Larry Cohen, MSW, Executive Director

larry@preventioninstitute.org

Leslie Mikkelsen, MPH, Managing Director

leslie@preventioninstitute.org

Manal Aboelata, MPH, Program Director

manal@preventioninstitute.org
Manal's project work includes physical activity, nutrition, and injury prevention, emphasizing population-based approaches and the elimination of health disparities. She collaborates with community and government agencies to integrate prevention practice into their efforts by synthesizing and disseminating research, offering training and technical assistance, and providing consultation on strategy development. Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Manal worked in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles as Research Manager of the Violence Prevention Program. Manal is currently a lecturer at UCLA Extension's Health Education for Teachers, offering courses in school-based injury prevention and sexually transmitted disease prevention. Manal holds a B.A. in American Studies with an emphasis in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her masters in public health in epidemiology, from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Elizabeth D. Waiters, PhD, Program Director

LizW@preventioninstitute.org

Elizabeth joined Prevention Institute in January 2007 and works on violence prevention as well as community health and health disparities projects.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Elizabeth was an Associate Research Scientist with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation’s Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, California, where her research focused on the relationship between popular media and underage substance use, adolescent sexual risk behavior, and youth violence.  Elizabeth holds a BA in English and Psychology from Wellesley College, an MA in Broadcast Communication Arts from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin.  She completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Alcohol Studies at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health and was a Health Disparities Scholar with the National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Jeremy Cantor, MPH, Program Manager

jeremy@preventioninstitute.org

Jeremy joined Prevention Institute in July 2006. His work focuses on supporting the organization's projects in health disparities, community health, land-use and health, and health care reform; writing and editing materials; coordinating coalitions and partnerships; and consulting with government and community agencies. Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Jeremy spent 3 years as the Program Director of Destination: College, a UC Berkeley based AmeriCorps program that trains and supervises undergraduate advisors placed in underresourced Bay Area schools. He has also worked extensively on youth development with the San Francisco Conservation Corps and City Volunteer Corps in New York City. Jeremy holds a B.A. in psychology from Haverford College and a Masters in Public Health in Health and Social Behavior from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sana Chehimi, MPH, Program Manager
sana@preventioninstitute.org

Sana's main content areas include nutrition and physical activity and she plays a critical role in coordinating efforts for Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments. Sana manages the development of the Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool (ENACT), a web-based tool designed to improve local nutrition and physical activity environments, and oversees media advocacy activities for the Strategic Alliance, including the Rapid Response Media Network. Sana is currently co-editing an academic text on primary prevention, Prevention is Primary: Strategies for Community Wellbeing, along with Prevention Institute's Executive Director Larry Cohen and Dr. Vivian Chavez of San Francisco State University. The text will be published by Jossey-Bass.

Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Sana spent two years as the Treatment Education Associate for Project Inform, a San Francisco-based HIV non-profit. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Columbia University. Sana received her Masters in Public Health in Health and Social Behavior from the University of California Berkeley in 2003.

Virginia Lee, MPH, CHES, Program Manager

virginia@preventioninstitute.org

Virginia joined Prevention Institute in August 2006.  She supports the organization's projects in nutrition and physical activity, as well as injury and violence prevention.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Virginia completed a three year fellowship with the Public Health Prevention Service at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  As a fellow, she assisted Public Health-Seattle & King County with their injury and violence prevention efforts and the King County Steps to a Healthier US initiative, which focused on policy and system changes addressing chronic disease.  In August 2005, she was honored with the CDC Public Health Prevention Service Distinguished Service and Achievement Award.  Virginia also spent two years as the Project Director for the HIV and tobacco prevention programs for immigrant youth and families at Asian Youth Center, a community-based nonprofit in Los Angeles County.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from University of California Los Angeles and a Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in health promotion from San Diego State University.

Annie Lyles, MSW, Program Manger

annie@preventioninstitute.org

Annie joined Prevention Institute in February 2008 as the manager of UNITY (Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth), a national initiative designed to strengthen and support local efforts to prevent violence in the nation’s largest cities.  Additionally,  Annie coordinates violence prevention projects for Prevention Institute including the Alameda County Violence Prevention Initiative, the KPBS Dating Violence Prevention Peer Educators Conference and Ms. Foundation Childhood Sexual Exploitation Prevention Project.  Recently she has begun to develop projects and present on the intersections of violence and nutrition and physical activity.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Annie was a Program Specialist in the County of San Diego’s Office of Violence Prevention where she worked to increase the County’s capacity to prevent street violence and teen dating violence.  She provided trainings on emerging research, developed local initiatives and assisted with contract management.   During this time Annie became an adjunct professor at San Diego State University teaching youth development strategies in the Department of Child and Family Development.  Annie holds a B.A. in Social Policy from Northwestern University with a concentration on the development of urban youth and a MSW from University of Washington with a concentration on social justice models in multi-ethnic practice.  She has over fourteen years experience coordinating and providing direct services to families and adolescents through community clinics, juvenile detention facilities and school based initiatives.

Linda Shak, MSW, Program Manger

linda@preventioninstitute.org

Linda joined Prevention Institute in November 2005 and works in the areas of nutrition and physical activity, sustainable food systems, and mental health.  She provides training and consultation to constituencies working across the country to develop quality prevention efforts including the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and Kaiser Permanente Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) communities.  Linda provides staff support to the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments and manages the development of the ENACT Local Policy Database, which provides policymakers, advocates, and others with concrete examples of nutrition and activity-related policies that have been adopted by local entities.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Linda was instrumental in the development and coordination of the St. Louis Healthy Youth Partnership, a collaborative bringing together service providers from multiple sectors and disciplines to address childhood health in the St. Louis region.  Linda attended Washington University in St. Louis where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Social Work degree.  She is also a graduate of the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs.

