Alumni Association Board of Directors

Tanya J. Bustamante, DrPH, MPH ’06

Co-president

Tanya Bustamante is Manager of the Aging Services Division for the City of Berkeley’s Health, Housing, and Community Services Department. Tanya is responsible for the management and administration of two senior centers, a robust nutrition program for older adults, a transportation program, and a case management unit. She coordinates and facilitates strategic planning initiatives, including the citywide Age-Friendly initiative, and prioritizes the professional and leadership development of her staff. Prior to her role as Division Manager, Tanya also worked in the City’s Public Health Division, the San Mateo County Health Department, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, in the areas of communicable disease prevention, chronic disease prevention, and public health emergency preparedness. Tanya received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Infectious Diseases in 2006 from UC Berkeley. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, and a Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Tanya enjoys spending time with her husband, two kids, and two dogs. She loves to go on walks and hikes with her family, and also loves to read and travel.

Stella Ling, MD, MPH ’82

Co-president

Stella is a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health in maternal and child health. She is double board-certified in both pediatrics and radiation oncology. She has previously served on the teaching faculty for U Miami, Sylvester Cancer Center, the OSU James Cancer Center Dept. of Radiation Oncology, and UC Berkeley OLLI. She is interested in multi-cultural health care and worked for several years in SF Chinatown at the Min An Clinic and also in the Bahamas. She has volunteered for health care delivery on refugee flights, and in clinics in Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina. She has given lectures in Tanzania, Egypt, China, Aruba, the Bahamas, and Poland. She is a member of Raising Hope, an organization which tries to improve cancer care in developing countries. She is currently retired from active practice, but still mentors and does locum tenens from time to time to stay current.

Janet Leader, MPH ’83

Immediate Past President

Janet Leader has an MPH in Public Health Nutrition, and is a registered dietitian nutritionist. She is the retired Nutrition Strategy and Education Director for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Lecturer and Associate Director of Field Studies in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. In that capacity she developed and taught classes to undergraduate and nursing, medical, dental and public health students. In addition, she conducted research in public health nutrition programs and mentored future public health and dietetics practitioners.

While the Director of Services at Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley, she directed a 2-county nutrition education project to change nutrition behaviors of over 50,000 food bank clients through a USDA SNAP-Ed grant and provided consultation to the national Feeding America organization. She collaborated with the Stanford Prevention Research Program to develop a medical school course to train multi-lingual Health Ambassadors to work at the food bank. As Project Director at the Stanford School of Medicine, she directed a pilot nutrition and physical activity intervention to reduce child obesity. Ms. Leader was the Director of the six-county Bay Area Nutrition and Physical Activity Collaborative working to address health inequities and policies in the Bay Area. In Seattle, she directed the dietetics internship program at the University of Washington. Prior to that, she developed a dietetic internship program at Sea Mar Community Health Center to offer opportunities for Spanish-speaking nutrition students to serve the Latino community. She worked in cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the American Cancer Society. In addition, Ms. Leader taught health and nutrition as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.

On a personal note, she is on the board of Breathe SoCal and is a docent at the Getty Center. She is the proud mother of two and grandmother of two, and lives with her husband, Clarence Braddock, in West Los Angeles.

Leslie Safier, MPH ’10

Immediate Past President

Leslie received her MPH degree in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology. She is currently the Director of Operational Improvements at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. In her role, she is responsible for Value-Based Programs across the enterprise. She previously worked as the Director Performance Improvement at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG). In her prior role, she partnered with hospital departments and the medical staff to develop, manage, and monitor performance improvement projects, managed external quality data reporting requirements, and provided strategic planning, coaching and practical assistance for hospital leadership in performance improvement. She is LEAN certified and a graduate of the America’s Essential Hospitals 2018 Essential Woman’s Leadership Academy. Outside of work, her interests include hiking, camping, reading and succulent gardening.

