Presenter Bios

(Alphabetical Order by Last Name)

Courtney Bramstedt is a sexual assault counselor, sexual educator, and survivor of child sexual abuse herself. Courtney's passion lie at the intersections of health education and violence prevention. Since earning her B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from Chapman, she has worked with agencies across Orange County to empower young people and addressing violence against women. Courtney spent time serving in programs that support people of all ages who have undergone traumatic events and providing relationships and sexual reproductive health education from Girl's Inc. and Planned Parenthood.

Ashanti Branch works to change how students, especially young men of color, interact with their education and how their schools interact with them. Raised in Oakland, by a single mother on welfare, Ashanti left the inner city to study civil engineering at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo. A construction project manager in his first career, his life changed after he tutored struggling students and realized his passion for teaching. In 2004, during Ashanti’s first year teaching high school math, he started The Ever Forward Club to provide support for African American and Latino males who were not achieving their potential. Since then, Ever Forward has helped all of it’s more than 150 members graduate from high school, and 93% of them have gone on to attend two- or four-year colleges, military or trade school. The Ever Forward Club was featured last year in the documentary. “The Mask You Live In,” which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. After completing a fellowship at the Stanford d.school in 2016, Ashanti stepped away from working for a school district and began working as the Founding Executive Director for Ever Forward - Siempre Adelante in an effort to grow the organization to serve thousands of Bay Area students.

Dr. Kim Clark is the co-author and publisher of Positive Prevention PLUS (P3), an OAH evidence-based comprehensive sexual health education curriculum written in compliance with the California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA). He was formerly the Coordinator of Teen Pregnancy Prevention at the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Office, where he also served as Director of the federally-funded project to evaluate the P3 curriculum. Dr. Clark is a former high school teacher and college professor, and also served as the Coordinator of the California Department of Education's first statewide CDC-funded HIV prevention education program.

Daniel G. Garza has been an HIV/AIDS advocate since 2001 with a focus on education. His participation in several committees, both in Texas and California, has allowed him to gain experience in how culture, religion, and demographics can impact the information, prevention, and conversations when sex and sexuality are discussed. In Southern California, he concentrates on sharing his story at high schools, colleges, and universities. On a national level, he has been featured in HIV/AIDS magazines as well as social media campaigns, also sharing his story. Attending national advocacy conferences where he learns and shares innovative ways to make the information available to more communities. Currently, he is a member of the board of directors at Radiant Health Centers as well as the Chair of the Client Advisory Committee. He participates in the Positively Fearless campaign for Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Where he has the opportunity to share his experiences with surviving anal cancer, living with anxiety, and life with a colostomy.

Amanda Goad is the Audrey Irmas Director of the LGBTQ, Gender & Reproductive Justice Project at the ACLU of Southern California. She fights for the rights and civil liberties of LGBTQ people through litigation and policy advocacy. Previously, Amanda worked on the LGBT & HIV Project of the National ACLU, for a housing justice organization, and in New York City government. Amanda is an alumn of Harvard Law School and Rice University, and a former 5th grade teacher. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network.

Karina Gonzalez is the Community Education Manger at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and oversees the Peer Advocate Program. Karina trains over 60 youth each year to serve as non-judgmental sexual health resources on their high school campuses. Karina has over five years’ experience organizing in the non-profit sector. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning from the University of California, San Diego.

Kala Heekin is public health professional based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a BA in American Multicultural Studies & Queer Studies from Sonoma State University and is a SFSI-Endorsed Sex Educator + Certified Family Planning Health Worker. Kala has worked with youth for seven years with an emphasis on sexual health, STD prevention, LGBTQ+ identity development, and youth activism. Kala has presented at Gender Spectrum Conference, provided trainings for Kaiser Permanente & California School-Based Health Alliance, and led workshops for thousands of teenagers. Kala is currently a Sexual + Reproductive Program Associate with Essential Access Health, with a focus on expanding access to patient-delivered partner therapy for chlamydia and gonorrhea throughout California.

David Lee is the Associate Director of the Drew Center for AIDS Research Education and Services (Drew CARES) and also serves as the HIV Service Integration Director, coordinating services between HIV providers on the Martin Luther King Jr Medical Campus. He previously lived in Lima, Peru, where he worked at Asociación Civil IMPACTA Salud y Educación, one of the largest HIV CBOs in South America, coordinating U.S. government grant writing activities focusing on HIV research and training. He is a commissioner on the LA County Commission on HIV, appointed in 2017 and is a licensed clinical social worker.

Lesli LeGras Morris directs the LA Reproductive Health Equity Project for Foster Youth at National Center for Youth Law, a collective impact campaign with the audacious goal of dismantling systemic barriers that prevent LA's foster youth from taking ownership of their sexual health & reproductive decisions. A graduate of UCLA, Lesli's focus on galvanizing collective commitment to promoting equity for vulnerable young people is driven by her lived experiences as a Black womxn, mama, and born-and-bred resident of South LA.

Jose Magana is a 37 year old army veteran and father of two beautiful kids. He is am a member of the National Guard and has been a member for over sixteen years. He is also HIV positive and has been undetectable for four years. He is currently a community organizer for The Wall Las Memorias under the Substance Abuse and Prevention grant, an HIV counselor and tester. He is a big advocate on educating others on HIV, including U=U, and STIs in order to reduce and eliminate infections.

Jesse Medina, the HIV/STI Coordinator for The LGBTQ Center Long Beach, assisted in the creation of new protocol development and implementation, as well as reviewed CDC guidelines and code to develop best practice for STI treatment, care and case management that’s inclusive Queer populations. As a Health Educator for CHLA, Jesse envisioned and assisted in making a client tracking data system that supported multiple facets of care, created clearer visions of case management progress and streamlined the process of intake to alleviate work for all persons involved in the continuum of care across the division. Jesse strives to lead/build educational and effective programs and/or services that are conceptualized and executed through sustainable, ethical and realistic means or ideals—ideals that not only serve the vulnerable, but also the people who stand to protect them.