Linnea Ashley, MPH, Program Coordinator

Sonia Lee, MPH, Program Coordinator

sonia@preventioninstitute.org

Sonia joined Prevention Institute in October 2007 as a program coordinator.  She supports the organization’s work in violence prevention, specifically the Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth through Violence Prevention (UNITY) project.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Sonia served for over six years as the Director of Programs of Fonkoze, a grassroots-based, microfinance institution in Haiti. She was responsible for various educational programs, including literacy, business skills training and sexual and reproductive health, which aimed to empower rural women and their families socially and economically.  Sonia also spent over 2 years as a Reality Tours Coordinator for Global Exchange, a human rights organization based in San Francisco.  She holds a MPH from Yale University and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.

Juliet Sims, MPH, Program Coordinator

juliet@preventioninstitute.org

Juliet joined Prevention Institute in May 2008.  She supports the organization’s work in nutrition and physical activity and is a contributor to the Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool (ENACT) and ENACT Local Policy Database, both web-based resources designed to give policymakers, advocates, and others the tools to improve local nutrition and physical activity environments.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Juliet spent two years working in clinical nutrition.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics from San Francisco State University.  Juliet received her Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley.

Janani Srikantharajah, BA, Program Coordinator

janani@preventioninstitute.org

Janani is a Program Coordinator at Prevention Institute. She supports Prevention Institute's work with the Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership, a collaborative of six major health funders in the United States. Janani is also involved in the organization's efforts to incorporate primary prevention into national level discussions about health care reform, as well as broader efforts to eliminate health disparities and promote a community health approach to improving health. Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Janani spent two years with the Ernest Gallo Research Clinic, at UCSF, studying alcohol addiction pathways. She has also worked with the Bay Area Youth Alternatives and the Continentals of Omega Boys and Girls Club in pipeline programs to help prepare youth in low income communities for higher education; served as the Solano County youth representative to the American Red Cross Bay Area Board of Directors; and is currently a needle exchanger for the San Francisco AIDS Foundations Prevention Project. Janani graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Conservation Resource Studies.

Sam Davidson, BA, Program Assistant
sam@preventioninstitute.org

Sam joined Prevention Institute in November 2007 as a program assistant. He provides support on projects related to nutrition and physical activity and assists managing director, Leslie Mikkelsen.  He graduated from New College of Florida in May 2006 with a BA in sociology.  While at New College he completed his senior thesis, “The Effects of Class Background on Labor Union Identity in Full Time Staff.” Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Sam worked as a community organizer with ACORN, where he organized the residents of the Visitacion Valley, Excelsior, and Oceanview districts of San Francisco.

Sharon Rodriguez, BA, Program Assistant

sharon@preventioninstitute.org

Sharon joined Prevention Institute in September 2007 and provides program support on projects related to community health and the elimination of health disparities.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Sharon worked as a project manager in the department of future initiatives for Planned Parenthood Federation of America where she was responsible for coordinating national communication efforts for the organization’s long term vision and goals.  Sharon graduated from Brown University with a BA in Semiotics.

Anthony Perez, BA, Program Assistant

Anthony@preventioninstitute.org

Anthony joined Prevention Institute in June 2008 as a program assistant. He provides support on projects related to violence prevention and assists managing director, Rachel Davis.  Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Anthony worked as a legislative fellow in the Office of Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis where he worked closely on health issues, ranging from health disparities, childhood nutrition, environmental and border health to health care reform.  Anthony also worked closely with national advocacy planning congressional briefings and getting their support for health, education, and immigration legislation.  Anthony graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Political Science.

Christine Chang, BA, Program Assistant

Christine@preventioninstitute.org

Christine joined Prevention Institute in January 2008 as an administrative assistant and now works as a program assistant providing support for the Violence Prevention Program.  She works primarily with the UNITY project (Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth), in which Prevention Institute works in conjunction with other institutions such as the Harvard School of Public Health and the UCLA Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center to provide a framework for the 45 largest cities in the US to form strategies of action for violence prevention.  In previous work, Christine has participated in the national Occupational Health Internship Program based at the CA Department of Public Health doing field research with Cal OSHA on working conditions of CA migrant farm workers and heat stress. She has also interned at the Berkeley Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center working with homeless women and children. Christine graduated from UC Berkeley in 2008 with a BA in Public Health.

Margot Brown, BA, Program Assistant

margot@preventioninstitute.org

Margot joined Prevention Institute in August 2008 as a Program Assistant and provides expertise in the areas of Violence Prevention and Mental Health. She is also working on the website. Prior to joining Prevention Institute, Margot worked as a health educator and program developer for Berkeley Primary Care, a community health clinic that serves patients with limited resources. She also developed and implemented a violence prevention curriculum for McClymonds High School in West Oakland. Margot was trained to be a social justice activist through her Community Studies major at UC Santa Cruz. She graduated in 2007 and since then has been practicing her American Sign Language and Spanish Language skills.

Larry Nguyen, Administrative Assistant

Larryn@preventioninstitute.org

Larry is currently a senior at UC Berkeley, majoring in Environmental Economics & Policy and Sociology. In addition, Larry wants to utilize his degrees and abilities towards the non-profit sector. Shortly after graduation, he plans on traveling abroad and applying to graduate school for Sociology.

Quoc To, Administrative Assistant

quoc@preventioninstitute.org

Quoc To is a 3rd year at UC Berkeley. He is an Interdisciplinary Studies Field major with a focus on Politics and Culture in Contemporary American Society. Upon graduation, he plans to attend Law School. At this point, he doesn’t have any concrete career goals, but wants to do something that takes him around the world.