Clinical Practice: FASTEP Member Profiles

 

Annemarie Charlesworth, MA 
Program Evaluator
National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health
Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Annemarie Charlesworth, MA, is a Program Evaluator and Research Specialist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) National Center of Excellence (CoE) in Women's Health and the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS). Working with IHPS Director Dr. Claire Brindis, Ms. Charlesworth has been conducting a 7-year long evaluation of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship, conducted by the Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California, which aims to eliminate health disparities in underserved communities through the training of journalists reporting on health in those communities. Ms. Charlesworth has designed and conducted extensive evaluations of UCSF CoE programs and has provided evaluation technical assistance to academic-community partnership programs throughout the country. In addition to the aforementioned programs, she is currently evaluating the REACH the Decision Makers fellowship training and Food Matters Clinician training programs, and overseeing the recently launched "Innovations in Young Women's Health Awards," a competitive award opportunity for high school aged young women in the San Francisco Unified School District to design, implement, and evaluate young women's health programs in their schools.

Judith Focareta, RN, MEd, LCCE
Environmental Initiatives Coordinator
Magee-Womens Hospital
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
California Department of Public Health

Bio:
Judy Focareta is a maternal-child nurse. She holds a master's degree in health education with a specialty in environmental health. She is proud to be a Charter Member of the Jacques Cousteau Society. Judy is a certified health teacher in Pennsylvania and taught environmental health K thru 8 at St. Bonaventure Catholic School from 1990 to 1996. From 1998 to 2004 Judy owned and operated a "Green" Bed and Breakfast. She remained active in nursing and worked part-time as a Midwife Assistant in the Pittsburgh Midwife Center. She has been active in both local and national environmental groups. Since 2004, Judy has been employed by Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC where she coordinates the sustainability and environmental health education initiatives. At Magee, Judy leads a dynamic, multidisciplinary Green Team. Accomplishments include:

• Production of the DVD "Baby Steps to Green Parenting"
• Creation of three organic vegetable and herb gardens in Magee's indoor courtyards
• Reduction of Regulated Medical Waste by 50% in 2010

Linda Giudice, MD, PhD 
Professor and Chair
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
The Robert B. Jaffe, MD Endowed Professor in the Reproductive Sciences
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Dr. Linda Giudice, Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is a biochemist, gynecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist who specializes in endometriosis, implantation and ovulatory disorders, infertility, and assisted reproduction. In her research, she focuses on endometrial biology and placental-uterine interactions relevant to implantation and pregnancy disorders, environmental impacts on reproductive health, and human embryonic and endometrial stem/progenitor cells.

Dr. Giudice earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at University of California, Los Angeles, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University, working under Nobel Laureate Gunter Blobel, and completed post-doctoral research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She earned her medical degree at Stanford University and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford and Washington University in St. Louis, as well as a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Stanford. She was a faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine for 19 years where she was the Director of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility division. She has served on numerous NIH study sections, is former Chair of the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee to the FDA, and chaired the NIH Reproductive Medicine Network and Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproduction and Infertility Research Steering Committees. She served on the board of directors of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the Society for Women's Health Research and was President of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI). Dr. Giudice was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2002 and currently is a member of the IOM Health Sciences Policy Board. In October 2005, she joined UCSF as the Robert B. Jaffe, M.D., Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

Michelle Gottlieb, MEM 
Health Care Without Harm

Bio:
Michelle Gottlieb, MEM (Masters of Environmental Management) is the co-coordinator of Health Care Without Harm's National Healthy Food and Healthcare Program, the co-coordinator for the New England region, and co-coordinates the Food Matters Clinical Education and Advocacy Program. Formerly she was the Co-Executive Director of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility where she specialized in children's health, women's health and reproductive health. She worked with pediatric care providers from around the country to develop the Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit, which provides materials to assist pediatric caregivers in incorporating environmental health into their practice. Prior to moving to the Boston area she helped develop a new program on Health, Environment, and Development at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C. Ms. Gottlieb holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a Master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where she focused on environmental public health and policy. She serves on the Board of Health in Marblehead, MA where she lives with her husband and 3 children, and practices yoga whenever she can.

