Our Team

Dr. Landovitz joined the CARE Center in 2006 after training at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He also served as medical co-director for the Vietnam CDC Harvard Medical School AIDS Partnership in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He is an infectious disease and HIV clinician with both a clinical and research interest in HIV prevention, particularly the use of chemoprophylaxis as part of HIV prevention - PrEP,

Background: Dr. Currier completed medical school at Dartmouth followed by residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Infectious Disease fellowships at Beth Israel and Harvard Medical School.

Specializations: Infectious Diseases and Clinical Epidemiology, including the treatment and prevention of complications of antiretroviral therapy, gender-related issues in HIV therapy and the evaluation of antiretroviral treatment strategies in resource limited settings

Dr. Tara Vijayan works in the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine. Her clinical interests include general infectious diseases, HIV medicine, global health, infectious diseases in underserved populations, medical education and antimicrobial stewardship. She serves the medical director of antimicrobial stewardship and as the associate director for the scientific foundations of medicine for the school of medicine.

Gayle joined the UCLA CARE Center as the Director of Clinical Research in January 2022. She received her BA from Vanderbilt University in 2013. Prior to joining UCLA, Gayle was at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York for eight years. In her free time, Gayle enjoys cooking, hiking, and trying new restaurants.

Brooke joined the CARE Center in February 2019. Prior to transferring to UCLA she worked as the HR & Payroll Coordinator at the UCR School of Medicine for 4 years. Her main responsibilities include financial oversight and fund management of all CTU related studies. She enjoys all things plants, Pilates, and kdramas.

Ryan joined the CARE Center team in July 2013. Prior to coming to UCLA, he worked at the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at Case Western Reserve University on a variety of childhood obesity and hypertension studies. In his free time, Ryan enjoys collecting and propagating plants, reading mystery novels, cooking all things vegan, and snowboarding.

Stephanie joined the CARE Center team in October 2022. Prior to this, she earned her BA in Public Health-Global Health and MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she worked in global HIV research, focused primarily on PrEP in pregnancy studies based in Kenya. 
 

Justin joined the CARE Center team in October 2023. Prior to coming to UCLA, he worked as a Program/Project Coordinator at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His main responsibilities include administrative and financial support for the CARE Director, MSO, and administration office. In his free time, Justin enjoys attending live music events, playing board games, and learning how to DJ.

I started working at the UCLA CARE Center on 2018. assists the MSO, physicians and Fund Manager with everything including accounting, human resources, invoice processing, staff reimbursements, and purchasing.

Ste'von Afemata transferred to the CARE Center in 2003 after working at UCLA Medical Plaza Lab and Pathology since 2000. She is responsible for all research laboratory functions for CARE including processing, storage of samples, histology, cryopreservation (PBMCs/Pellets),

I joined the CARE Center team in 2001 as study coordinator assistant. Since then I have taken many different roles. I have experience working on numerous trials involving HIV treatment experienced and treatment naive, HIV Gene therapy, Oncology, and CURE agenda trials. During my working years at UCLA I have also taken a brief role with the UCLA VA DOM team before returning to the UCLA CARE Center as a study coordinator for DAIDS and pharmaceutical sponsored trials.

Aleen joined the CARE Center team in July 2017. She majored in Biological Sciences at UCI and received her medical degree at St. George's University School of Medicine in 2016. During her time at CARE she has worked as a clinical research coordinator for the ANCHOR study and various NIH-funded clinical trials under AIDS Clinical Trials Group Network (ACTG). In July 2019, she accepted the position of Clinical Trials Unit Manager.

I am originally from Michigan but left the cold to go to the USC Primary Care Physician Assistant Program where I graduated in 1988. I worked at CIGNA Healthplans in downtown LA, Pacific Oaks Medical Group, and spent 18 years at USC in hematology/bone marrow transplant and HIV medicine with an emphasis in HIV malignancies. I did a brief stint at United Health doing pre-authorizations for oncology/radiation/ and genetic testing.

Neaka has been working at the UCLA CARE Center since 2017. A University of Chicago graduate with a degree in biology, Neaka's background has varied from working in a genetics lab at UChicago to working with senior management at Gilead on an HCV-related project.

Olivia joined the UCLA CARE Center in 2025. She earned her BS in Biology from the UC Riverside, and her MS in Biotechnology from Azusa Pacific University, where she developed her interest in clinical research. She has previous experience in pharmaceutical-sponsored psychiatric and geriatric clinical studies but has always been passionate about epidemiology and pathogenic diseases. In her spare time, she enjoys bird watching and hopes to one day observe birds from every continent.

I started working at the UCLA CARE Center in June 2021. Prior to working at CARE, I worked with Pediatric Infectious Disease Research. I served as a research coordinator for COVID-19 natural history studies of healthcare workers and first responders. 

Christine began working for the CARE Center in October 2005 as one of the clinic medical assistants as well as phlebotomist. She received her medical assistant certificate in 2000; she also received her phlebotomy license in 2005.

Mike has worked in the CARE clinic since 1997, starting as a temporary employee, and he became a full time staff member in 1998.

Joined the CARE Clinic in March 2008. She received her medical assistant certification in 2000. Her past work experience includes working at Central Medical Group, where she worked as an Authorization Coordinator and a Medical Assistant in the Pediatric, Internal Medicine and OB-GYN departments.

I recently started working at UCLA CARE Center on September 2020. I graduated as a Medical Assistant on August 2007. My Previous experience was working at Central Neighborhood Health foundation as a Medical Assistant in the internal Medicine Department as well as a Referral Coordinator processing Authorizations.

Kevin started working at the UCLA CARE Center in November 2023. They graduated with a degree in sociology in 2019 from California State University, Long Beach. Previously, they worked on resource navigation, hosting resource fairs, and creating community events. They'll be continuing that work but focusing on the recruitment of eligible participants for further clinical research. In their spare time, Kevin takes care of his seven tarantulas and running a queer book/social club. 
 

