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Staff Profiles
PCH has three core staff and a faithful
dog in New York. Staff in New York includes Dr. Mitchell
Cohen, Ms. Lucia Orellana, Mr.
Bacilio Reyes Jr. (Basil), and Macy. PCH has part-time
staff in Houston, Texas and Portland, Oregon. In addition, PCH regularly
uses consultants and has an active internship program. PCH has a technology
partner, Dataccount, that installs and support systems. PCH has a multi-cultural
staff and many of our projects involve working with the gay and lesbian,
Latino, and African American communities.
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Dr. Cohen brings a wide range of managerial and technical skills to
PCH. He received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication Research from the
University of Michigan and has utilized his research and managerial
skills in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. His work within
the non-profit sector focusing on underserved communities started
with his involvement in the worldwide struggle against AIDS. Initially
most of his work was with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and
the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. From 1987 to1994, Dr. Cohen worked
extensively in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe designing, managing,
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He developed several widely published strategies for risk behavior
change during a fellowship at the National Institute of Health and
Medicine in Paris. During a fellowship sponsored by the European
Commission in Brussels, he edited the book Social Interactions
and HIV Risk that describes some of the latest thinking on prevention
of HIV infection and the importance of strategies targeting the
interaction between partners and among community members (in contrast
to strategies targeted to increasing individual knowledge and making
individual decisions).
Currently, Dr. Cohen is the team leader in developing a demonstration
project to measure unmet needs for HIV/AIDS services for HRSA. In
the past year, he was the team leader in the Epidemiological Review,
Needs Assessment and Comprehensive Plan for the Dallas, Austin,
Houston and Portland EMAs, and for the Dallas and Houston HIV Care
Consortium and State of Oregon.
Recently he was involved in developing the Interim HIV/AIDS Strategic
Plan for New York, and he designed and led the project "Assessing
Outcomes of Technical Assistance Received by Ryan White Title I
Recipients" in New York. He also designed and led a project
that measured quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS that
was subsequently presented at the International AIDS Conference.
He was a crucial member of the team that completed the Statewide
Coordinated Statement of Needs (SCSN) - a comprehensive review of
Ryan White Care services, needs, gaps and barriers in New York State.
Dr. Cohen has worked with several non-profit organizations to implement
automated client tracking and assessment systems. He is currently
involved in working with PCH's technology partners in implementing
systems to collect data and evaluate performance.
Prior to his work in AIDS and the nonprofit sector, Dr. Cohen was
Director of the Corporate Marketing Research and Development Department
at a leading Wall Street financial services corporation and past
president of a microcomputer consulting Company.
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| Lucia Orellana, Director of Research and Assessment
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Ms. Lucia Orellana, PCH's Director of Research and Assessment, has
worked in community-focused research for over ten years. Ms. Orellana
obtained her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University
of Pennsylvania. Throughout her undergraduate years, Ms. Orellana
worked as a research assistant on a variety of patient-focused studies
such as training young doctors to consider the patient as a whole,
and breast and uterine cancer studies. In 1987, Ms. Orellana returned
to New York to continue her studies at Columbia University, School
of Public Health. While directing the data collection activities
of an Asthma self-management project, Ms. Orellana pursued higher
studies in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
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In 1992, Ms. Orellana joined the Center for AIDS Drugs and Community
Health at Hunter College. She worked with numerous community-based
agencies and developed excellent field research, analytic, communication,
and presentation skills. She joined PCH in 1997 where she contributes
her awareness of community-based health and analytic skills to the
development and implementation of program assessments and client
intake systems for a number of NYC, Texas, and Oregon community-based
and AIDS service organizations. She is a gifted focus group moderator
and field supervisor and is an expert in qualitative and quantitative
analysis.
Since 1988, Ms Orellana has also directed and facilitated groups
for battered women and their children. Ms. Orellana's community
involvement has been both as a researcher and a hands-on program
person. She is interested in assisting organizations to assess their
performance and assuring clients have a voice in addressing their
service needs and barriers. Her objectives are to make research
and assessment of programs accessible and comprehensible to the
communities and to use them to develop and implement programs with
a positive impact on communities.
Ms. Orellana is a native Honduran raised in Bronx, NY. She is
bi-cultural and bilingual with strong ties to her community. Her
commitment remains to make information and technology practical
and appropriate for underserved communities.
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| Basil Reyes, Junior Analyst and Office Manager |
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Mr. Reyes brings considerable organizational and financial management
experience to PCH. He graduated the University of Texas at Austin
with a BA in English and moved to New York in 1997 to pursue a
master degree in Public Health. His career goal is to work in
preventative healthcare for underserved communities.
Mr. Reyes has supplemented his BA education with
intensive field experience while working at PCH. Mr. Reyes has
successfully coordinated the fieldwork in Indiana, Dallas, Nevada,
and San Francisco for their needs assessments. Through extensive
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experience in administering face to face or phone surveys/interviews,
Mr. Reyes is able to assure client confidentiality and develop the
trust of the participant. Through his fieldwork, he has comfortably
worked closely with PLWH/A of diverse backgrounds including the
current and recently incarcerated, homeless, and substance users.
He has shown considerable skill in working with providers to help
draw representative samples while maintaining client confidentiality.
Mr. Reyes has demonstrated his ability to train, supervise, and
galvanize teams of interviewers to efficiently and successfully
complete the fieldwork.
During his tenure at PCH, Mr. Reyes has become a skilled focus
group moderator, and he will be trained to conduct some of the in-depth
interviews. His commitment to assuring PLWH/A receive care and his
research skills makes him a valued member of the team.
Basil currently volunteers 100 hours of his time to various health
and educational organizations including East Harlem Tutorial Program
and Gay Men's Health Crisis.
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At 13 years old, Macy is semi-retired. Still, she comes to work daily
and continues to protect the office against intruding delivery men.
Over the years she and the mailman, Saul, have become friends, and
his daily treat to Macy assures their continued relationship.
Macy has reached all her goals in life and provides mature guidance,
persistent reminders for reinforcing treats, and daily walks for
the staff.
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©
1999 Partnership
for Community Health, Inc. All
rights reserved.
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