Rivka Gordon, PA-C, MHS
Chief of Staff
Clinical Care & Innovation and Care Management Institute
Kaiser Permanente

Bio:
Throughout her career in health care, Ms. Gordon has worked as a clinician, educator and advocate. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff to Dr. Scott Young, the executive director of Kaiser Permanente's Care Management Institute (CMI.) In this role, she leads CMI's work in organizational effectiveness and works on clinical and operational best practices. Prior to her work at Kaiser Permanente, Rivka worked as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP.) Rivka also served as the Director of United States Program for Ipas, developing a national technical assistance and mentoring program focused on a women-centered approach to management of early pregnancy loss in US hospitals. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the UCSF's Advances in Primary Initiative Care (APC), an initiative of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) and on the Advisory Committee of FASTEP with UCSF's Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment. She also serves on Planned Parenthood of America's National Medical Committee and as Policy Chair for the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.

In her clinical career as a primary care physician assistant, Rivka worked as the Director of Health Services at the North Carolina School of Science and Math School-Based Health Center and Director of Health Services at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women. In addition, she worked as a family planning clinician for Planned Parenthood of the Southern Mountains in rural Tennessee and as a primary care provider in rural North Carolina.

Robert Gould, MD
Associate Adjunct Professor
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Robert M. Gould, MD graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and has worked as a Pathologist in San Jose since 1981. Since 1989, he has been President of the SF-Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), and in 2003 was President of National PSR. Since 1986, Dr. Gould has been a leading member of the Peace Caucus of the American Public Health Association, for which he is current Chairperson, and in 2009 APHA awarded Dr. Gould the prestigious Sidel-Levy Peace Award. Dr. Gould has been recognized as a leading expert on the environmental and public health impacts of nuclear weapons, and has been a contributing author to chapters on health impacts of nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism in "War and Public Health" (2008) and "Terrorism and Public Health" (2002) published by Oxford University Press.

Since 1992 he has been a leading member of the Environmental Committee of the Santa Clara County chapter of the California Medical Association (CMA), and through this work has authored and submitted numerous resolutions adopted by CMA as policy--including resolutions calling for preventing dioxin waste from medical facilities, preventing human exposure to mercury, reducing the use of pesticides, protecting farmworkers from toxic pesticide exposures, replacing medical devices containing phthalates (DEHP) from Neonatal Intensive Care Units, reducing air pollution, for binding reductions in global climate change-causing gases, for the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction, and for avoiding accidental nuclear war, etc. For his work within CMA, received the Santa Clara County Medical Association's (SCCMA) "Outstanding Contribution in Community Service" award in 2001. Dr. Gould has also been listed as one of Santa Clara County's "Top 400 Physicians" in peer-review surveys published in San Jose Magazine in 2001 through 2007.

Katie Huffling, CNM, RN, MS
Program Manager
Environmental Health Education Center
University of Maryland School of Nursing

Bio:
Katie Huffling is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and is an environmental health program manager at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In her current position Ms. Huffling is coordinating the efforts of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Ms. Huffling is the author of a number of peer-reviewed articles on environmental health issues as they relate to pregnancy. She has also created an assessment tool that can be used by nurses and other clinicians to assess for environmental exposures of pregnant women and prompts the clinician to provide anticipatory guidance.

Sarah Janssen MD, PhD, MPH 
Staff Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
Assistant Clinical Professor, Occupational & Environmental Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Sarah Janssen is a senior scientist in the health program at NRDC's San Francisco office. She is a physician and scientist with expertise in chemicals that mimic hormones and interfere with fertility, reproduction and development of the brain. Many of these chemicals are found in common consumer products and NRDC is working to reduce exposures by removing the worst offenders. Dr. Janssen is board-certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and has a PhD in Reproductive Physiology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a MPH from UC-Berkeley. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco where she is conducting research on exposure to chemicals during vulnerable periods of development. She blogs on NRDC's Switchboard.

Mark Miller, MD, MPH 
Director, Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit
Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics 
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Dr. Mark Miller is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco. He serves as the director of the University of California San Francisco- Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) and as a public health medical officer for the California EPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. He recently was appointed as director of the California Children's Environmental Health Program. He completed his MD degree and pediatric residency from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and an MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the School of Public Health at U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Miller spent 13 years as a pediatrician in private practice in Chico, California before completing a residency in Preventive Medicine with the California Department of Health Services. He is a former member of the AAP National Committee on Environmental Health and has served on many committees for state and federal agencies. His papers on pediatric environmental health issues have appeared in such publications as Pediatrics, Environmental Health Perspectives, and the Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health (published by the American Academy of Pediatrics).

