Jayakaran Job, MD, DrPH

(MBBS, MD, Christian Medical College Vellore; DrPH, Johns Hopkins University; MPH, Loma Linda University)

Chair, Professor of Global Health

Dr. Job completed his doctoral research in improved measles vaccines with clinical trials in Haiti. He teaches in the area of research methods, HIV/ AIDS, infectious diseases, grant writing, and tobacco prevention/control.
He has served as a consultant to numerous organizations working in the field of global public health. He is involved in NIH-funded tobacco control research and the National Children’s Study.

Juan Carlos Belliard, PhD, MPH

(PhD, Claremont Graduate University; MPH, Loma Linda University)

Associate Professor

jbelliard@llu.edu

Teaches in the areas of cultural and health, traditional, complementary and alternative medicine, ethnographic research methods, health disparities, and migrant health. He is currently involved with Loma Linda University’s Center for Health Disparities Research exploring how migrant communities utilize parallel systems of health care. He enjoys exposing students to “real world” education through service-learning and community based research in local communities and in Latin America. Dr. Belliard is also involved in various initiatives that strengthen community-university relationships. He is a board member of the Inland Empire’s Latino Health Collaborative and also serves as Assistant Vice-President for Community Engagement and Diversity at Loma Linda University.

Jesse Bliss, MPH

(MPH, Loma Linda University)

Assistant Professor

Teaches in the areas of infectious and communicable disease surveillance and prevention. Since the mid 90s, he has passionately been involved in international service delivery and development work in the Pacific Islands, Central America, and East Africa. He works with Native Tribes in partnerships with NGOs and local county health departments to further disaster preparedness and enhance the environmental health capacity. He is the Assistant Dean of the LLU Office of Public Health Practice and Center for Public Health Preparedness.

Mark Debay, MD, PhD, MPH

(MD, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; MPH, PhD, Johns Hopkins University)

Associate professor

Dr. Debay is a Family and Preventive Medicine physician with over twenty years of service in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Experience includes planning, implementing, and evaluating programs at the community, district, and highest levels in Ministries of Health and international organizations in the areas of reproductive, maternal and child health; HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases; behavior change and communication; post-conflict rehabilitation of health services; health information systems; quality management and organizational development; training of physicians and other health professionals. Dr. Debay is developing courses on the global burden of disease, disease control priorities, comparative health systems, and program planning and evaluation. His particular focus is on preparing clinicians for global health service and has joint appointments in the School of Medicine, Family and Preventive Medicine Departments.

Donn P. Gaede, DrPH

(DrPH, Loma Linda University)

Assistant Professor

dgaede@llu.edu

Teaches in the areas of International health administration and management. His current research is in HIV/AIDS health services delivery, capacity building for government and faith based health systems, and teacher readiness for HIV/AIDS program delivery. He currently serves on the governing boards for faith-based health delivery systems in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Nigeria and enjoys working with students and connecting them with real world experiences to enhance their education.

Thelma Gamboa-Maldonado, DrPH, MPH

(DrPH, MPH, Loma Linda University)

Assistant Professor

tgamboa07m@llu.edu

Teaches in the area of global health program planning and evaluation. She is a bilingual (English/Spanish) professional with background and experience in the biological sciences, neuroscience research, women’s studies, health promotion and education, and health ministries. Her doctoral work centered on the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods as an approach to connect local public health departments and members of low income Latino communities within the Inland Empire with the end goal of building capacity for community disaster resilience. Currently, she is a co-investigator at the UCLA-LLU Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC) and serves as a consultant on a study that evaluates the use of SMS Texting to Enhance Exclusive Breastfeeding among Adolescent Mothers in Honduras, Central America.

Eddy Jara, DrPH

(DrPH, UC Berkeley; MPH, Loma Linda University)

Assistant professor

Teaches in the area of global health and nutrition. His doctoral work has looked at how to disseminate promising school food practices in working class communities of color. Dr. Jara’s early professional career was defined by his work promoting improved school nutrition and physical activity options in predominantly Latino middle and high schools in the Inland Empire. In Ecuador, he worked as a Technical Health Trainer with Peace Corps volunteers and on several community projects advancing child malnutrition prevention, identification and treatment. His professional interests include studying efforts to improve youth and family access to healthy foods and training lay public health workers in health education and promotion.

Katherine M. Jones, MSPH

(MSPH, University of California, Los Angeles)

Assistant Professor

katjones@llu.edu

Teaches in the areas of global health practice and professional development. Her professional career prior to joining LLU was in international health and development with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Latin America, West Africa and Washington, DC, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua. She also worked as an epidemiologist for the State of Oregon. She has created strong relationships with international counterparts, NGO partners, and donors, conceptualizing and developing programs, and managing financial and human resources in challenging environments. She is a trained leadership/life coach and mentor to multi-cultural teams, organizations and individuals overseas and in the U.S. to achieve program results and fulfill their potential. She enjoys working with students to prepare them for a career in global health.