Katherine Sham, MPH, BA ’19

Secretary

Katherine graduated with a BA in Public Health and a minor in Public Policy in 2019. She currently works as an Associate Consultant in the Mercer Health & Benefits San Francisco office, where she helps employers with the development and execution of their health care and employee benefit strategy. This role has fostered her interest in health tech innovations that aim to solve different aspects of the healthcare experience for employees, ranging from mental health to fertility support. Outside of work, Katherine volunteers as a patient profile writer for Watsi, a global health nonprofit that helps to directly fund life-changing healthcare for patients around the world. While at Berkeley, Katherine was a TA and associate coordinator for the Health Service Internship program, and supported the Berkeley Online MPH Program as a course assistant. She also served as one of the undergraduate student representatives on the Public Health Undergraduate Management Committee during her senior year. In her free time, Katherine enjoys cooking and baking and making DIY crafts.

Gene Ho, MPH ’20, BA ’19

Marketing Chair

Gene Ho is a two-time graduate from UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, receiving his BA in Public Health in 2019, and MPH in 2020 from the 4+1 Epidemiology/Biostatistics program. Gene currently works as a Data Scientist at the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, working on the county’s COVID-19 response. During his time at UC Berkeley, he was heavily involved in a variety of organizations focused on health equity and community empowerment, like the Berkeley Free Clinic, Helix Medical, the Alameda County Public Health Department. As a recent alumnus, he is continuing his involvement with Berkeley Public Health as a former BPH Student Government Co-Chair, researcher, and Online MPH program course facilitator. When not working for LACDPH or Berkeley, Gene enjoys spending his time cooking, hiking, and picnicking at SF parks.

Erica L. Browne, DrPH ’20

Erica earned her doctorate degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, master’s degree in community health sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree in development studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently serves as a program officer with the Health Program at The Kresge Foundation, where she leads the community safety and health grantmaking, contributes to the Climate Change, Health and Equity initiative, and supports the team’s commitment to community-driven solutions and investments that advance health equity.

Erica is an alum of the RWJF Health Policy Research Scholars program and has conducted research on nonprofit hospital community benefit investments to promote racial equity. In her previous roles at Kaiser Permanente, she advised over $24 million in regional investments, led community health needs assessments, and coordinated strategies to strengthen health career pathways and clinic-community linkages. She has served as the health programs director for Mills College and a senior health educator with the University Health Services at UC Berkeley. She started her career as a health educator and continued this work at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. Originally from Los Angeles, Erica experiences frequent joy with soulful music, food, and people.

Neesha Bukht, MPH ’18

Neesha Bukht, originally from India, is a dietitian and public health education specialist now thriving in Austin, Texas. Neesha has a Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Dietetics, a Master’s in Health Education and Health Behavior from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley. Neesha’s expertise lies at the edge of nutrition, chronic disease prevention, and health education.

Currently a Program Specialist at the Texas Department of State Health Services, Neesha champions preventive and screening programs. Her work focuses on creating impactful educational materials and enhancing program efficiency through strategic planning and data analysis.

Neesha’s passion for food is evident not only in her professional endeavors but also in her personal life. She’s a self-proclaimed health evangelist who loves cooking, eating, and teaching others about food. Her adventurous spirit mirrors that of Anthony Bourdain as she travels extensively, exploring diverse cuisines—though without a camera crew.

A true Austinite, Neesha enjoys music and the outdoors, and she’s a fervent advocate for equal rights and universal access to basic needs. She believes in the interconnectedness of individual, family, and community health outcomes, striving to make a global impact through her work and volunteer efforts.

Neesha has previously contributed to the National WIC Association’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and continuously enhances her skills through numerous certifications, including Certified Health Education Specialist and Certified Lactation Counselor.

