Sasha Ahuja, L.M.S.W., is the Director of Government Relations at PPNYC. Having previously worked as a racial and gender justice organizer and advocate, she has expertise that helps PPNYC to advocate for reproductive justice and equitable access to health care. Ms. Ahuja has spent her professional career as a youth worker and labor organizer, working at the intersections of migration, race, and gender. She graduated from Hunter College of the City University of New York and later obtained a degree in Social Work at Columbia University. Before joining PPNYC, she consulted with the Urban Justice Center, guiding a membership-led effort to advance progressive legislation on the city level.
Alice Berger, R.N., M.P.H., is the Vice President of Health Care Planning at PPNYC. Ms. Berger has more than 20 years of experience working in the policy and program areas of public insurance, health care reform, and family and reproductive health. She directed a large New York City PCAP program and comprehensive primary care identification-and-tracking program for at-risk infants. Ms. Berger currently chairs a citywide Adolescent Health Committee and has been instrumental in the process of implementing health care reform in New York State. She is on the Board of the National Family Planning Reproductive Health Association and the National Advisory Board of Merger Watch. She was recently appointed to two New York State Department of Health committees: the Regional Advisory Committee, which will advise about implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the Promoting Healthy Women, Infants, and Children Committee, which will define the scope of the priority area and identify best practices for action and indicators to track progress.
Carmina Bernardo, M.A., M.P.H., is the Director of Health Care Planning and Family Planning Benefit Program (FPBP) Training Coordinator at PPNYC. She conducts outreach, training, and technical assistance about the FPBP and other public health insurance for health and social service providers in all five boroughs of New York City. Ms. Bernardo also educates health care providers about the impact of the Affordable Care Act on enrollment and eligibility. She has been a PPNYC staff member since September 2000 and volunteered as a PPNYC Center Escort for six years. Before joining PPNYC, Ms. Bernardo worked at Women in Need, a nonprofit organization that provided housing and other services to homeless women with children. She has Master’s degrees in both Public Health and Sociology.
Emily Briglia is the Health Literacy Program Manager at Community Healthcare Network (CHN). She manages the health literacy initiative, which aims to improve patient education and engagement across all clinical disciplines through the implementation of agency-wide activities. Ms. Briglia has experience in sexual and reproductive health education, training, curriculum development, and program evaluation. She is currently attending CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and expects to receive her Master of Public Health degree in 2014.
Randa Dean, M.P.H., is the Director of Capacity Building and Professional Development at PPNYC. She spearheads PPNYC’s work helping organizations around the city to become more “Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)-Ready,” as well as the PPNYC Training Institute. She also oversees the DYCD Teen ACTION SRH Technical Assistance program, which provides SRH training and support to afterschool program providers who coordinate service-learning programs. Previously at PPNYC, Ms. Dean was the Associate Director of Adult Education, supervising the Adult Role Models program and coordinating SRH training for professionals. She has also worked with International Planned Parenthood Federation and Partners in Health in Haiti. Prior to coming to PPNYC, she offered outreach and HIV education to homeless youth and adults in Sacramento, facilitated HIV education sessions for staff at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, and conducted HIV education workshops abroad, primarily in Kenya. Ms. Dean has an M.P.H. in Sexuality and Health from Columbia University.
Stephanie Demmons is the Director of Community Organizing at PPNYC. She oversees the agency’s online and offline organizing and outreach campaigns, including the work of the Activist Council. For the past 10 years, Ms. Demmons has spent her career as an organizer – on environmental issues, international development, and reproductive health and justice. She has extensive experience recruiting, training, and developing leadership within social justice movements and legislative and electoral campaigns.
Caroline Erickson is a Sexuality Educator/Trainer at PPNYC. She facilitates sexual and reproductive health workshops in schools and community organizations throughout Brooklyn, the Bronx, and the Lower East Side. Before joining PPNYC, Caroline was a Rural Community Health Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa. She conducted trainings on various public health topics, including STI/HIV prevention and awareness, nutrition, and sanitation practices.
Lauren Frederico, M.S.W., is an organizer in the NYCLU’s Advocacy Department with a specialization in youth empowerment and student rights. Ms. Frederico has an M.S.W from Hunter College School of Social Work with a focus on community organization, planning, and development. From 2011 to 2013, she was the NYCLU’s Teen Activist Project Coordinator and oversaw youth-led projects on a wide range of civil rights issues including police in schools, the rights of LGBTQ students, and a survey about the implementation of the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA). Now, Ms. Frederico facilitates workshops for youth and professionals on minors’ rights to confidential health care, the Dignity for All Students Act, and the rights of LGBTQ youth in schools. In addition, she provides guidance to school districts with questions about how to best support transgender and gender non-conforming students. Ms. Frederico contributed to the NYCLU’s publication Birds, Bees and Bias: How Absent Sex Ed Standards Fail New York’s Students (2012) and has published in the National Association of Social Workers’ publication Currents.
