TRANSITIONS CLINIC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Program Assistant
Alex Morales is the TCN Program Assistant at Southeast Family Health Center. In his previous role, he was the Food Access Coordinator and a COVID-19 Responder serving with National Health Corps San Francisco and is now working at Southeast helping maintain the clinic flow. Alex hopes to continue working with the community and aide in removing barriers that prevent individuals from accessing healthcare.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Anna Steiner, MSW, MPH, is TCN's Associate Director. She has over 15 years of experience building and supporting public health programs. Throughout her career, she has worked to promote health equity and build capacity besides and on behalf of those facing systemic and institutional barriers to accessing care. In her free time, Anna runs the hills and volunteers at two collectively run harm reduction organizations in the Bay Area.
Job Titles:
- Community Health Worker, Reentry Health Hotline
Presently Arlinda is an "African American Reentry Health Conductor" for Contra Costa County Department of Reducing Health Disparities in Partnership with Center for Human Development African American Health Conductor Program. She works with formerly incarcerated men & women who are returning home, back to their communities; making sure if they have any hereditary chronic illnesses they will get Obama Care, as well as jobs & other resources the federal government has set aside for them. Being an advocate for those who can't speak the language they left 20 to 30 years ago, understand the language they're returning to. Arlinda also works at the WCHC in the Transitions Network Clinic, a Specialty Clinic that only treat the needs of the formerly incarcerated targeted population. Arlinda lost her 15yr old son to gun violence, and in 2004 she founded "Women of New Birth" a nonprofit organization working with women who lost their children to gun violence. In 1999 Arlinda became a Neighborhood Change Agent under City of Richmond Mayor Gale McLaughlin, whom started a city organization to fight gun violence called "ONS" Office of Neighborhood Safety, advocating & working with young men ages 13yrs old to 29yrs old who police targeted as "shooters", to turn their lives around. She worked with these men from all areas of Richmond and the yearly murder rate dropped tremendously due to her tenacity in making sure another mother would not have to feel the pain of losing her child. Arlinda still remains with the ONS Program as a Peace Keeper, is actively enrolled in CCSF Community Health Worker Program, certified with Yale's National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research, Administrative Justice graduate, facilitate 52 week court mandated batterer class, anger management facilitator & has numerous letters of appreciation, certificates and awards. But the most valuable award I get is from the people I help in the communities I serve with the needed resource they need, and just being a light in the community to them.
Beth is a public health nurse with extensive experience in organizational and system transformation aimed at addressing the social determinants of health. She leads the Transitions Clinic Network Reentry Healthcare Hub and works closely with CDCR nursing staff to ensure care coordination from state prison to primary care clinics across California. Beth has a doctorate in public health nursing (DNP) and master's degree in public health (MPH) from the University of Minnesota. She has worked as a nurse leader across hospital, clinic, and governmental settings and has taught nursing students at the University of Minnesota and Concordia University-St. Paul.
Job Titles:
- Community Health Worker, Contra Costa Health Services
Ms. Brown has worked with the re-entry population since 2015, starting with her work in transitional housing to assist those released under the State mandate AB109, to develop plans to move into permanent housing. Ms. Brown's passion for working with those who many times are voiceless, and invisible, grew into her hearts work. Ms. Brown enjoys helping others on their journey to having the best life, and reaching their goals. In her current role, she links and connect individuals to community resources, medical appointments; she assist with health coverage enrollment, Cal fresh, and other vital services; she co-facilitates a support group (called REMEDY) for formerly incarcerated men and women, as well as, encourage and motivate them to check on their health! Reminding them that Health is their Wealth!! When Ms. Brown is not working, she teach Seniors in her community how to crochet, as well, she enjoys volunteering her professional service of hair stylist and make up for prom season - making sure young women and men, who may not have the funds to get all spruced up, look like a million dollars. And, she extends this offer to back to school students.