Jessica Melendez started teaching comprehensive sex education to youth in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015. At San Ysidro Health, Jess often facilitates workshops in middle and high schools. She is passionate about educating youth through a shame-free and non-judgmental perspective. Youth are exposed to different messages surrounding sex and sexuality throughout the media. Jess provides tools to help youth identify media and how to empower their lives. Her favorite topics to discuss are media and porn literacy, HIV/AIDS, and sexual orientation.

Marylou Mercado is a Community Health Educator with Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley where I provide comprehensive, inclusive sex education to people of all ages. I graduated from UC Santa Barbara with B.A. in Philosophy and Sociology. My passion for providing education began when I worked for the university as a Peer Facilitator where I would present a 2-hour course every week to first-year students on mental health, sexual assault, consent, and alcohol/drug safety. I hope to continue my education and pursue a MPH so that I am able to continue my passion for public health and education in a larger capacity.

Sowmya Murthy is a Senior Health Educator at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. She trains youth serving professionals like teachers around sexual health topics. Sowmya is passionate about trauma informed care and being survivor centered. Sowmya received her Bachelors of Arts in Communications from Washington State University.

Dr. Austin Nation is a graduate of the University of California, San Francisco – School of Nursing, Community Health Systems and has been a nurse for over 35 years. He is currently an Assistant Professor at California State University (CSU), Fullerton and his research examines substance use, mental health and health care access issues within the LGBT community. He is involved with the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at American Nurses Association (ANA)- Minority Fellowship Program Alumni Work Group, Sigma Theta Tau International, Association of California Nurse Leaders, and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.

Dr. Brian Nguyen joined the University of Southern California’s department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2016 following the completion of a fellowship in Family Planning and Contraceptive Research at the University of Chicago. Throughout his clinical and research training, Dr. Nguyen has sustained an interest in understanding how men are influenced and can influence women’s reproductive health. He has thus explored such topics as men’s access to emergency contraception, expedited male partner treatment for sexually transmitted infections, disparities in the use of vasectomy, men’s experiences of unintended pregnancy and abortion, and most recently, male hormonal contraception.

Ariana Rodriguez is a legal fellow at the ACLU of Southern California, where she works with both the Education Equity and LGBTQ, Gender & Reproductive Justice teams. A large component of her work is ensuring student access to comprehensive and inclusive sex education as required by the California Healthy Youth Act, and upholding the student rights of LGBTQ and other marginalized youth. Ariana holds her Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School.

Lucas Rojas is a Latinx transmasculine identified individual who works at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in the Center for Transyouth Health and Development in Health Services and Behavioral Research, specifically with transgender/non-binary/gender non-conforming YYA as well as in data analysis. They have a background in Mathematics, Statistics, HIV&STI studies and is an advocate in the transgender community, presents workshops, develops protocols, writes grants and works on projects such as TMHealth LA, Angels of Change, FLUX, iTech, etc and has worked on several trans related training videos, panels and trainings for the hospital and outside communities.

Ashley Rojas recently graduated from San Diego State University in May 2019 with her Bachelor’s degree in Public Health. While at San Diego State University, she was involved in many different organizations on and off campus supporting the needs from various communities. She taught at SDSU for 3 years as a Chemistry 100 instructional student assistant for freshman commuter students giving her the teaching skills she needs for a classroom. Ashley also grew up working with her mother at a nonprofit after school program called Think Together centered around helping adolescents with learning, eating better and staying active. She is excited to now be a health educator for San Ysidro and take her teaching skills into the public health field while working with a population she knows will benefit from her lessons.

Alejandra Sandoval is a Prevention Education and Outreach coordinator at Strength United. She has always been fueled by the saying "knowledge is power". It was this belief that led her to prevention work in for interpersonal violence. She is also a Biostatistics Professor at California State University, Northridge. She loves being the middle-person that can help make difficult topics accessible to folks from different backgrounds. In her free time she enjoys watching live music and star gazing.

Jose Tinoco is the Program Coordinator for the Community Approaches to Reducing STD (CARS) grant for San Ysidro Health’s Research and Health Promotion Department. His current role focuses on facilitating a Youth Advisory Board that is working in the community to research, design and implement an intervention to reduce STDs among Latinx youth. He received his Masters of Arts and Education with an emphasis on counseling from SDSU and has over 6 years of experience working in adolescent health education in both classroom and clinical settings.

Emily Wasson is the Adolescent Health Program Manager at Essential Access Health. She graduated in 2013 with a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, and with a Bixby Certificate on Population and Reproductive Health. In her current role at Essential Access Health, Emily manages the organization’s digital health programs that seek to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes among California teens and young adults by increasing access to medically accurate, non-judgmental information and direct services. Emily oversees day-to-day operations for TeenSource.org, the Hookup, Condom Access Project, and TalkWithYourKids.org – Essential Access Health’s website to promote family/child communication.

Kim Wu has over 10 years of experience implementing and managing health promotion programs for youth. Kim focuses on the importance of re-framing and working from more expansive practices of engaging adolescents in understanding and taking ownership of their health and well-being. She works from an interdisciplinary public health lens rooted in training with her background as a classroom educator and curriculum specialist, Kim has organized and facilitated local and regional trainings for grassroots groups, schools, community based health agencies, and governmental agencies. She currently manages a national capacity building program to support school districts across the country in creating safe and supportive environments for their students and communities.