Shaquana Gardner is a Sexuality Educator/Trainer at PPNYC. She has been in the sexual and reproductive health field for more than eight years, beginning her career at PPNYC as a Lower East Side Teen Advocate. She previously worked as a Community Liaison for the Lower East Side Teen Advocate Program. After leaving for a few years, she returned to PPNYC to work as a Sexuality Educator for the "Making Proud Choices" evidence-based curriculum. In her current position on the Youth Programs Team, Ms. Gardner delivers workshops to youth and young adults throughout New York City on sexual and reproductive health topics such as STI/ HIV prevention, contraception, healthy relationships, and communication. She facilitates "Making Proud Choices" in addition to in-house workshops and trainings. She recently developed and conducted an "Interrupting Oppressive Behaviors" training for PPNYC’s Sexuality Educators' Academy.
William Humphries is a Sexuality Educator/Trainer at PPNYC. Mr. Humphries began his career as one of PPNYC's Bronx Teen Advocates and later became the Program Assistant for the Teen Advocates from the Lower East Side. He attends John Jay College of Criminal Justice, majoring in Deviant Behavior and Social Control. Mr. Humphries conducts workshops for youth on topics that affect their everyday lives and help them to make better decisions. He has taught the “Making Proud Choices” evidence-based curriculum as well, and he co-facilitated the "Sexually Transmitted Infections: Clinical Facts and Engaging Educational Strategies" training that PPNYC offered to professionals. He has also attended trainings himself and become a certified HIV tester and counselor.
Bianca I. Laureano, MA², is the Director of Adult Education at PPNYC. She is an award-winning sexologist and educator whose interests include representations of the sexuality of people of color in media, popular culture, and reproductive justice. She has been a professor at several colleges and universities in New York City, an abortion doula, and co-founder of The LatiNegras Project. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Health and Latina Communities, was awarded a Master’s degree from NYU in Human Sexuality Education, and a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies with a focus on race, racialization, bodies and sexualities from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Andrea Leiva is the Adult Education program assistant at PPNYC where she currently supports the Adult Role Models (ARM) peer education program that conducts workshops for parents on how to talk to their children about sexuality. Ms. Leiva also facilitates ARM workshops for parents in Spanish. She has helped train the Adult Role Models and currently conducts Spanish facilitator trainings. Ms. Leiva is a member of the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA). She previously facilitated the first Spanish-language sexual and reproductive health political advocacy e-course for students in Latin America as a GYCA staff member. Prior to coming to PPNYC, Ms. Leiva worked as an ESL teacher and helped facilitate a women’s sexual health leadership group for immigrant women in East New York.
Louise Marchena, M.S.W., is the Director of Youth Programs at PPNYC. She oversees PPNYC’s sexuality education programs targeted at youth, including community-based and citywide initiatives. She received her Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Fordham University in 2002. Ms. Marchena has more than 10 years of experience working in the mental health field, specializing in children and family therapy. Prior to joining PPNYC, Ms. Marchena developed and implemented multifaceted after-school programming for children suffering from serious emotional disturbances and designed programs to provide support to their families.
Haydee Morales, M.A., is the Vice President of Education and Training at PPNYC. She oversees programs that reach more than 25,000 young people, parents, and professionals every year. Ms. Morales joined the staff of PPNYC in 2003, bringing more than 20 years of experience in grassroots, local, national, and international health education including reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, advocacy, and cultural awareness initiatives. Ms. Morales is a veteran of community-based programming and management, having worked in organizations such as the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, the Hispanic AIDS Forum, the March of Dimes. She was a founder and Executive Director of Casa Atabex Aché, a women’s health and action organization based in the South Bronx. Ms. Morales holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health and a Master of Administration in Organizational Management degree.
Amanda Pena is a Sexuality Educator/Trainer at PPNYC. She has been in the sexual and reproductive health field for more than six years, beginning her career at PPNYC as a Bronx Teen Advocate. She previously worked as a Program Assistant for the PPNYC Teen Advocate Program. Ms. Pena attends Bronx Community College, currently majoring in Human Services and considering other majors related to her work at PPNYC. As a Sexuality Educator, she conducts workshops for youth and young adults throughout New York City on sexual and reproductive health topics such as STI/ HIV prevention, contraception, healthy relationships, and communication. She is responsible for facilitating “Making Proud Choices,” an evidence- based curriculum, in addition to in-house workshops and trainings.Michele Perlman, M.P.H., received her Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University in 1999. She is currently the Director of Health and Community Education at Community Healthcare Network (CHN). She oversees all health education programming at CHN’s 11 health centers and their surrounding communities. She also oversees CHN’s Teens P.A.C.T. Program and health literacy initiative. Ms. Perlman has extensive experience in program development, curriculum design, training, youth development, and program evaluation in the areas of reproductive health, prenatal health, and health literacy. She has been working in the field of public health and health education for more than 20 years.