Clemens S. Hong, M.D., M.P.H., co-founded the Transitions Clinic with Dr. Emily Wang in San Francisco in 2006. He went on to teach for several years at Harvard Medical School, and joined Massachusetts General Hospital as a primary care general internist and health services researcher. Dr. Hong is the Co-Founder of Anansi Health, and currently serves as Director of Community Programs at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, where he oversees multiple County programs, including Housing for Health, the Office of Diversion and Reentry, Whole Person Care, My Health LA, CalAIM, and COVID-19 Testing. Dr. Hong received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Washington and his Master's Degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He went on to complete internal medicine training in the San Francisco General Hospital Primary Care Program at UCSF, as well as a general medicine fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
Job Titles:
- Community Health Worker
- Trainer
Dorel is a Community Health professional with practical, life-changing experience, who works to assist individuals with chemical dependency, mental health disorders, and other stressors. Dorel has expertise that professional training cannot replicate. He has the mentality and ability to reach his peers, aiding with articulating recovery goals, learning and practicing new skills, helping with monitoring progress, assisting in treatment, modeling effective coping techniques, and implementing self-help strategies based on his own RE-Entry and Recovery experience. He also assists individuals with increasing self-advocacy to obtain necessary and effective services. Dorel spent 5 years working on a crisis uni t and has been trained in health care counseling and peer support. He received certification as a facilitator and has trained certified and accredited curriculums for the past 8 years, as well as being well-versed in WRAP® intervention. Dorel's experience, compassion, and commitment to Re-Entry and Recovery ensure his dedication to preparing quality professionals who desire to work in the field of Community Health Work.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Director of Research
- Co - Founder & Director of Research / New Haven, CT
Emily Wang, MD, MAS is a physician, researcher, and nationally recognized expert on the health impacts of incarceration. Her commitment to studying and eliminating health care access inequities began when she was a medical student volunteering in domestic and international prisons. In 2006, during her residency at UCSF, she co-founded with Dr. Clemens Hong the flagship TCN program at Southeast Health Center-this program, and the innovative model of enhanced primary care for returning community members that Dr. Wang co-created, have flourished into the Transitions Clinic Network. In 2008, Dr. Wang joined the Yale School of Medicine, where she is a professor of general medicine and public health. She went on to become the founding director of the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice, a collaboration between Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School. She leads the Center's research program, the Health Justice Lab, which receives National Institutes of Health funding to investigate how incarceration influences chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and opioid use disorder. SEICHE and the Transitions Clinic Network collaborate closely on research, analysis, and evaluation. Dr. Wang's pioneering research has demonstrated the evidence-based efficacy of the patient-centered TCN Model of care, as well as the importance of participatory approaches to partner with impacted individuals with lived experience. This research has been instrumental in growing the network nationally. Dr. Wang received her BA from Harvard University, MD from Duke University School of Medicine, and MAS from the University of California at San Francisco. She co-chaired the National Academy of Sciences' consensus report on "Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19" and serves on the World Health Organization's Health in Prisons Programme Steering Committee. She has been named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Iris Tuakoi Hub Referral Coordinator Iris Tuakoi is a recent graduate from Holy Names University in Oakland, Ca. She studied Healthcare Administration. She has previously done work in healthcare administration & program coordination for behavioral health & community health organizations. She grew up in the Bay Area and loves to serve her community. Iris is now the Hub Program's Referrals Coordinator at Transitions Clinic Network.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Prior to joining the Transitions Clinic Network as National Program Manager, James worked as a community health worker and then program manager and supervisor of case management with Community Medical Centers in Stockton, California. James received his bachelor's degree from the University of the Pacific in 1987, a master of humanities degree from CSU Dominguez Hills in 2008 while incarcerated, completed the University of the Pacific (UOP) Master of Social Work program, and a Doctorate of Health Science degree. During his twenty-eight years of incarceration, he spent 25 as a participant, facilitator, and mentor in self-help programs. Ten years as a clerk, and 7 years as a mental health aide while incarcerated prepared James for many roles, but none could have fit more perfectly than the role of social worker/community health worker and TCN national program manager.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Leo Guzman, TCN's Capacity Building Manager, worked with the West Contra Costa Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, and Alameda Co. Probation implementing Restorative Justice trainings and programming to eliminate the school to prison pipeline. He has used his experience of being formerly incarcerated and the challenges of navigating the re-entry process to support those returning to the community to create a path to achieve success. Leo's role with the TCN team will focus on sustaining existing sites in the TCN network with training, TA, and connection.
