Mentors

Angelo “Asa” Clemenzi-Allen, MD is Director of the HIV and Integrate Services, which includes the Ryan White Center of Excellence and HIV prevention services at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. For over 20 years, the clinical program had served people living with HIV who are incarcerated in San Francisco County jails, a population consisting of approximately 300-350 individuals annually. Additionally, Dr Clemenzi-Allen is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine (Volunteer) within the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at the San Francisco General Hospital. Within both of these clinical roles, Dr Clemenzi-Allen focuses on implementation research that aims to evaluate low-barrier, multi-component interventions that improve care cascade outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and criminally justice involved people living with HIV.

Annesa Flentje, PhD is an Associate Professor in the department of Community Health Systems at UCSF. Her career has been devoted to conducting impactful research in the field of LGBTQIA+ health. Her work spans various topics, including minority stress, biological underpinnings of stress, epigenetics, gene expression, substance use, trauma, and intersectionality. Through her research publications, she has explored the challenges faced by sexual and gender minority populations in healthcare settings, the impact of minority stress on physical and mental health, and interventions to promote resilience within LGBTQIA+ communities.

Holly Nishimura, PhD, MPH, received her PhD from the Department of International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Nishimura’s research interests include understanding the social and structural factors that contribute to inequalities in health outcomes globally, with a particular focus on gender and economic inequalities. She is also actively engaged in efforts to decolonize global health and improve equity and inclusion in academia. Her dissertation research used a mixed methods approach to understand the relationship between transactional sex and HIV among men in Rakai, Uganda.

Dr. Nishimura received the Fulbright-Fogarty and Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from NIMH for her predoctoral training. Prior to entering the Ph.D. program, she received an M.P.H. in Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health and B.A. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley. As a TAPS fellow, she is primarily working with Dr. Carol Camlin on the Owete study, which uses a social network approach to promote HIV self-testing and linkage to care among fishermen in Kenya. She is also working with Drs. Sheri Lippman, Marguerita Lightfoot on the Black Economic Equity Movement project, a guaranteed income intervention for black young adults in Oakland and San Francisco.

James Michael Brennan, PhD (he/him/they/them) is a clinical psychologist in the Trans Health Clinic at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC). In this role, he serves in clinical, research, and educational capacities, focused on care of transgender and gender 54 diverse veterans, development and implementation of measurement-based care, and adaptation of evidence-based practice for marginalized populations. He also has an appointment as Adjunct Faculty at the University of San Francisco in the Masters of Public Health-Behavioral Health Program. Dr. Brennan earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in LGBTQ+ Health from the University of Montana. He completed his predoctoral training at the Southwest Consortium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As the Stephen M. Rao postdoctoral resident in Interprofessional Health Care, he specialized in LGBTQ+ health care, serving LGBTQ+ veterans in the Trans Health Clinic, the Infectious Disease Clinic, and the Downtown Clinic at the SFVAHCS. Clinically, Dr. Brennan is trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy/Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Integrated Behavioral Couples Therapy. Dr. Brennan supplements these modalities with experience in integrated behavioral health, behavioral medicine, and palliative care.

Michelle Nakphong is a social epidemiologist, and her research focuses on how social exclusion and inclusive policies impact the health of marginalized populations. Building on over 2 decades of community-based policy advocacy work, she strives to amplify voices from low-income and minoritized communities.

Her research addresses the core question: Can fostering social inclusion reduce health inequities? She builds from a social exclusion framework conceived by Naila Kabeer (2000) and take a structural and policy approach to examining people’s lived experiences. She uses quantitative and qualitative methods to illuminate the complex mechanisms that underlie health disparities including housing, immigrant policies, and sexual and reproductive health services. Ultimately, she aims to influence inclusive policymaking and programs to promote health equity.