Perspectives on PrEP Connecting Communities and Clinicians

Faculty

Allison Agwu, MD, ScM

Professor, Adult and Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD
(she/her/hers)

Dr. Agwu is Professor of Adult and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Agwu received her Bachelors in Science from University of Maryland, medical degree from University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Masters of Science from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed her combined internal medicine/pediatric residency at Case Western Reserve University followed by a combined adult/pediatric infectious disease fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her clinical care and research focus on deciphering health disparities and optimizing care and treatment strategies and outcomes particularly for young people at-risk for and/or living with HIV. Dr. Agwu oversees a clinical research program that aims to coordinate care, treatment, and research for vulnerable populations through a multidisciplinary and socially responsible lens. She cares for patients across the age spectrum, both in the pediatric and adult Ryan-White funded HIV clinics at Johns Hopkins, as the founder and medical director of the Accessing Care Early (ACE) Clinic and the Program Director of the Pediatric/Adolescent HIV/AIDS Program. Dr. Agwu’s independent research studies use multimodal approaches, including clinic and field-based approaches and clinical trials. She is also involved with large national and international research groups. She is an active member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Adolescent and Adult Antiretroviral Treatment Guidelines and serves on the Board of Directors for the HIV Medicine Association where she tirelessly advocates for youth.

Justin Alves, RN, FNP-BC, ACRN, CARN, CNE

Nurse Educator
Boston Medical Center
Boston, MA
(he/him/his)

Justin is a Clinical Nurse Educator for the State Technical Assistance and Treatment Expansion of Office Based Addiction Treatment (STATE OBAT) at Boston Medical Center, with specific expertise in infectious disease and their co-occurrence with substance use disorders, community outreach, and harm reduction. He serves as an expert on the Substance Use Disorder Care Continuum ECHO team, providing opioid addiction training and mentoring to health centers throughout the SUD care spectrum. He also sits on the item writing committee for the Addictions Nursing Certification Board, which oversees the accreditation of addiction nurses via the Certified Addictions Registered Nurse (CARN) and the Certified Addictions Registered Nurse-Advanced Practice (CARN-AP) examinations.

Justin has dedicated his career to caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS and suffering from substance use disorders across the continuum of care, working first in the community for a mobile health unit offering free HIV/STI testing and case management services and most recently as a staff nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in the Infectious Disease Division. He is an AIDS Certified Registered Nurse, serving as the President of the Boston Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, and a Certified Addictions Registered Nurse, serving as the Vice-President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the International Nurses Society on Addictions. He is also the current President of the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

Justin received his BSN from Northeastern University in 2013 and is currently in a MSN program at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth with a focus in nursing education.

Deja Cabrera

Community Health Educator and Advocate
San Diego LGBT Community Center
(she/her/hers)

Deja is the Community Health Educator and Advocate for the San Diego LGBT Community Center, where she works on sexual health programs, services, and activities to serve the local LGBTQIA+ community. Deja also assists with education and prevention as a certified HIV and Hepatitis C Test Counselor. With charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent, she is honored to be a part of this community.     Aside from her activism and advocacy, Deja is an empowered transgender Latina. She pushes herself every day to inspire and empower the community. She inspires the youth just by waking up every morning and being her authentic self, taking on the world as she leaves her front door every day. She empowers other trans women of color by showing them that she will not be another statistic. Deja knows her worth and lives each day as if it was her last. She thrives for acceptance and transcends through the San Diego community as a leader, motivator, educator and activist.  

Marvin Hanashiro

Community Outreach Coordinator
UC San Diego AntiViral Research Center
(he/him/his)

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Marvin attended the University of Arizona and majored in psychology. Marvin currently serves as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the UC San Diego AntiViral Research Center, and has been working in clinical research at UC San Diego for over 15 years. Marvin’s professional areas of expertise are in clinical research coordination and community engagement for studies on HIV and other infectious diseases, with particular attention to diversity and inclusion; he was a recipient of the 2019 UC San Diego Inclusive Excellence Award in recognition of these efforts. In addition, Marvin co-founded a non-profit and major HIV fundraiser called Red Dress Party San Diego, which provides essential funds to and awareness of local HIV service organizations. On a personal note, Marvin loves karaoke, sour candy, Shania Twain, pandas, and bow ties. 

Fidel Martinez

Student
Columbia University
(he/him/his)

Fidel Martinez was born and raised in southern Texas by the border of Mexico. After moving about 10 times, he ended up in Syracuse, NY for his last three years of high school. After high school, Fidel was accepted to and started at Columbia University in NYC, where he now calls home. Currently, Fidel is a rising junior on the premed track studying Neuroscience and Behaviors with the hope of one day becoming a neurosurgeon or potentially doing research on neurodegenerative diseases. For work, Fidel is a research assistant at the NYS Psychiatric Institute doing research through Columbia on Schizophrenia. On another more personal note, Fidel is a proud gay Latino who strives to always be there for his friends and others in need. He loves to discover new music, make playlists, go on runs or go to the gym, skateboard in central park, read (currently reading Gay Bar!), and is always down to do anything.