Nellie Leon, DrPH

(DrPH, Loma Linda University)

Assistant Professor

nleon@llu.edu

Dr. León completed her doctoral degree in health promotion and education. Her doctoral dissertation looked at determinants of health risk behaviors among adolescents in Mexico. Dr. León’s professional career has been to design, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs in various settings to include school and community projects. Her research experience has mainly looked at how the Theory of Planned Behavior can be utilized to identify the factors that influence health behavior. Dr. León is currently working on a few programs to include projects in human trafficking, mental health, and community assessments.

Ronald Mataya, MD

(M.D., West Visayas State University, Philippines; Hubert Humphrey Fellow in International Health, Emory University)

Associate Professor

Teaches in the areas of reproductive health, maternal and child health and HIV and AIDS issues around the world. He is currently engaged in research and service projects in Malawi and Zimbabwe, working in a
three-partner collaborative 5-year project to “Support the scale-up of high quality HIV care and treatment programs through a strengthened laboratory infrastructure under the President’s Plan for AIDS Relief.”
He also consults for the World Bank, the Global Fund and USAID in different countries.

Rafael Molina, MEd

(B.Ed Psy., University of Montemorelos, Mexico; MEd University of Montemorelos, EdD(c) University of South Africa - International Education Leadership)

Assistant Professor

An international health educator who has been consultant for international organizations, universities.  Rafael has presented seminars, being consultant and advisor for international programs in Laos, Cambodia, Chile, Russia, Peru, Hawaii, Guam, France, Switzerland, Easter Island, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela.
An expert in international education and digital education (open, distance, online educational systems) has collaborated with Inter-American Consrotium of Distance Education, Sloan-C Consortium, European Distance Learning Association, Canadian Association of Distance Education, Quality Matters.

Ehren B. Ngo, MS

(MS, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; EMT-P, The George Washington University)

Assistant Professor

engo@llu.edu

Ehren is the program director for both the Bachelor of Science in Emergency Medical Care at the School of Allied Health Professions and the Certificate in Emergency Preparedness and Response (Post Baccalureate) at the School of Public Health. His areas of interest include pre-hospital systems theory and care, disaster and emergency management, and the public health response to disasters. Within the local community an active volunteer, serving as a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainer for the Loma Linda City Fire Department, and enjoying technical rope rescue of the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue Team, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Holly Schuh, MPH

(MPH, Loma Linda University)

Instructor

hschuh@llu.edu

Teaches in the areas of health disparities, culture, and research methodology. Past research in the areas of cognitive aging, mental health, and community assessments. Research interests include health systems in low and middle income countries, informal care, refugee health/humanitarian emergencies, psychosocial mental issues, and aging. Currently studying at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Health Systems PhD program in the Department of International Health.

Pramil Singh, DrPH

(DrPH, Loma Linda University)

Associate Professor

psingh@llu.edu

Born in New Zealand, Dr. Singh completed his undergraduate work at University of California, Los Angeles and doctoral training in epidemiology at Loma Linda University. During the past decade, his research has focused on the study and measurement of lifestyle exposures (diet, tobacco, physical activity) in population based studies in the US and Asia. He holds a joint faculty appointment in Epidemiology and Global Health, and lectures on epidemiologic methods.

Seth Wiafe, MPH

(MPH, Loma Linda University)

Assistant Professor

swiafe@llu.edu

Seth Wiafe is an Assistant Professor and Academic Director of Health Geoinformatics program. He served as health GIS marketing coordinator for ESRI’s Health and Human Services Solutions group from 2002-2005. Wiafe received his Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) degree in Health Geographics from Loma Linda University School of Public Health in June 2002 and Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Environmental & Occupational Health in 2004. He is involved with both local and international projects relating to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) health applications, including the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD) mapping project, LLU mobile mapping project, African American Health Initiative (AAHI) project of San Bernardino county.

Julie Pifer

Administrative Assistant

jpifer@llu.edu

An integral member of our team, Ms Pifer has been providing excellent administrative and logistic support for the department in its various academic and non-academic activities. A caring and compassionate person, Ms Pifer has extended her family circle (her husband and two handsome sons) to include the many students, alumni and faculty with whom she interacts. She is an expert problem-solver and always willing to go the extra mile to help anyone in need. You might want to stop by her office on some Fridays to sample some of her delightful culinary creations.