is integral to ending the HIV epidemic. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Division of HIV and STD Programs has partnered with The Wellness Foundation and Arming Minorities Against Addiction and Disease (AMAAD), to launch an EHE community engagement program that aims to mobilize and empower key partners and community members to innovate, develop, organize, and sustain HIV prevention and treatment strategies aligned with the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative.
Program Goals
Empower community members to advance HIV-related projects, aimed at accomplishing the Primary Goal, within their respective communities utilizing a community-led approach.
Increase knowledge and awareness of HIV and HIV-related issues among communities and populations disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.Goal, within their respective communities utilizing a community-led approach.
Develop partnerships with organizations and businesses to support EHE efforts.
Reduce HIV-related stigma among Los Angeles County residents.