Joined CARE Center in December 1997 from Dept. of Biomathematics as data coordinator. As a data manager, I mainly work on DAIDS sponsored research studies to ensure data timeliness and data quality. Being a big animal lover, I enjoy spending time with my dogs.

Jeannie joined the UCLA CARE Center in 2017 as the Medical Care Manager for the Medical Care Coordination (MCC) program. Her role is to ensure that patients’ medical needs are coordinated and accomplished. Jeannie is also the Program Manager for a new program at the UCLA CARE Clinic, Ambulatory Outpatient Medical (AOM).

Luke Cunningham has worked as a social work professional since the summer of 2019. He has experience in homeless services, severe mental illness, substance use disorders, case management, and HIV/AIDS care management. Luke is passionate about using his skills, compassion, and lived experience to empower those in disenfranchised groups.

Outside of work, Luke enjoys spending time with his family, including his dog, Leaper, and cat, Simba. He is a rugby enthusiast and a big fan of all sports.

Rosa Ramos received her BA in Human Services from CSU, Dominguez Hills and has been working with the HIV/AIDS community since 2016. She has extensive experience working in housing, unhoused populations, and benefits. Rosa began her career with the UCLA CARE Center in 2018 as the Medical Care Coordination Case Worker before transitioning to her role as Sr. Administrative Analyst for the Ryan White Program.

Dr. Paul Adamson is an Infectious Diseases physician and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He sees patients at the UCLA CARE Center, where he specializes in the treatment and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Background: Dr. Bhattacharya joined the UCLA faculty in 2006. She graduated from the seven-year accelerated medical program at Boston University, receiving her MD in 1997 and then trained in internal medicine at Baylor University in Houston, Texas and completed an infectious diseases fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Cambou is an Infectious Diseases physician with broad interests in HIV and HPV co-infection, ranging from epidemiology to clinical trials. Dr. Cambou received a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California (UC) Berkeley. During medical school at UC Los Angeles (UCLA), she received a ten-month, NIH-funded research grant to evaluate HIV and HPV epidemiology in women in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Background: Dr. Chang joined the CARE Center in 2005 as an HIV fellow after completing his Internal Medicine & Pediatrics residency at Tulane University and medical school at the University of Minnesota.

Background: Dr. Chew joined the CARE Center in 2010 as part of her Infectious Diseases Fellowship at UCLA, following internal medicine residency and a junior clinical faculty position in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF

Background: Dr. Currier completed medical school at Dartmouth followed by residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Infectious Disease fellowships at Beth Israel and Harvard Medical School. She currently serves as the Principal Investigator for the UCLA AIDS Prevention and Treatment Clinical Trials Unit and Vice Chair of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG).

Undergraduate: UC Berkeley Medical School: UCSF Residency: MedStar Georgetown Track: Clinical Scholar Track Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa, but more recently Irvine, CA Academic/Clinical Interests: HIV, global health, adolescents, immigrant and under-served populations, public health 

Dr. Hall is Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, Dept of Family Medicine and Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He has trained and studied at Harvard, UCSD, University of Chicago/NORC, Karlova Univerzita (Prague), the New Center for Psychoanalysis (Los Angeles), and UCLA.

Background: Dr. Hoffman graduated from Stanford University and received her MD from UCLA, and MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her adult Infectious Disease training at UCLA in 2008 and has remained with the Division as junior faculty where she works closely with both the UCLA Program in Global Health and the CARE Center.

Dr. Johnson received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Prior to medical school he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Melbourne in Australia and during medical school he was a Fogarty Scholar at the International Center for Diarrheal Diseases Research, Bangladesh. 

Dr. Khalili is an internal medicine physician who practices traditional primary care, complex medical care for the UCLA Health Extensivist Program in Santa Monica, and HIV care at the UCLA CARE Center. He is board certified in internal medicine, and uses evidence-based methods and a multidisciplinary team approach to improve health outcomes for patients.

Noah Ravenborg is a Clinical Instructor of Internal Medicine and a primary care physician at UCLA Health. His clinical interests include adult primary care, preventive medicine, men’s health, HIV prevention and treatment, and LGBTQ+ health, including primary care for transgender patients and gender-diverse patients. Dr. Ravenborg is a certified HIV Specialist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.

Dr. Tara Vijayan works in the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine. Her clinical interests include general infectious diseases, HIV medicine, global health, infectious diseases in underserved populations, medical education and antimicrobial stewardship. She serves the medical director of antimicrobial stewardship and as the associate director for the scientific foundations of medicine for the school of medicine.

Dr. Yen graduated from the Suny Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine in 2011. He works in Los Angeles, CA and 3 other locations and specializes in Internal Medicine. Dr. Yen is affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Young is an internal medicine physician who practices general primary care as well as complex medical care for the UCLA Health Extensivist Program in Westwood and Santa Monica. He also provides HIV primary care at the UCLA CARE Center. Dr. Young is board certified in Internal Medicine and is certified as an HIV Specialist through the American Academy of HIV. 

Irma joined the CARE Center in 1998 as Dr. Judith Currier's assistant. She currently oversees the regulatory aspect of the CARE Center's ongoing clinical trials and is the program coordinator for the CARE Center's annual HIV symposium.

Emy joined the CARE Center in July 2023. She has been actively involved in clinical research since 2015, occupying diverse roles such as a lab technician, clinical research coordinator, and regulatory affairs specialist at Cedars-Sinai and Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Her current role entails monitoring and maintaining the regulatory components of CARE Center's clinical trials. During her free time, Emy loves hiking with her three shih-tzu's and watching football (Go Broncos!)