Eliza Samore- Peer Navigator  

“I am excited to join the 094 team as a peer navigator. My past experiences include working in research and mental health services. Long-term, my goals are to pursue a career in social work and psychotherapy. I am committed to applying my experience and dedication to health interventions, interdisciplinary research, and community health toward this position.”

Anthony Robles - Peer Navigator

“Helping others is the highest form of success. Providing a hand up is an act of humanness. Reach out or reach up, the world is ours.”

Usiel Gutierrez - Peer Navigator 

“My name is Usiel Gutierrez and I work as a peer navigator. I joined this field because I want to help make a difference in our community and be a light for people in their darkest moments.”

Jagroop Chahal - Mobile Unit Operator 

“My role is to drive to Mobile unit to locations where we set up, and I do outreach and look for new locations where we can set up.”

Christopher Blades - Community Program Manager

“I am committed to bridging the gap between clinical research and community acceptance by providing awareness on the current Opiate crisis, and highlighting the benefits of MOUD and peer navigation support.” 

Esperanza Orozco - Medical Assistant

“I am excited to be a part of such an amazing team!”

Brigitte Abrego - Medical Assistant

“Providing great patient care has been my number one passion throughout my career as an MA. I'd love to be able to bring my extensive experience as well as provide substantial support to our 094 team. I hope to aid others in this project by creating compassionate medical care as well as establish a strong relationship with our communities.”

Dawn Rago-Rose - Nurse Practitioner

“I am a family nurse practitioner with over 20 yrs of nursing experience in areas including research, primary care, and geriatrics. I hope to facilitate increased access to safe, welcoming, non-judgmental, quality care to people who inject drugs with opioid use disorder by utilizing and researching the efficacy of a UCLA Mobile Unit.”

Brandon Moghanian -Undergraduate Research Assistant

“I have a strong passion to learn more about research that aims to develop innovative ways to deliver health care in the effort to prevent, as well as treat, addiction and infectious disease. I am excited to be a part of such an amazing research team!”

Danielle Seiden - Project Director

“I have been working with vulnerable populations for the past 20 years managing numerous research studies focusing on the needs of people living with HIV, criminal-justice-involvement and substance use disorders. 094 is a unique project in that it brings care to the community, thus reducing the many hurdles that often leave disenfranchised patient populations under-served. With our great team of navigators, clinicians, researchers and administrators, I am excited to (quite literally) roll out our clinic-on-wheels!”

Jennifer Baughman - Administrator

“I have spent twenty years working in research that focuses on addiction treatment, HIV treatment and prevention, and the intersection of the two. My job duties focus on administration and operational logistics. It is extremely gratifying to work with such a dedicated team and to see the impact we make in the community.”

Amy Richards, M.D.  - Primary Clinician

“I am an Assistant Clinical Professor in the UCLA Department of Family Medicine, where I practice as an Addiction Medicine specialist and as a primary care physician. At CBAM, I serve as a primary clinician on our mobile unit, providing clinical care to patients with opioid use disorder. I received my medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles.”

Dr. David Goodman-Meza, MD - Site Principal Investigator

“My drive is preventing infections and getting the best treatment available to people who use drugs. I believe that people who use drugs face barriers at multiple levels to getting good health care, and that we need to figure out ways to get people the care that they need and deserve. This project tries to do this, and tries to develop the evidence on how to get people who use drugs the best health care out there.”

Dr. Steve Shoptaw, PhD - National Protocol Chair 

“I am committed to improving the health of PWID, especially those PWID who are living with or who are at risk for HIV.”