Kris Coontz, MPH
Teach for Health co-founder and Executive Director. Kris Coontz is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco and acting Research and Training Coordinator for Organic Health Response. He received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2003, and his MPH with a specialization in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and a graduate certificate in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance in 2009. Kris formally served as Vice-President of Engineers Without Borders – UH, where he helped to develop international programs in Nicaragua and Peru, and as a board member of the Hawaii Public Health Association and the Program Administrator of the Global Health and Population Studies Program at the University of Hawaii. Kris has also worked as an EMT, instructor, and aquatic biologist. He has a strong interest in humanitarian work and community-based public health programs.
Noah Hawthorne, MPH
Teach for Health co-founder and Director of Operations and Research. Noah completed his BA in Human Biology at Stanford University and his MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UC Berkeley. He has worked with the University of Cape Town on a community needs assessment for the township of Khyelitsha, and with the Desmond Tutu TB Center to evaluate the integration of HIV and TB testing within the Cape Town public clinic system. Subsequently, Noah worked with Fundación Cántaro Azul in BCS, Mexico on the development and implementation of a hand hygiene program for rural schools utilizing hand sanitizer technologies. He continues to consult for this program as it expands to other states in Mexico. Noah is currently a third year medical student at UCSF with interests in social marketing, nonprofit/program efficiency, and the development of community based projects that are not reliant on a continual stream of foreign aid.
Sarah Nunn, RN, MSN
Teach for Health co-founder, Director of Nicaragua Programs. Sarah Nunn completed her MSN at the University of California – San Francisco in 2010, specializing in Advanced Community Health and International Nursing. She is currently working as a clinical nurse at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital. She has done a variety of volunteer work in global and community health, including participating in outreach programs within Milwaukee’s Hmong, African American and Latino communities, organizing cultural programming within the UW-Milwalukee College of Nursing, and acting as a spokesperson and presenter at a city-wide Health Fair for the Racine Latino community. Sarah hopes to use what she has learned in her graduate studies to become more effective in her work as a global health nurse. She is particularly interested in community-driven public health work and highly values collaboration, open-mindedness and mutual learning in public health. She was recently awarded a Fulbright fellowship to expand the TFH Nicaragua program and has moved to San Ramon Nicaragua to supervise all Teach for Health field activities.
Greta Martin, RN
Teach For Health co-founder, Associate Director. Greta completed her undergraduate degrees in French studies and Nursing at Southern University and her masters degree in Public Health Nursing at University of California, San Francisco. She has collaborated on women’s health research with midwives in Kitwe Zambia, contributed to qualitative studies on sexual health and communication, and volunteered for health projects throughout Asia and Central America. She currently works as a nurse in acute care at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento California. Greta interests are in non-profit growth & development, community cohesion, women’s health and women’s issues, and faciliating connections between communities and the resources they seek.
Katherine Pope, RN
Executive Board Member. Katie is a student in the UCSF Advanced Community Health and International Nursing masters program. She received her B.A. in Comparative Sociology from the University of Puget Sound in 2004. Shortly after, she moved to Oaxaca, Mexico where she volunteered at health clinics and a local non-profit working in micro-finance initiatives, taught English, and worked with an artisan collaborative. Now a nurse, Katherine is pursuing ways to address local and international health concerns through community engagement and strengths-based approaches. She has had the honor of working directly with health promoters in Teach for Health’s Nicaragua program, and is now examining the big picture of the organization as a member of its Executive Board.
Chris Stewart, MD, MA, FAAP
Christopher Stewart is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF. Dr. Stewart received his BA from Yale University, a masters in Asian Studies from Keio University in Japan, and his MD degree from Harvard University. He completed his residency training in pediatrics at UCSF. He is Director of Inpatient Pediatrics at San Francisco General Hospital, and is a child abuse specialist, as well as directing a number of global health educational programs.
