Professional Experience:
In my current role, I conducted and drafted an abstract on qualitative case review of pediatric HIV cases diagnosed in Virginia between 2013 and 2018, and presented my findings through a PowerPoint to my Division leadership. This led to our leadership opting in for developing FIMR (Fetal and Infant Morbidity Review) for Perinatal HIV in the 5-year grant cycle. Following cross-unit and cross-jurisdictional collaborations, the term FIMR was renamed as FIMRSH to include both Congenital Syphilis and Perinatal HIV. I worked with STD Prevention and Surveillance staff to draft a job description for recruiting a Perinatal Surveillance Coordinator position, reviewed national FIMR guidelines and prior FIMR programs in Virginia, and drafted a comprehensive FIMRSH procedure manual. The manual includes not only the 5-step FIMR methodology but also a program evaluation and sustainability action plan. I soon became a part of the Case Review Board planning group and the group involved cross unit staff including staff from HIV and STD surveillance and prevention, HIV care services, Senior epidemiologists, and perinatal surveillance coordinator. I continue to support the group on preparing IRB documents, reviewing cases for case reviews, drafting stakeholder needs assessment surveys and analyzing those results, and working on meeting logistics. As a top stakeholder recommendation, I drafted a comprehensive list of community and health resources with input gathered from staff from multiple divisions within VDH. I also drafted a legislative proposal to improve verbiage on prenatal HIV testing regulations, and am part of the Division's legislative workgroup. The proposal was recently expanded to include prenatal testing for congenital syphilis, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. In addition, I also worked with key HIV and STD surveillance staff, with Office of Information Management staff, and with the Division of Vital Records (DVR) to draft a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to ask DVR to share not only death certificate data, but also birth certificate data and data on stillbirths with the HIV and STD Surveillance units. The data are received monthly and matched with the HIV/STD surveillance systems; and birth certificates on persons that match with the records existing in the HIV surveillance systems are imported on a monthly basis. Unmatched and potential perinatal HIV exposures are manually reviewed and are assessed if they meet the criteria for being added into the surveillance system. I routinely assist my direct reports regarding guidance on perinatal/pediatric HIV active surveillance. I also am the point of contact for the perinatal surveillance section for CDC grant reports, and recently proposed perinatal surveillance indicators for the Medical Monitoring Project integrated plan.
Being in public health since 2013, I have been a part of many projects/programs, and all have provided me with substantial experiences, including and not limited to program planning, staff recruitment, establishing (if not already established) clear and comprehensive procedures, workflows, and data management plans, stakeholder engagement, smooth project/program implementation, data quality assurance and improvement reports, program evaluation, and sustainability action plans. In all my experience, I think identifying and involving key stakeholders/staff is critical for the success of any program/project, including providing and receiving real-time feedback and ensuring there is a system in place for continuous quality assurance and improvement. I currently have six direct reports, and have, since 2015, led teams of 4-6 staff. I started with my role as a monitoring program supervisor in 2015 for Virginia's response to Ebola and Zika outbreaks; and thereafter, in 2017, joined in my current role as case surveillance coordinator for HIV/AIDS case investigations in Virginia.