| Meet Our Staff
Since our involvement in the first-ever
HIV preventive vaccine study, our staff has remained dedicated
to finding a vaccine to protect against HIV infection. Though
we all love to joke and have fun, we take finding an HIV vaccine
very seriously.
Our Front Office
At the Seattle HVTU our front desk personnel are the first
people you’ll see. It’s good to think they know
how to make a lasting impression!
Michele Crist (Data manager)
Michelle is so dedicated to our vaccine unit that she has
been with us for 16 years. In addition to greeting volunteers,
Michele is our data manager. She reviews Datafax forms, and
ensures the accuracy of and keeps up to date all our data.
Michele loves to golf and sometimes thinks she missed her
calling as a travel agent. If that’s true, we’re
sure glad she did!
Janis Chin (Office Administrator)
Janis has so many roles we don’t know where to begin.
She orders supplies, answers the phones, screens volunteers
and processes specimens. Bascially, she keeps the clinic running!
In her spare time (we sometimes let her get away) she travels
the world on public health service missions.
Noel Williams (Clinical
Assistant)
Noel is the latest addition to our front office staff. Her
primary responsibility is to support our ancillary study staff
but, like everyone else here, she does so much more. Noel
assists with lab processing and phone screenings, and serves
as a back up to Janis. Noel is fun loving, passionate about
peace and a clean environment.
Gina Query (Regulatory Coordinator)
Gina is a native Washingtonian and also the youngest member
of the Seattle HIV vaccine team (we love to rub that in).
Gina is our regulatory coordinator and handles all of our
submissions to regulatory bodies. Gina is also responsible
for ensuring the unit's compliance with institutional, state
and federal regulations. She writes all of the site's consent
forms and assists with protocol development and implementation
for many of the unit's ancillary projects.
Our Pharmacists
Our pharmacists administer and prepare vaccines, and keep
all associated records.
Meredith Potochnic has been
with our clinic since 1997, after moving to Seattle from Baltimore
where she worked on AIDS clinical trials at Johns Hopkins
University. Meredith works half time with the Seattle HVTU
and the other half as an HIV/AIDS-specialty pharmacist at
Madison Clinic (Harborview Medical Center). Meredith job shares
with Bobby Santucci, the newest addition
to our pharmacy staff. Bobby loves administering vaccines
because it allows him to interact with our volunteers. In
his own words, “This is the perfect job.”
Our Docs
Our staff physicians provide medical supervision and oversight
for the medical activities of the unit, including management
of adverse reactions, diagnostic evaluations for HIV-1 infection,
and physician referrals.
Julie McElrath, MD, PhD
(Principal Investigator)
Dr. McElrath, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center member
and UW Professor of Medicine has 10 years of experience providing
the overall leadership of the Seattle HVTU. She is a lead
scientist on all Seattle HVTU studies, is the Director of
Laboratory Programs with the HVTN and she also has many of
her own research projects that support the HIV vaccine effort
[link to ancillary studies?]. In addition to her lab work,
she oversees the HVTU personnel and takes responsibility for
all the budgets and subcontracts. Besides her work with the
unit, she travels the world talking about HIV vaccines, securing
study grants and keeping us all in check!
Sara Mostad, MD, PhD (Clinic
Director)
Dr. Mostad is the newest addition to our clinical staff. As
Clinic Director she will work closely with Julie to make sure
that things run smoothly. We not only appreciate her for her
guidance and expertise but also for her great spirit!
Janine Meanza, MD and Uma
Malhotra, MD both work in our clinic one day a week
to help with screenings and provide clinical assistance. We
can always count on them for a smile, a kind word and a screening!
Our Clinical Staff
Our clinical staff makes sure that every volunteer receives
personal attention and has a good idea of what’s involved
in participating in one of our vaccine studies. They are the
heart of the clinic and enroll each volunteer who is willing
to participate in the fight against HIV.
David Berger, RN (Clinic
coordinator)
David has been with us so long we can’t even remember
when he started. Rumor has it that it’s been 16 years.
David’s long history with the HVTU had made us one of
the top sites within the HVTN. With his knowledge and abilities
to enroll large number of volunteers, we are able to have
more and more research studies.
Chris Galloway, ARNP (Nurse
practitioner)
Chris recently celebrated her 10th year with the unit. When
she is not here working with volunteers, you may catch her
on a Monday night watching her favorite team the Green Day
Packers.
Steve Minor, RN, BSN (Staff
Nurse)
Steve is our newest addition and currently holds the record
for seeing the most Step Study volunteers in the unit. Besides
his clinical expertise, he knows his cuisine. Steve is always
a willing lunch companion.
Our Ancillary Team
Jean Lee, ARNP and Julie Cooper,
ARNP conduct studies that support the HIV vaccine
research directed by Dr. Julie McElrath. These studies involve
HIV positive, long-term non-progressors, HIV exposed but HIV
negative volunteers and HVTN lab controls. Data from these
studies may provide key information that assists with the
development of HIV vaccines. This is where it all begins.
Our Community Education
and Recruitment Team
Gary Chovnick and Kim Louis
head up our community education and recruitment team. Gary
and Kim are constantly talking-up HIV vaccines in the community.
When they’re not chatting with someone about our newest
study, they’re hard at work developing new and creative
advertising.
Tyler Juel, Jorge
Sanchez and Peter Salveson are also
part of our Recruitment Team. When they are not working their
full time jobs elsewhere, they work for us part-time. You
may see them out in the bars or at local events trying to
talk to people about volunteering. We wouldn’t be able
to find our great volunteers without them!
Our Community Advisory Board
We can’t forget about our Community Advisory Board (CAB).
These dedicated, caring individuals help us keep our community
perspective. In addition to attending monthly meetings, they
serve on local and global working groups, research study committees
and serve as spokespersons for our vaccine studies.
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