Dolores Polanco is a Sexuality Educator/Trainer at PPNYC. Ms. Polanco began her career at Bronx Aids Services as a peer educator and later became one of PPNYC's Bronx Teen Advocates. She attends New York City College of Technology, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Ms. Polanco conducts workshops for youth about sexual and reproductive health in schools and community organizations throughout Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan with the aim of helping them to make better decisions. She teaches the “Making Proud Choices” evidence-based curriculum as well as other curricula. She has attended trainings herself to become a certified Trainer of Trainers on breastfeeding and on evidence-based curricula.
Lauren Porsch, M.P.H., is the Program Director for Clinical Training, Research and Special Projects at PPNYC. She collaborates in the planning and delivery of PPNYC's training and education programs for physicians, advanced practice clinicians, and medical students, and in the implementation of clinical research projects at the agency’s health centers. Her areas of expertise are contraception, abortion, HIV risk reduction counseling, and the provision of LGBT-sensitive reproductive and sexual health education and services.
Jessica Rivera is the Sexuality Educator Coordinator at PPNYC. Ms. Rivera previously coordinated PPNYC's Teen Advocate Program for both the Bronx and Lower East Side sites. She currently contributes to the development and implementation of youth programs in various communities across New York City. Prior to joining PPNYC, Ms. Rivera was the Outreach Specialist at the Adolescent AIDS Program at Montefiore Medical Center. Ms. Rivera has also presented at Ryan White conferences and at the National Youth Advocacy Coalition's Annual Youth Conference. Through education and outreach efforts, she has empowered youth to get tested, obtain information, and better understand their rights to sexual and reproductive health care.
Emily Saltzman, M.S.W., serves as the Adult Role Models Program Coordinator at PPNYC where she supports an inspiring team of parent peer-educators who facilitate workshops for other parents on how to talk about sexuality with their children. Ms. Saltzman also co-facilitates workshops for professionals covering topics such as creating LGBTQ-accountable spaces, enthusiastic consent and communication in relationships, and progressive sexuality education. Her passion and social justice framework have been greatly influenced by positions she previously held at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Queers for Economic Justice, and The Undoing Racism Internship Project.
Lila Starbuck is the Training Institute (TI) Coordinator at PPNYC, where she collaborates with trainers to develop and deliver professional trainings, and coordinates the TI’s daily operations. In the past, Ms. Starbuck has served as a sexuality educator, health educator, and program coordinator with PPNYC and other New York City organizations, facilitating evidence-based programs, providing one-on-one counseling, coaching peer leaders, and developing creative and fun health education activities. She also has experience as a sex educator with Babeland, where she offered pleasure-focused, sex-positive education for adults. Ms. Starbuck is currently pursuing an M.P.H. at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College.
Alex Stevens, M.P.H., is PPNYC’s Associate Director of Capacity Building and Professional Development. She provides sexual and reproductive health training and support to afterschool program providers in the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development’s Teen ACTION program. Prior to working at PPNYC, she conducted weekly sexuality education classes and counseling sessions for middle and high school students in the Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program. Ms. Stevens has also led education, training, and research efforts at the Young Men's Health Clinic, Columbia University’s Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She has extensive experience in curriculum development, sexual education, and training for adolescents, college students, parents, and professionals. Ms. Stevens received an M.P.H. in Sexuality and Health from Columbia University.
Jini Tanenhaus, P.A.-C, M.A., is a Physician Assistant with over thirty years of experience as a primary care medical provider specializing in adolescent and reproductive health, and as a Pro-Choice advocate. For the past 18 years, she has worked at Planned Parenthood of New York City in a number of different capacities, as a clinician, an administrator, a clinical research investigator and as a trainer. She initiated medication abortion services at PPNYC in 1996 and since then has worked to develop and deliver numerous clinical and didactic educational sessions, locally, nationally and internationally on abortion related topics including medication abortion, manual vacuum aspiration , basic ultrasound, counseling and values clarification. She has represented PPNYC, the National Abortion Federation (NAF), Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) as trainer and advisor. She is a long-standing member of the Clinicians for Choice Advisory Committee.
Meghan Weidl, M.P.H., is the Associate Director of Adult Education at PPNYC. Ms. Weidl manages PPNYC’s Promotores de Salud Program that aims to increase access to sexual and reproductive health care for Latina immigrants in New York City. Prior to coming on board at PPNYC, Ms. Weidl managed a women’s HIVeducation and prevention program at five methadone clinics in the Bronx. She has also developed and implemented sexual and reproductive health education programs in adolescent group homes in Bolivia.
Monique Wynn is a Sexuality Educator/Trainer at PPNYC. She facilitates STI and teen pregnancy prevention evidence-based curricula for youth in public schools and community organizations in target communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. She also facilitates breastfeeding trainings for youth who are parents. Ms. Wynn started her career as one of PPNYC’s Lower East Side Teen Advocates. Before returning to PPNYC Ms. Wynn earned her Bachelor’s degree and worked as a Life Skills Specialist for youth in a domestic violence shelter for women and children.
