SCHOLARS 2019
Melinda Dang
Tashonta T. Davis
Meshach McBurrough
Jennifer Mora
Luis Moreno Nunez
Gaspar Zaragoza Jr.
Melinda Dang
Melinda Dang is a rising senior in a combined five-year Bachelor’s and Master’s program studying Public Health at The Ohio State University minoring in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Asian American Studies. Her public health experience has allowed her to conduct HIV testing, counseling, education, and outreach with community health centers in Ohio and participate in two public health study abroad programs to Finland, Estonia and Japan. This summer she is working with Dr. Judy Tan at UCSF
Tashonta T. Davis
Tashonta T. Davis is a rising junior, Biology major, Japanese minor on the pre-medical track studying at the illustrious Spelman College. She is interested in genomics, cancer and HIV/AIDS research and plans to pursue an MD/MPH after completing her undergraduate degree. Driven by her status as an international student from the Bahamas, she desires to become an epidemiologist with a focus in international health. This summer she is working with Dr. Edda Santiago-Rodriguez.
Meshach McBurrough
Meshach McBurrough,is an international student of the University of California- Berkeley in his junior year majoring in Public health and Social Welfare. For the past 5-10 years Meshach has interned in the medical field (within hospitals) through various voluntary programs as he dreams to one day become a Pediatrician. He has been awarded multiple honors both academically and personally with the most recent being the 2017 Liberian Rising Leadership Award. This summer he is working with Dr. Amy Conroy at UCSF.
Jennifer Mora
Jennifer Mora is a rising junior studying Public Health & Health Equity at Mills College in Oakland, CA. She has been able to identify the social and health disparities that many residents, especially low-income, experience now with the increase of cost of living in the Bay Area. She hopes to continue this work after graduate while also implementing cultural competency in research, human service agencies, and healthcare settings. This summer she is working with Dr. Kartika Palar at UCSF.
Luis Moreno Nunez
Luis Morenois an aspiring public health professional from the Seattle area entering his fourth year at Rice University as a double major in Biochemistry and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. He has worked as a researcher for the intersex clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital, and as an intern at UTHealth School of Public Health, where he worked on HIV prevention projects focused on Black and Latino MSM and transgender women. This summer he is working with Dr. Hyman Scott and Rafael Gonzalez at Bridge HIV at SFDPH.
Gaspar Zaragoza Jr.
Gaspar Zaragoza Jr.graduated from UC Berkeley with Honors where he studied Social Welfare and Demography and he served under University Health Services as their Rapid HIV Program Coordinator. Zaragoza currently teaches sexual health curriculum to students in the SF-Bay Area and is a certified California HIV & HCV Test Counselor and Healthy Sexuality Educator. His professional interests revolve around Latinx health, Indigenous health, LGBTQ+ health, urban health, and social epidemiology. This summer he is working with Dr. John Sauceda at UCSF.
