Graduate Biosketches

Sameena Azhar

Sameena Azhar graduated with an MSW/MPH from UPenn (2007) and a BA in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley (2002). Sameena received both the Otto and Getrude Pollack Scholarship and the Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship at Penn. Sameena's areas of interest are the clinical fields of mental health, substance abuse, sexual trauma, and HIV/AIDS. As a recipient of a service fellowship from the American India Foundation, Sameena spent a year working at Mamta Health Institute in New Delhi, India, where she conducted a research study documenting the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS. Sameena has worked in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco; Congreso de Latinos Unidos; and Blacks Educating Blacks about Sexual Health Issues (BEBASHI). She has also served on the Board of Directors of AIDS Services in Asian Communities (ASIAC) in Philadelphia. She currently resides in San Francisco where she works as a Clinical Supervisor at the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center. 

Julie Cederbaum, M.S.W.

In addition to being a graduate of the MPH program, Julie Cederbaum is a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Policy & Practice. Her dissertation entitled, The Impact of HIV serostatus on Mother-Daughter Communication and Parental Monitoring is currently in process. Julie works with Drs. Loretta Sweet Jemmott and M. Katherine Hutchinson in the Center for Health Disparities Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Julie received her Master’s in Social Work at the UCLA in 2001.

Evelina DiFranco, MPH, Graduated Summer 2005

Evelina DiFranco has been the Project Director of 4Sight Program, an eye care community outreach program of the Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, since 2000.  In this capacity, Ms. DiFranco oversees the daily activities of three part-time staff members, maintains and modifies established protocol activities, manages the budget, submits for funding to local and national organizations, and presents program accomplishments to various organizations, including the American Public Health Association. To date, the program has enrolled almost 1,000 members. In addition, Ms. DiFranco has been working with the West Philadelphia community in a new outreach initiative of 4Sight. It includes comprehensive vision screenings with follow-up or referred patients to provide eye exams and eyeglasses for those who are uninsured or underinsured.  Ms. DiFranco’s primary public health interests focus on preventive community-based outreach and education initiatives.

Joel A. Fein, M.D., MPH, Graduated Spring 2005

Joel A. Fein, M.D., MPH is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an Attending Physician in the Emergency Department at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).  His areas of interest include violence prevention and pain management in children and adolescents.  Dr. Fein is the co-director of the Emergency Department Violence Intervention Project at CHOP and The University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. 

Dr. Fein has authored review articles and original research papers on the topic of violence prevention and the evaluation of post-traumatic stress disorder, and was the guest editor of the “Injury Prevention and Control” issue of Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine in June 2003.  He is a manuscript reviewer for Pediatrics, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Pediatric Emergency Care, and Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.  Dr. Fein is the Chairman of the Patient Satisfaction Subcommittee at CHOP, a member of the Youth Fatality Review Team of the Philadelphia Department of Health, and a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Eron Friedlaender, M.D.

Eron Friedlaender, M.D. is an attending physician in the Division of Emergency Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and is an Instructor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  She completed her fellowship training in pediatric emergency medicine at CHOP in 2003.  Currently, she is supported by a T32 grant to pursue a fellowship in child advocacy.

Dr. Friedlaender’s research interest is in injury prevention, specifically related to child maltreatment and sports medicine.  She is currently the principal investigator for a case-control study designed to evaluate the healthcare utilization patterns of victims of child maltreatment compared to matched controls in order to assess the association between Emergency Department and ambulatory service use prior to a diagnosis of abuse.  In addition, Dr. Friedlaender has begun to establish an interdisciplinary team of experts in pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, law, public health, and social work to address landlord-tenant issues that compromise the health of children, such as abatement for lead, absent locks on windows and front doors, absent smoke detectors, and unregulated hot water heater temperatures. 

Eric Griffin

Before becoming an MPH student at the University of Pennsylvania, Eric Griffin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Kiribati, a pacific atoll nation. While in Kiribati, Mr. Griffin worked with the Ministry of Health to formulate the first road-safety program for the country. Mr. Griffin works with the Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI), developed to improve the eating habits of West Philadelphia Teens, which he also worked with while an undergraduate at Penn.

Emily M. Hall

Emily M. Hall is student in the Family Health Nurse Practitioner/Masters of Public Health dual degree program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Virginia in 2003. Since that time she has been practicing in the Intermediate Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she qualified for certification as a Progressive Care Nurse. Her interests in international health lead her to participate in a health assessment and education program in rural Rwanda during 2006. She will pursue these interests while completing the Masters of Public Health program as a Global Health Fellow during the 2006-2007 academic year.