BingYune Chen, MPH ’10

BingYune Chen is a healthcare thought partner and data scientist. He has decades of experience as a founder, startup investor, Fortune 10 manager, and nonprofit leader. BingYune also has market expertise in digital health, integrated care, machine learning, and data democratization. By day, he leads data concierge services at BingYune & Co, an advanced analytics firm based in San Francisco, California. The firm builds data products at the intersection of strategy, technology, and inclusion to improve the performance of organizations and mitigate the bias in AI systems. By night, he teaches classes on deep learning at a coding bootcamp and serves as a Board Member to several nonprofits solving complex human health problems at scale. BingYune earned his Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is passionate about partnering with leaders and teams to take collective, positive actions to ensure their organizations become a driving force for social, environmental, and economic benefit. In his free time, BingYune can be found sipping a kale smoothie or meditating on a rowing machine.

Tia Gangopadhyay, MPH ’19, BA ’14

Tia Gangopadhyay holds an MPH in Health Policy and Management and a BA in Social Welfare and Public Health from UC Berkeley. She currently serves as a Program Manager at Kaiser Permanente for Northern California’s mental health service line. Previously, Tia served as a Managerial Consultant at Kaiser Permanente. In this role, Tia supported a portfolio of clinical areas for the entire Northern California region, including Diabetes, Addiction Medicine and Recovery Services, and Emerging Therapeutics. Tia’s prior work has spanned health care consulting, business development, account management, and channel and contracts analytics across companies like Sift and Genentech.

Zoë Harris Lazarre, PhD ’10, MPH

Zoë earned her doctorate degree in Health Services and Policy Analysis (HSPA) from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010, a MPH in Epidemiology and Public Health from Yale University, and her bachelors from the University of Pennsylvania.

Zoë currently serves as Vice President and Franchise Head for the Established Products Portfolio for Genentech, and the global Stroke Lifecycle Lead for Roche, where she has held diverse positions of increasing responsibility at Genentech/Roche since 2010.

Zoë holds a long standing commitment to health equity and health justice having served on the Board of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and spent many years working on community harm reduction efforts. Originally from the east coast, Zoe now lives in Oakland with her husband, Simon, their son, Joaquin (2), and their rescue dog, Max.

Charlotte Jarman, MBA ’23, BA ’16

Charlotte holds dual degrees from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and School of Public Health. She started her career as a healthcare consultant specializing in revenue cycle optimization for hospital systems. She later found a calling in product management, having been drawn to the intersection of technology, business, and health. Over the past 6 years she has been a Product leader at organizations such as CVS Health and R1 RCM, where she developed a variety of healthcare products spanning from conversational AI agents to mobile telemedicine apps. Currently, Charlotte is a Senior Product Manager at Circle Medical, a virtual care start-up focused on improving primary care access, where her focus is on growth, patient experience, and monetization initiatives. Outside of work, Charlotte’s interests include skiing, playing bridge, and propagating her house plants.

Whitney Kennedy, MPH ’15, BA ’11

Whitney Kennedy holds an MPH in Health Policy and Management (2015) and a BA in Sociology and Public Health (2011) from UC Berkeley. She currently serves as Chief of Staff to Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Regional President, supporting cross-functional collaboration between Hospital and Health Plan Operations, Strategy Development, Quality and Patient Safety, Finance, Human Resources, Compliance, Community Health, The Permanente Medical Group and more for KP’s 21 medical centers spanning from Central Valley to the North Bay and serving over 4.5 million members. In this role, she also leads the Executive Consultant Community of Practice and serves as the co-director for Kaiser Permanente’s Administrative Fellowship program. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Whitney held roles in performance improvement and data analytics at Brown & Toland Medical Group and Blue Shield of CA. In her spare time, Whitney loves exploring new parks and hiking trails with her husband and puppy.

Gurwant Khabra, BA ’19

Gurwant Khabra, a dedicated healthcare professional and public health advocate, brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to community health to the UC Berkeley Public Health Alumni Association Board of Directors. She earned her BA in Public Health from UC Berkeley, focusing on health disparities through her volunteer work with the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Initiative (BPSHI). Currently completing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at San Francisco State University, Gurwant is a recipient of the HRSA National Health Service Corps Scholarship, underscoring her dedication to serving underserved communities and enhancing healthcare access.

