Meet the Experts

Deborah Arrindell

Deborah Arrindell is the vice president of health policy for the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA) where she advocates on behalf of ASHA before legislative, administrative and private agencies on issues related to the prevention of STIs and access to comprehensive sexual health information. With more than 30 years of experience in social policy and health policy issues, Ms. Arrindell has developed and implemented short-term and long-term strategies to influence policies that impact sexual health, with an emphasis on prevention of sexually transmitted infections and enhancing awareness of the burden and impact of STIs on adolescents, women and people of color.
 

Discussion at this roundtable may include: health policies; improving sexual health; advocacy

Harrell Chesson

Harrell Chesson, PhD is a health economist in the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention and has extensive experience in the fields of STD and HIV prevention, alcohol and substance abuse and risky sexual behavior, and decision making under uncertainty. His research includes investigating the impact and cost-effectiveness of prevention interventions including HPV vaccination programs, analyzing policies that can affect behavior and STD incidence, and developing tools to quantify the value of prevention activities.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: health economics; cost-effectiveness of prevention interventions; analyses of STD policies

Matt Golden

Matthew Golden, MD, MPH is the director of the Public Health – Seattle & King County HIV/STD Program, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, and the director of the UW Public Health Capacity Building Center. His research includes evaluations of population-based interventions, research on HIV/STI field services, and HIV/STD surveillance projects and program evaluations.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: integrating public health practice with operational research; modernizing STD/HIV partner services; capacity building

David C. Harvey

David Harvey, MSW is the executive director of the National Coalition for STD Directors (NCSD) and was previously the founding executive director of AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families. In addition to extensive experience in non-profit leadership and advocacy positions to improve adult literacy, disability services, anti-poverty programs, and STD/HIV prevention and care, he has published numerous journal articles, book chapters and monographs on public health policy and legal issues. David started out his career working in the U.S. House of Representatives and the House of Commons in London. Recently, he has focused on expanding the reach of NCSD, repositioning STDs on the national stage, and including STDs as part of the End HIV Initiative.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: advocacy for STD prevention; coalition building; STD policy work and policymaker education

Chaquetta Johnson

Chaquetta Johnson, DNP, MPH, APRN, WHNP-BC is a board certificated women’s health nurse practitioner and currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Louisiana STD/HIV/Hepatitis program where she assists with the oversight of statewide program activities and offers clinical consultation to internal and external partners. She has served on numerous civic and professional boards including the National Coalition of STD Directors Board of Directors. Her experience at the state and national level focuses on STD prevention, including working to reduce congenital syphilis, improving women’s health, and reducing health disparities.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: state/local STD prevention programs; congenital syphilis; women’s health

Sheila Lukehart

Sheila Lukehart, PhD is a Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Global Health, and Adjunct Professor of Microbiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. An international expert in syphilis, her laboratory studies the pathogenesis and immune responses in syphilis in humans and in animal models. Her research bridges basic laboratory and clinic science and includes investigations of neurosyphilis, syphilis-HIV interactions, molecular genetics, and antibiotic resistance.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: laboratory and clinical studies of syphilis; antibiotic resistance; molecular pathogenesis

Lisa Manhart

Lisa Manhart, PhD, MPH is the Associate Dean for Research at the School of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Her research involves defining the clinical epidemiology of emerging STI pathogens, with a focus on Mycoplasma genitalium. Her research also includes studies of the behavioral epidemiology of STI and HIV-infection.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: emerging STI; epidemiology of genital tract disease; behavioral epidemiology of STI

Jeanne Marrazzo

Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Infectious Disease at the University of Alabama School of Medicine and faculty for the Alabama-North Carolina STD Prevention Training Center. Her research includes studying the human microbiome as it relates to female reproductive tract infections and hormonal contraceptive use, biomedical interventions to prevent HIV, health care seeking behavior in LGBTQ populations, and diagnosis and epidemiology of bacterial STDs.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: interdisciplinary research; intersection between HIV and STDs; biomedical interventions

Leandro Mena

Leandro Mena, MD, MPH, is chair and professor of Population Health Science and professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and serves as the STD medical director for the state of Mississippi as well as for a public HIV/STD clinic and for the Open Arms Healthcare Center, a community-based clinic with a focus on the health needs of LGBT populations. In addition to extensive research to strengthen the evidence base for STD/HIV prevention, he has developed culturally-competent STD/HIV prevention programs which have been replicated in other cities.

Discussion at this roundtable may include: culturally competent STD/HIV prevention; addressing health disparities; LGBT health