Council Members

Charles Adams

I have been an HIV/AIDS volunteer/advocate for over 20 years. I am a long term survivor of HIV and a long term user of Ryan White services. Organizations I have volunteered for include, the AIDS Legal Referral Panel for over five years, Health Legal Services, part of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, for fifteen years and the HIV Food Basket in Santa Clara County for over fifteen years. I have been on the Community Advisory Board for the SF Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group for over twenty years. I was a member of the Santa Clara HIV Planning Council for almost ten years and moved to San Francisco where I have been a member of the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council for over 4 years. My focus has been and will continue to be on client level services.

Cesar Cadabes

UCSF-Gladstone Center for AIDS Research Center Events and Communications. Cesar has worked in HIV for over 25 years within a diversity of institutions including; public health departments, academic and research institutions, and nonprofit community-based organizations in both clinical and non-clinical settings In San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hawaii. He tested HIV positive in 1989.

Ed Chitty

I have been an AIDS Activist since the mid-eighties. I taught in public schools for 7 years. I have been working in HIV/AIDS nursing since 1992. My entire nursing career has been in the field of HIV. As an HIV specialty nurse (ACRN), I have worked in hospital, home health and hospice. I retired from Kaiser SF Medical Center in 9-2018 to take care of my father. I served as the HIV Patient Care Coordinator/Program Coordinator for approximately 18 years. I look forward to continued service on the SF HIV Community Planning Council.

Billie J. Cooper

Miss Billie Cooper is the first African American Transgender to be elected on the C.A.R.E. Council. She also worked with the community in the Tenderloin & Bayview Hunter Point and with the AIDS Foundation.

Zachary Davenport

Appointed Seat: Community Behavioral Health Services/Mental Health Zachary is a Behavioral Health Clinician at San Francisco Department of Public Health’s South Van Ness and City Clinics. They are a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a passion for working in community behavioral health.

Pedro Felix

Pedro Felix, PhD, LCSW, is a Supervising Case Manager at the UCSF Alliance Health Project. He has dedicated his professional career to supporting the mental health and well-being of marginalized communities, including homeless, low-income, undocumented, BIPOC, LGBTQ, and HIV-impacted individuals. He has provided clinical social work services since 2005.

Elaine Flores

Community Member Long-term Marin HIV/AIDS Care Council Member Membership Committee Co-Chair

Matt Geltmaker

Clinical Services Manager – Public Health, San Mateo County Health Matt has worked as a social worker providing services in the HIV community since 1996. He currently is the Clinical Services Manager for Public Health in San Mateo County, having worked for San Mateo Health since 2005. His current position manages all programs that oversee Title 17 reportable diseases; HIV, STD, Tuberculosis and Communicable Disease Control. He is a strong harm reduction advocate and strives to create a system in San Mateo County that provides non-judgmental and comprehensive services.

Paul Harkin

Director of Harm Reduction Health Right 360

Ron Hernandez

San Francisco Resident Local Community Volunteer HIV Services Consumer SFHCPC Member

Lee Jewell

Lee Jewell is an Associate Marriage Family Therapist (AMFT) with a MA in Psychology, and part-time usher with BroadwaySF. Lee joined the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council in 2008. He is a past co-chair and currently the Council representative to the CAEAR Coalition Board of Directors. Lee is a Patient Representative to a stem cell HIV clearance study with California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Additionally, Lee volunteers as a small group facilitator with the Positive Living for US Seminar (PLUS) at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and as a LGBTQ Senior Volunteer with OpenhouseSF. Lee is proud to be a member of the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council to improve the Continuum of Care for People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

Juba Kalamka

Juba has worked in HIV related community health services since moving to the in the San Francisco Bay Area in January 1999, beginning as a chaperone for youth events with Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County drop-in center (SMAAAC) in Oakland. He concurrently worked as outreach staff and a publication design consultant for AIDS Project of the East Bay (APEB), later serving to a program assistant for Our Love at Stop AIDS Project in 2002, and received a Creating Change Award from the National LGBTQ Task Force in 2005 for his work in queer music community. He spent eight years as a test counselor and outreach worker at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Magic Johnson Clinics before joining the HIV Services team at St. James Infirmary (SJI) in 2015, and was among 40 artists and advocates to attend the White House Bisexual Community Policy Briefing that same year. He currently serves as Community Healthcare Services Director at SJI and has served on the boards of BiNet USA,sex worker advocacy org Desiree Alliance, The National Queer Arts Festival , and Bay Area rideshare service Homobiles. Juba earned a BA in Art, Secondary Education from Chicago State University in 1993 and an MFA in Poetics from New College of California in 2006.

Chris Kent

Appointed Seat: State Office of AIDS Chris Kent (he/him) is a Data Specialist for the Office of AIDS at the California Department of Public Health. He also has experience working in community centers and serving on an LGBTQ nonprofit board, and he studied LGBTQ history in his MA program.