Link to partner resources: http://coeh.berkeley.edu/ucpehsu/

The UCSF PEHSU is part of a network of pediatric units across the country dedicated to providing expertise to health professionals, families, and communities on the connection between children’s health and the environment. The UCSF PEHSU website provides clinical resources, factsheets, and links to educational information on environmental health issues impacting children.

Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy Management & School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley

Bio: Coming Soon

Ashlesha Patel, MD 
Senior Medical Director for Research
Medical Continuing Education and Special Projects
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Bio: Coming Soon

Julia Quint, PhD 
Chief (Retired)
Hazard Evaluation System and Informartion Service
Occupational Health Branch
California Department of Public Health

Bio:
Julia Quint, Ph.D. is retired from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). She is a Research Scientist and former Chief of the Hazard Evaluation System and Information Service (HESIS), an occupational health program in CDPH. Julia has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California and conducted laboratory-based research at UCSF and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory prior to joining CDPH in 1981. Throughout her career in public health, she has initiated, developed, and contributed to projects, programs, and policies that are focused on protecting workers, communities, and the environment from toxic chemicals, and on promoting the development and use of safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. She has served on a number of scientific advisory committees, including recent committees of the National Academy of Sciences on tetrachloroethylene and health impact assessment. She currently serves on the California Department of Toxic Substances Green Ribbon Science Panel, the Scientific Guidance Panel of the California Biomonitoring Program, the CDC/NIOSH World Trade Center Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, the National Healthy Nail Salon Alliance Research Advisory Committee, and the CDPH Environmental Health Tracking Advisory Group. Julia has authored many peer-reviewed scientific articles and reports, and is the recipient of several awards for her work in public health.

Pablo Rodriguez, MD 
Associate Chair
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Brown Medical School and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island

Bio:
Dr. Pablo Rodriguez is Associate Chair for Community Relationships in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women and Infants' Hospital, former Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, and is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Waren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. He is a well-known community leader and an active participant in civic and charitable organizations both locally and nationally. He is Past Chairman of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals in Washington, D.C. and has also been Chair of the Rhode Island Foundation, the International Institute of RI, the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee, RI Project AIDS, and led the effort for the $1.5 million Capital Campaign to benefit Progreso Latino, the leading social service agency for new immigrants. He was actively involved in the Health Care Reform Commission in charge of drafting the Rite Care legislation in Rhode Island and has been involved in numerous Health Department initiatives such as Chairman of the Minority Health Advisory Committee and the Preventive Health Advisory Commission. He has received numerous awards for his community involvement including Community Service Award from the American Medical Association in 1994 and Planned Parenthood of RI in 1996. In 1996 he was named a Community Hero Torchbearer for the Olympic Torch Relay of the 1996 Olympics. He received the Bertram Jaffee Award for advocacy in Public Health, given by the RI Public Health Association. The John Hope Settlement House also gave him their highest honor, The Paris Vaughn Sterett Award for community service and the Ministers Alliance bestowed him with the Martin Luther King Service Award. Rhode Island Monthly magazine has included him twice in their "Top Doctors" edition. Host of radio and television programs he is currently featured in "Hablemos" and "Nuestra Salud" on WELH 88.1 FM, Latino Public Radio, where he also serves as Chairman and CEO.

Karin Gunther Russ, MS, RN 
National Coordinator
Fertility and Reproductive Health Working Group
Collaborative on Health and the Environment

Bio:
Karin is dedicated to optimizing the health of women and children by preventing of exposures to environmental hazards. As Coordinator of CHE's Reproductive Health Working Group, Karin works with researchers, health professionals, advocates and those experiencing challenges to fertility, to disseminate the latest research on reproductive environmental health. Karin is also a faculty member of the Community & Public Health department at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. To support nurses as leaders in environmental health issues, Karin serves as co-chair for the Maryland Nurses Association's Environmental Health Committee. Karin has been a registered nurse for many years, working in a variety of settings such as labor and delivery, women's health, epidemiology, vaccine development and research management. She holds a Masters degree in Nursing Management, and post-masters specialty certificates in Teaching in Nursing and Environmental Health Nursing from the University of Maryland.