Wen-Zhe Ho, M.D.

Wen-Zhe Ho, M.D. MPH  

Dr. Ho is a viral immunologist with a research interest in how the body protects itself against viral infections, particularly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV).  He is also interested in investigating how drug abuse such as opioids and alcohol suppress human immune system and promote viral infections. Dr. Ho's laboratory is investigating the role of drug abuse in the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the immune dysfunction seen in patients infected with HIV and/or HCV.  He uses in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models to directly address whether drug abuse has the ability to promote HIV and/or HCV diseases.  In addition, the work Dr. Ho has done in the past twenty years has given him insight into a number of problems and issues in public health. 

Dr. Ho reports that his MPH training at Penn has certainly promoted him to have deep interests in using his basic research knowledge and background to address physical, mental, and environmental health concerns of communities and populations at risk for disease in the future. 

J. Nicole Martin, M.A.

J. Nicole Martin received her MA in Medical Anthropology in May 2006 from the University of Pennsylvania, and examined the role of drinking-experience narratives in two alcohol treatment programs, the BRENDA biopsychosocial model, and in Alcoholics Anonymous.  As a former University of Pennsylvania undergraduate, Ms. Martin was an Urban Nutrition Initiative Fellow where she taught health and nutrition classes to middle school students, and organized and led a fitness night at a local West Philadelphia middle school, which was dedicated to informing students about the importance of exercising and eating healthily.  Currently, Ms. Martin serves as the Director of the Phoenix Language Services Program at a local pediatric healthcare institution where she has worked on LEP (Limited English Proficient) patient policy and coordinates interpreter services to facilitate LEP patient care.  While housed in the SOM at Penn, Ms. Martin plans to continue examining and addressing public health concerns, specifically LEP patient health rights, and more locally, researching and implementing policy regarding obesity concerns of West Philadelphia adolescents.  Ms. Martin’s future endeavors consist of writing policy for LEP patients, co-creating and serving as secretary for the Pennsylvania Association of Medical Interpreters (PAMI) and pursuing a career in public health law. 

Lynda Nolan, RN, MA, MSN, APNC

Lynda Nolan has worked as a Nurse Practitioner in a joint Hospital and University Center in a high risk perinatal practice.  She has also taught graduate and undergraduate nursing education.  Because of her experience in reproductive health care as well as attending an OSHA internship, Ms. Nolan became interested in current and developing research on specific environmental chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors in fetal and newborn development.  Her publications include a qualitative research analysis on Women’s Decision Making Process prior to hysterectomy as well as an article on the analysis of chronic exposures to certain environmental toxins.  While attending the Public Health program at the University of Pennsylvania, she wishes to construct and participate in epidemiological studies as they relate to reproductive health issues in women’s health care and child development.

Andres Pinto, D.D.S., D.M.D.

Andres Pinto, D.D.S., D.M.D., is an Assistant Professor-Clinician Educator in oral medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and a Clinical Attending Instructor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. He received his D.D.S. degree from Universidad Javeriana, (Bogota, Colombia) and a D.M.D. and a certificate in oral medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. Board eligible in oral medicine, he is also a member of the American Academy of Oral Medicine, the Hispanic Dental Association, and a fellow of the American Association of Hospital Dentists.  He has been board certified since 2004. Dr. Pinto's research interests include pediatric oral medicine and minority access to care.

David Reed

David Reed served as the Director of Infection Control and Quality Assurance for the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and worked with faculty, students and patients to assure awareness of the hazards associated with dentistry and related occupational injury. Mr. Reed is interested in issues of environmental and occupational health and has extensive experience in the field of occupational safety.

Devorah Wieder, M.D., MPH, Graduated Spring 2005

Devorah Wieder, M.D., MPH received her degree in medicine and her MPH from the University of Pennsylvania. She has long been interested in women’s health issues and specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology. As a participant in the Victim Advocacy Training Program, Dr. Wieder received training in identifying women at risk for domestic abuse and in empowerment techniques to enable them to set up support systems. Dr. Wieder completed her MPH degree with a capstone project entitled “Documenting Obstacles to Obstetrics Care Utilization Among Medicaid Recipients in Southeastern Pennsylvania: A Patient-Centered Perspective.”