Thomas Knoble

Thomas Knoble, MSW, is the Testing Program Manager with the Community Health Equity and Promotion Branch of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He has been doing HIV/STD/HVC testing work in San Francisco since 1991 with a focus on gay and bisexual men, transgender women and with people who inject drugs. Thomas started with Shanti as emotional support volunteer where he supported people with HIV in with the dying process. Many were alone due to all their friends had passed or family had disowned them. In 1993 he became HIV test counselor test and has many hours of support people with complicated issues impacting their lives. In this work he has supported many people in a most vulnerable moment of learning they are living with HIV. Thomas is one of a handful of California HIV State Certified Trainers charged with training/certifying all new test counselors. In his work with the DPH he is still in an active HIV/HCV/STD Counselors with many of the sites funded by the DPH. Over the years Thomas has worked all with all DPH funded testing programs including the jails and homeless encampments. The landscape is changing, PrEP, U=U, syringe services, and support people with retention are critical to our future efforts. Thomas's role is to support community based organizations to assure these critical activities are assessable to clients.

Nga Le

Senior Program Coordinator with Marin County – Department of Health & Human Services, Communicable Disease and Community Preparedness

T.J. Lee-Miyaki

T.J. Lee-Miyaki is an advocate/activist for HIV/AIDS, LGBTQIA, Cancer and Cancer Survivors, the Formerly Incarcerated and Homelessness issues. T.J. has been a San Francisco resident since July 1994. He has worked for Shanti Project and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a program manager. He was also the Program Manager for the SF CARE Council for five and half years. He currently is an interventionist/case manager at PRC working with HIV+ clients that are either formerly incarcerated or homeless. He is a former two-term SF Ryan White CARE Council Member, a two-term SF HIV Community Planning Council Member and has been a two-term Long Term Care Coordinating Council Member in the past. He has served on local, state and national level board teams like Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures and Positive Pedalers. Mr. Lee-Miyaki also created and currently still facilitates the only Northern California cancer support group for Gay/Bi/Trans Men, called “Jeffrey’s Place” through Shanti Project. He has been doing this since July 2009.

Helen Lin

Helen Lin, LCSW Social Work Supervisor UCSF Positive Health Program at ZSFG Helen has been doing HIV prevention and social work in San Francisco since 1997 with a focus on quality care and services for LGBT, communities of color, and those affected by mental health, substance use, homelessness and incarceration. She is a graduate of UCLA and SF State University.

Derrick Mapp

I work as a Senior Services Care Navigator and Health Counselor at the Shanti Project. I am dedicated to working and volunteering in HIV and GLBTIA+ communities advocacy. I'm involved with several HIV-related research networks to advocate and represent community interests and concerns in trials' development. I have formerly worked for the HIV CARE Council when its staff support was located at ABC, now PRC, and a member of the former HIV Prevention Council.

Irma Parada

In 1990 after graduating from college with studies in Teaching, I decided to change fields due to the HIV epidemic impacting several of my close friends. For the last 30 years, I've worked in multiple settings, providing direct services to individuals dealing with HIV diagnosis and their loved ones. Currently employed at the San Francisco Health Department‐ Jail Health Services. Council Co-Chair

Gwen Smith

Southeast Health Center Integrated Health Program Coordinator

John Paul Soto

Senior Program Manager, Lutheran Social Services of Northern California John Paul (“JP”) has worked in the social services field for over 22 years. In his current position as Deputy Director at Lutheran Social Services, he maintains oversight and responsibility of all programs and services for the agency, specifically supporting low-income individuals and families who are homeless, formerly homeless, or at risk of homelessness in San Francisco. JP has been a member of this planning council since 2003. In his spare time he volunteers and works closely with the Imperial Council of San Francisco in fundraising and promoting community awareness with local nonprofits supporting housing, health, and safety for those in need.

Guilherme Sttellet

Guilherme Sttellet is a dynamic professional whose journey commenced as a Clinical Research Coordinator at UCSF. Originating from Brazil, his commitment to healthcare and research drove him to his current role as a Harm Reduction Coordinator at UCSF. With hands-on experience in HIV communities since 2019, Guilherme is deeply dedicated to promoting healthier communities, particularly among substance users, immigrants, and trans communities. His extensive volunteer engagement, including roles as a Prep Ambassador and Sexual Health Counselor, reflects his passion for positive change and holistic well-being.

Richard Sullivan

I am a member of the End Hep C S.F., San Francisco Hep C Task Force, SFAF Syringe Access Services and volunteer as a St. James Infirmary Outreach Navigator. I am also a student at City College of San Francisco working towards a certificate in the Recovery and Addiction Counselor Program, as well as a student at SFSU working towards a certificate in the Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Course. I am honored to have this opportunity to help the community in the area of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. I was diagnosed in 2004. I believe in giving back and offering hope and understanding to all those in need, particularly to marginalized populations. I have lived experience in navigating the full treatment spectrum, and would be more than willing to help in any way possible.

Laura Thomas

Director of Harm Reduction Policy San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Manuel Vasquez

Manuel Vasquez is the HIV Housing Programs Manager for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD for short). Manuel manages the oversight of several HIV housing assistance programs that are funded by the Federal housing assistance program HOPWA (Housing Opportunity for People with AIDS/HIV) in San Francisco. Manuel earned his Masters Degree in Counseling and Psychology from Troy University and has years of experience working and developing social service programs that serve people living with HIV/AIDS. Prior to MOHCD, Manuel managed an HIV peer community health worker program and RAPID ART program at a Ryan White clinic in Atlanta, GA. Manuel also coordinated several HIV programs and services for several years at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Manuel has a keen interest in improving the provision of housing, healthcare and social services to those living with HIV/AIDS and is excited about the to serve on the HIV Community Planning Council.