Link to partner resources: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/initiatives/fertility

Lucia Sayre, MA 
Co-Director
San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility

Bio:
Lucia is Co-Director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (SF PSR), coordinating all aspects of the chapter's environmental health programs focused on clinical education and advocacy, pediatric and reproductive environmental health, healthy foods in hospitals, and climate change. Lucia is also a Co-Coordinator of the Healthy Food in Health Care campaign and the Climate and Health Literacy project for Health Care Without Harm. Prior to SF PSR, Lucia worked for 15 years in community and program development and organizing in the U.S., Mexico and South America. Her experience includes fieldwork and curriculum development for the Peace Corps; rural economic development with Mayo communities in Sonora, Mexico; educational outreach for the Field Museum in Chicago; and food security projects on the Mexico/U.S. border with Tucson Audubon Society and the University of Arizona.

Naomi Stotland, MD 
Assistant Adjunct Professor
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Dr. Naomi Stotland is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF. Dr. Stotland's research interests include weight gain, nutrition, and obesity in pregnancy. Dr. Stotland received a Women's Reproductive Health Research K12 award in 2005 to study the epidemiologic relationship between pregnancy weight gain and birth outcomes. She is now developing and testing interventions to improve diet and exercise among Spanish-speaking prenatal patients. She works with PRHE on many of their clinical and translational projects studying exposures of women to chemicals during pregnancy. Dr. Stotland has practiced obstetrics and gynecology at San Francisco General Hospital since 1999.

Patrice Sutton, MPH 
Research Scientist
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Patrice Sutton, MPH is a Research Scientist with over 25 years of experience in occupational and environmental health research, industrial hygiene, public health practice, policy development and community-based advocacy. As a contractor to California's state health department from 1987 to 2006, she was responsible for conducting all aspects of research investigations spanning a disparate range of issues, including lead poisoning, tuberculosis, asthma, and pesticide-illness. She has extensive experience collaborating with directly-impacted workplace and community-based populations, labor, and governmental and non-governmental organizations in the development of research strategies and policy recommendations. Since the 1980s Patrice has worked as a volunteer in support of communities and workers impacted by the research, development, testing and proliferation of nuclear weapons and to prevent the public health consequences of war and armed conflict. Patrice is an active member of the American Public Health Association. She has published over forty peer-reviewed scientific articles and government technical reports.

Jessica Trowbridge, MPH
Research Scientist
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Jessica is a research scientist leading the From Advancing Science to Ensuring Prevention (FASTEP) project, and implementing PRHE's communication Strategy. Jessica is a graduate from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health where she studied Environmental Health Sciences. During her studies she interned with PRHE recruiting study participants at San Francisco General Hospital. Jessica has 10 years of experience in Public Health and is interested in policy, science translation, and environmental and reproductive justice.

Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, MPH 
Associate Professor and Director
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Tracey is the Director of PRHE and an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and Pediatrics. She has done extensive research and policy development on environmental health issues, with a particular emphasis on early-life development. Her research areas include perinatal health effects from air pollution, developing the first national characterization of air toxics across the US, children's health risks, and environmental health indicators. She has authored numerous scientific publications. She recently departed from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), where she was a senior scientist and policy advisor in the Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation. While at US EPA Tracey was the principle author of two EPA reports on children's environmental health indicators. She also has worked on critical science policy issues, including participation in risk assessment review and development, and general policy development. Tracey is a coauthor of the 2005 US EPA guidance addressing childhood susceptibility to carcinogens for use in risk assessment. She is an Associate Editor of Environmental Health Perspectives.

Sandy Worthington, MSN, WHNP-BC, CNM 
Director of Medical Continuing Education and Special Projects
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Bio:
Sandy Worthington works for the national office of Planned Parenthood where she develops, implements and evaluates educational programs and materials f that focus on reproductive health topics for staff and patients. She coordinates all aspects of the Green Choices program that highlights the affect that environmental toxins have on reproductive health outcomes. Prior to this position she was the director of the PPFA Women's Health Nurse Practitioner Program, the Colposcopy Training Program and ongoing continuing education courses for advanced practice clinicians. Ms. Worthington received her undergraduate and graduate degrees for the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She is active in numerous professional organizations.

Marya G. Zlatnik, MD 
Associate Professor
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
University of California, San Francisco

Bio:
Dr. Zlatnik is a specialist in high risk pregnancy (Maternal Fetal Medicine) at UCSF, with clinical expertise in ultrasound and the diagnosis of fetal anomalies. She cares for many women who fetuses are found to have birth defects. Dr. Zlatnik is the associate director of UCSF's fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine. Her research interests include obstetrical ultrasound, OB education, patient safety and quality of care. She has a long personal interest in the environment and pollution. She is the mother of a young son.