Actively involved in the community, Gurwant serves as a CPR Medic Volunteer with Rock Medicine, providing free medical care at concert venues, and mentors youth in tennis through CoachArt. Fluent in Punjabi and English, she excels in creating meaningful connections with patients, colleagues, and community members. In her spare time, she loves traveling, baking, and hiking with friends.

Francesca Lomotan, MPH ’17, BA

Francesca earned her MPH degree through the Online MPH program. She also has a BA in Public Health Policy and a BA in Psychology & Social Behavior from UC Irvine. She is the Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) Manager at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Prior to her current role, she served as the Tobacco Prevention Program Director at San Mateo County Health, a local health department. Francesca is the Founder of Bay Area Public Health, a blog and social media project that aims to build bridges within the San Francisco Bay Area public health community. She is also an Advisory Board Member for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative in San Mateo County.

Carlos Londono, MPH ’17

Carlos received his MPH degree from the Online MPH program in 2017. He is the Community Health Services Director at La Familia, a grassroots non-profit Organization in Hayward, CA. He earned his medical degree in 1988 from Universidad Del Rosario, Bogota Colombia. He completed the Clinical Leadership Institute certificate program in UCSF in 2010.

Prior to his current job, in California, he worked for the Alzheimer’s Association – Northern California for 3 years and Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, a local Federally Qualified Health Center, for 19 years.

Carlos is passionate about Latino Health, primary health care, health promotion, healthy aging, access to health care for underserved communities. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, volunteering and soccer.

Praneetha Mullangi, BA ’14, MBA ’23

Praneetha Mullangi holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Public Health and Economics from UC Berkeley and is an MBA Candidate with the Class of 2023 at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Her experience spans healthcare product management, solutions consulting, analytics consulting, and compliance management at premier organizations such as UCSF, Delta Dental, and Pharmacyclics (an Abbvie company). She empowers healthcare and life science executives with strategic, data driven, and innovative solutions that optimize their processes and help them function more effectively. At her most recent employment at UCSF, she managed analytics products with data from electronic medical records to support care of 1M+ annual patient visits. During initial COVID-19 response, Praneetha introduced a dashboard that facilitated transition from 2.4% remote patient visits to 50.7% remote visits in 2 months, all while exceeding patient experience goals. She has previously held executive leadership positions with the American Red Cross chapter of UC Berkeley, organizing public health programs for the Berkeley community.

David Newhouse, MPH ’79, MD, MBA

David Newhouse, MD retired in 2015 from The Permanente Medical Group in Fremont, California after 37 years of service. He held leadership roles including departmental chief, assistant-physician- in chief and program director for the Fremont Infertility center. His roles as assistant-physician-in chief included diversity, performance improvement, service, marketing, and leadership development. In 2003, he developed a program using analytics to improve physician service scores by race/ethnicity, gender and age. Using analytics, potential unconscious bias in the physician could be identified and corrective actions identified. It incorporated the concepts of intersectionality and systems analysis. The same concepts were applied for hospital service scores and quality metrics. In 2007, the work was recognized by Kaiser Permanente with the RJ Erickson individual diversity award.

He received his medical degree in 1974 from Michigan State University and did his internship and residency at Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone. He is board certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology. He received his MPH in maternal child health from University of California Berkeley in 1979 and in May, 2019 earned his MBA from St Mary’s College in Moraga. He currently also serves as a board member for The Dr. Augustus White III Institute for Health Care Equity and the Contra Costa County Crisis Center.

Rhonda Roby, PhD, MPH ’89

Dr. Rhonda Roby joined the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) Crime Laboratory as the Supervising DNA Criminalist/Technical Leader in 2017 where she oversees DNA casework procedures, validation studies, and grants to enhance casework capacity for the backlog of DNA cases. The ACSO Crime Laboratory services the UC Berkeley campus and its police department. In addition, since joining ACSO, Dr. Roby participated in the California Clinical Forensic Medical Training Center’s Standardized Sexual Assault Evidence Kit, served on the National Institute of Justice’s Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences on the DNA Laboratory Efficiency Improvement Working Group, and currently serves on the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Digitization Task Group, and the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies’ Standards for Relationship Testing Laboratories.

