UCGHI Black Lives Matter Task Force
UCGHI stands in solidarity against systemic racism, police brutality, and injustice – atrocities that tear down the health and well-being of Black communities. To be silent and to continue with business as usual is to be complicit. We, as individuals and as an institution stand with you. Black Lives Matter.
The UC Global Health Institute has created a Black Lives Matter Task Force (June 9th, 2020) with faculty, staff, and student representation to develop specific plans to address systemic racism starting with our Institute and the health and educational inequities that affect African-American communities in a highly disproportionate way.
Our Members
Sun Yu Cotter, MPH
UCGHI Deputy Director, UC Global Health Institute, UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences, (Co-Chair)
Sun Yu Cotter is the co-Chair for the UCGHI Black Lives Matter Task Force and the co-Chair for UCSF’s Institute for Global Health Sciences Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. She is a global health professional with extensive field experience and certified in mediation and conflict resolution.
Kemi Amin, MBA
Communications Director, UCGHI, UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences/Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Kemi is the communications director for the UC Global Health Institute (UCGHI), the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS), and the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (DEB). Kemi joins UCGHI, IGHS and DEB from the UCSF Library where she served as the Communications Manager for nearly five years. Prior to her tenure at the Library, Kemi led the marketing and membership departments at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley. She has more than 15 years of experience in graphic design, marketing and communications, and strategic planning.
Douglas M. Haynes, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, UC Irvine
Douglas M. Haynes is the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at UC Irvine. Vice chancellor Haynes leads a comprehensive effort to establish UCI as a national leader and global model of inclusive excellence. At the core of this aspiration is a campus community where all expect equity, support diversity, practice inclusion and honor free speech. Joining the history faculty in 1994, Dr. Haynes has contributed to the advancement of the mission of UCI as a public research university. His research and teaching interests are broad, spanning from the development of the modern medical profession, comparative health care systems, to the representations of disease and illness in the mass media.
- Federico Castillo, PhD
Lecturer, UC Berkeley, UCGHI Planetary Health Center of Expertise, Deputy Director
Federico Castillo is an Environmental/Agricultural Economist with a PhD and undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently engaged in research with scholars from Tropical Agricultural Research Center (CATIE), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and the University of California, Davis in projects dealing with ecosystem based adaptation to climate change, the socio-economic impact of weather extremes in California agriculture, and climate change impacts on migration from Mexico to the US.
Eric Goosby, MD
Professor of Clinical Medicine, UCSF, Institute for Global Health Sciences, Center for Global Health Delivery and Diplomacy, Director
Dr. Eric Goosby is a professor of clinical medicine and the Director of Global Health Delivery and Diplomacy in the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS). He currently serves as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Tuberculosis. , bringing to the job a combination of expertise in infectious diseases and experience running large public health response programs in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Goosby was the founding director of the Ryan White CARE Act in 1991 and subsequently served in the Clinton Administration to expand the program considerably. As Global AIDS Coordinator under President Barack Obama, he was responsible for implementing the President's emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Geremy Lowe
UCGHI Planetary Health Center of Expertise Student Ambassador
Geremy is currently an undergraduate at UC Berkeley studying Geography and Public Policy. His academic interests include: environmental justice, global poverty, and public health. He is concerned with the future marginalized communities face as a result of economic inequality and spacial discrimination. His role as a research assistant has enhanced his passion for demystifying poverty within the Black communities. Geremy is currently conducting original research in understanding contemporary Black identity and the connection to Black geography.
Linda Shin
UCGHI Program Assistant
Linda supports the overall operations and administration of UCGHI and it’s programs. She graduated from Stanford University in 2018 with a major in Human Biology and a Concentration in Health and Health Policy. As a student, she conducted research at the Stanford Prevention Research Center studying health disparities among disadvantaged populations and she most recently worked at Triage Consulting Group as a healthcare consultant.
Stephanie Sumstine, MPH
Project Director, UCLA Center for Community Health, UCGHI Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment Center of Expertise
Stephanie Sumstine is a Project Director at the UCLA Center for Community Health and the Center Coordinator for the UCGHI Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment Center of Expertise (WHGE COE). Her research experience is in sexual health and substance use. At UCLA, Stephanie works in the Management Core for the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network (ATN) for HIV/AIDS and helps lead the NIDA-funded QUIT-Mobile screening and brief intervention. She was also the UCLA Campus Coordinator for UC Speaks Up as part of the WHGE COE’s signature project to support sexual violence prevention on college campuses. During her free time, Stephanie enjoys hiking, doing yoga, traveling, cooking, and reading.
Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, UCSF, UCGHI Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment Center of Expertise, Director of Research
Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH, associate professor-in-residence in the UC San Francisco Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, is based at the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health Program at UCSF's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Her work encompasses two overarching themes: the effects of women's empowerment and gender equity on reproductive health and improving access to contraception and abortion care. Her current research focuses on understanding and documenting the impact of state-level abortion restrictions on women's lives.
Samantha Ying, PhD
Assistant Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry, UC Riverside, UCGHI Planetary Health Center of Expertise, Co-Director
Samantha (Sam) Ying is a professor in the Environmental Science Department. She is passionate about her research, teaching, and, in particular, engagement with her students and community. She is dedicated to empowering the disadvantaged and ensuring equity for all. Sam’s research and teaching focus on chemical and biological processes within soils that shape water quality, food security, and the global cycles of critical elements such as carbon and nitrogen. Her work seeks to provide soil and water management practices for a healthy and sustainable future while training the leaders of tomorrow. Sam received her B.S. from UC Santa Barbara and Ph.D. from Stanford University; she joined the UCR faculty in 2015.
Jerry John Nutor, PhD, RN, MS
Jerry John Nutor is an assistant professor at University of California, San Francisco. His research interests are in maternal and child health, and HIV among childbearing women in Sub-Sharan Africa. Jerry is passionate about promoting collaboration between scholars and researchers working in Africa and North America. He is the founder and secretary general of Africa Interdisciplinary Health Conference (AfIHC). He founded AfIHC to create a platform for the various healthcare providers in both clinical and academic/research settings to meet and discuss their research findings to promote evidence-based practices related to the health sector in Africa.
Melissa Smith, MD
Melissa Smith, M.D., is a family medicine physician who has worked in primary care clinics in low-income communities in the US and Central America for three decades. Dr. Smith is the Director of Health Equity Initiatives at UC Santa Barbara, where she co-teaches a seminar on Community-based Participatory Research on health disparities, and is involved in collaborative efforts to address health concerns of historically marginalized communities in Santa Barbara County.
Bridgette Smith, MPH
Bridgette Smith, MPH, is a currently a PhD graduate student studying Epidemiology at UC Davis with a strong interest in health equity, chronic and infectious disease prevention. Through studying Microbiology at UC Merced and her extensive work in educational programs and social justice, Bridgette is passionate about health education and health disparities in the US and abroad.