Job Titles:
- Capacity Building Manager
Luna Gizzi joined the Transitions Clinic Network team after working in various nonprofit and public health roles, including working as a gender-based violence advocate, in communications for a sexual health capacity-building organization, and in research for abortion and contraceptive access. After graduating from Middlebury College with a major in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies and a focus on public health, Luna has cultivated a passion for addressing health inequity with a social justice lens, by addressing racial, gender, and socioeconomic disparities in health. She is excited to join TCN as a program assistant, doing communications and training support. In her free time, she enjoys pottery, sewing, knitting, cooking, and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Community Health Worker, La Clinica De La Raza - North Vallejo
MaDonna has been the Community Health Worker for the Solano County Transitions Clinic in Vallejo since July 2016. As a resident of the area for over 40 years, she has watched the community grow and she stays updated on local resources. MaDonna is a licensed Cosmetologist Instructor, but, her passion is to assist people in the reentry population and those struggling with alcohol and/or drug addiction. Because of this, she has furthered her education majoring in Human Services and becoming a Certified Addictions Specialist. Having a history of incarceration herself and with lived life experiences with chronic disease, such as cancer, having been diagnosed in the past with mental health conditions such as manic depression and also having a history of substance use disorder, MaDonna can relate on almost any level that may be qualifying a potential Transitions Clinic patient for care. By overcoming medical, mental and spiritual barriers, today, with over 14 years in recovery, she is able to empower and inspire all who come into contact with her. Sharing hope and rejuvenation. When doing presentations or outreach to the reentry audience or those working with the reentry population, MaDonna shares her favorite mantra, which states, "Our past doesn't define us, it refines us." MaDonna gives Glory to her Higher Power, whom she chooses to call Jesus, for transforming her life, to position her to help serve others thru genuine peer support . With all these tools she is able show others that things can change for the better, which can lead to cut downs on recidivism. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her special someone of 28 years, her blended family of four children and 10 grandchildren, taking care of her 18 year old blind cat (Leah), reading the Word, biographies and magazines, and traveling (especially to the coast).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Community Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Coordinator
- Network Hotline Coordinator
Sharon Fennix Hotline Coordinator Sharon Fennix is the Transitions Clinic Network Hotline Coordinator. Her passion for transforming the health system to better meet the needs of individuals returning from incarceration comes from her lived experience of serving38 years in prison. While incarcerated, she completed several educational and vocational programs, including college coursework, training to become a certified optician and certified dental technician, and training to become a substance use disorder counselor, and for several decades Sharon has worked to support individuals that have been impacted by trauma, domestic violence, substance use, and mental health conditions. She is thrilled to be part of the TCN team, and particularly enjoys working with men and women who have lived experience to help other returning community members.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director, Transitions Clinic Network / San Francisco, CA
Shira Shavit, MD is a Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California in San Francisco and the Executive Director of the Transitions Clinic Network. For nearly two decades, Dr. Shavit has been redefining national best practices for the care for chronically-ill individuals and communities impacted by mass incarceration. Under her leadership, the TCN Model grew from the flagship program in San Francisco, where she continues to treat patients, to 48 health systems nationwide. In California, Dr. Shavit oversees a statewide network of 21 primary care systems that proved instrumental in supporting the increased number of individuals releasing from prison during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her team's efforts have resulted in 10,000 people with chronic conditions receiving coordinated care from all prisons statewide to community health systems, a historic first in the state. In addition to providing clinical care to people returning from incarceration, Dr. Shavit has provided technical assistance to numerous counties and states to improve health outcomes, cut health care costs, and support healthy integration of individuals reentering their communities. She has also served as an expert consultant to reform healthcare systems in the California State prisons in collaboration with the Federal Receivership (2006-2011). Dr. Shavit graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, completed her MD at Rush University in Chicago, and completed her residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award (2010), completed a CHCF Health Care Leadership Fellowship (2022), and was recently recognized with a UCSF Chancellor's Award for Public Service (2022). Additionally, she is a member of the California Department of Health Care Services CalAIM Justice-Involved Initiative Stakeholder Group.