Dr. Roby led the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) efforts to assist the City of New York Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in the identifications of the remains of decedents in response to the terrorists’ attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. For this case, she was the director of the mtDNA sequencing program reporting to the OCME and established high throughput forensic sequencing protocols for remains identification of the 9/11 victims. In 2006, she was asked to act as the lead forensic geneticist by the Executive branch of the Chilean government in conducting an audit of the identifications of victims from General Pinochet’s dictate for their tortures and murders. She directed the exhumations of the victims and the sampling of the skeletal remains for the identification efforts.

Dr. Roby has worked on homicide and rape investigations and testified in several states and in Chile. Additionally, she worked on the identifications of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas; the identification of numerous victims in airline disasters; and the identification of Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family.

Cecilie Rose, MA '94

Cecilie Rose received her master’s in biostatistics from UC Berkeley in 1994. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in math and economics. She is passionate about the field of Public Health and promoting all forms of health equity by working to eliminate racism, sexism, ageism and ableism in health care. She has been a board member for the Berkeley Center for Independent Living. S and has written a website about her rare forms of dwarfism, ksginfo.org. She is a long time volunteer with the Special Needs Aquatics Program, snapkids.org.

Cecilie’s 30-year public health career spans many analytical roles such as epidemiology, research, hospital quality and performance improvement, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) consulting assisting municipalities with their ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plans. She currently works as a Medical Informaticist with Blue Shield of California’s Health Transformation team providing analytical support for healthcare innovation pilots. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, taking long walks with her dog, zumba and swimming. She has been a mentor with Oakland Promise and is always happy to hear from students interested in Public Health!

Riya Suising, MPH ’20, MS, BS

Riya received her MPH degree from the Online MPH program with a concentration in Health Policy & Management. Riya has worked in various software, technology, and business positions in Silicon Valley companies since 1988. Since 2010, Riya shifted her career to focus on health and fitness and has become a strong advocate for LGBTQ communities, confronting social determinants of health, becoming active in political reform, and pursuing social justice through influence and education. Prior to Berkeley, Riya received a BS in Engineering & Applied Science from Caltech and an MS in Management from MIT Sloan. She previously served as president of the MIT Sloan Alumni Club of Northern California during its early years in 1994-1999 to grow the club’s momentum in the area. In addition to Public Health interests, Riya spends her time training for and running marathons, teaching online Zumba classes, and helping her clients stay healthy as a nationally certified massage therapist.

Sydney Dougan

MPH (2025)

Sydney is a second-year Food, Nutrition and Population Health graduate student at UC Berkeley interested in food and nutrition policies and their impacts on health over the life course. She is currently studying the subgroup effects of safety net programs and fitness trends in schools. Prior to pursuing her MPH, Sydney worked in North Carolina politics managing legislative campaigns and researching policy at the state legislature. In her free time, Sydney loves to bake, roller skate, and explore new hiking trails.

Itzel Martinez

BA Public Health (2025)

Itzel Martinez is a first-generation Latina student studying Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley with an expected graduation in Spring 2025. Her involvement as a leader in both her community and with young students in California reflects her commitment to a future career in public service. Alongside her studies, she serves as a Success and College Advisor, supporting high school students from diverse backgrounds through the college application and acceptance process. Despite balancing multiple jobs as a first-generation college student, Itzel has persevered, actively contributing to her community in Richmond, California. Her previous role as Site Co-Director for Berkeley United in Literacy Development underscored her dedication to improving literacy among young students in California.

Itzel’s professional interests encompass health, education, and labor policy. During her summer, she had the opportunity to intern with Senator Laphonza Butler’s office in Washington, D.C., focusing on policy work. Itzel intends to leverage this experience to benefit her communities in Berkeley and Richmond. Following graduation, she plans to pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH), aiming to further her commitment to public service and community health. Outside of school and work, Itzel enjoys the outdoors, such as going for walks, camping, fishing, and spending quality time with her family.