Dr. Stewart is also the director of the pathways to discovery in global health program at UCSF, which incorporates global health education for medical school through graduate school or residency, and beyond. He runs a unique program in global health education at UCSF called the Global Health Clinical Scholars Program, which is now in its fourth year, and includes residents from 11 different departments, as well as dental, nursing, and pharmacy school participants. Dr. Stewart also directs the UCSF/UCB Frameworks program, which accepts multidisciplinary teams of students from all the various UCSF schools early in their training to develop and work on projects abroad. Dr. Stewart has been involved in a variety of international projects, including work in Viet Nam for which he was awarded the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for public service in 2004. He has given numerous lectures and has administered training programs in child and neonatal health in international settings, including Asia, Central America, and Africa. Dr. Stewart teaches and does pediatric clinical work at San Francisco General Hospital in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. As a child abuse specialist, Dr. Stewart does child abuse consultations for San Francisco County hospitals, as well as consultation and testifying for the District Attorney’s office. He has lectured on child abuse topics both nationally and internationally, including training on forensic sexual abuse evaluations in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Andrew Cullen
Andrew is a third year undergraduate at the University of California – Berkeley. He is majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Global Poverty and Practice. Currently, he has a strong interest in science, medicine and public health as it relates to poverty alleviation and global health. Andrew hopes to pursue an MD/MPH in the near future as he continues to gain experience from Teach For Health and his studies at UC Berkeley. In his spare time outside studying, volunteering for Teach for Health, and working as a research assistant at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, he is an active rock climber and loves to travel abroad.
Zannah Herridge-Meyer
Zannah is a recent graduate from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in International Studies, Pre-medicine and a Minor in African Studies. She has been doing local and global work in a variety of subjects relating to health and education and is excited to work with Teach For Health. She has taught health education relating primarily to STI’s and HIV in middle schools and high schools for six years both in Washington state and San Francisco and has been involved in advocating for comprehensive health education in schools. Zannah has also worked in a variety of international settings teaching and working with clinics in Dominican Republic, Togo, and Uganda. In Uganda, she worked to create and implement community based public health programs that collaborated with traditional healers. Her work in Uganda led her to write a senior thesis on the intersection of traditional and Western medicine relating to HIV/AIDS in Uganda. In San Francisco she has taught elementary students reading in the Mission district, interned in a methadone clinic in the field of maternal health, and worked as an Advocate for Community Engagement with the non-profit Project Open Hand. After graduation she interned at UCSF Global Health Sciences program followed by a job as a Program Assistant for the Clinical Scholars, Pathways, and Framework programs. She is very interested the training of local health workers in order to empower communities in sustainable development. Zannah plans on receiving her M.P.H./M.D. in hopes of becoming a doctor and global health professional in order to promote health as an essential human right.
Renee Cooper
Renee is applying to nursing schools in California while working as an EMT for Pro-Transport-1 in San Francisco. She graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Community Studies and Latin American and Latino Studies in 2009. Before working with Teach for Health, she worked for Global Exchange’s Reality Tours as an assistant to the Latin American Program Coordinator. It was with Reality Tours that she was able to travel to Nicaragua for the first time helping lead a tour focused on responsible and sustainable tourism with Teach for Health’s Nicaragua partner UCA-San Ramon. Renee has a strong interest in international travel, culture, community organizing, and social justice.
Aurora Gomez
Aurora Gomez is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco in the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US). She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. As a physician, she hopes to apply her skills, clinical and otherwise, in multidisciplinary public health settings in which she can practice clinically and continue to work with the educational and mental health needs of marginalized populations.
Kathy Hamlin
Kathy Hamlin is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. She graduated from Amherst College in 2006 with a BA in psychology. Kathy spent a year teaching English in Guangdong, China, after which she worked as a health services specialist at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Watsonville, California. She is interested in women’s health, education, language, and public health outreach. In her spare time she loves to cook.
Sirina Keesara
Sirina Keesara is a first year in medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She graduate from University of California, Berkeley in 2008 with a BA in Anthropology. Her interest in global health stems from her experiences studying abroad in Accra, Ghana and interning at the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland. In Ghana she conducted a qualitative research study about contraceptive use and worked with women in maternity and family planning clinics. At the WHO she worked on a position paper which aimed to address population growth through a human rights framework. She is has been involved with international womens health adovocacy with American Medical Students Association and the Global Population and Environment Program in the Sierra Club. Outside of advocacy work she enjoys salsa dancing and painting.
Ben Thomas
Benjamin is a 2nd year medical student at the UCSF School of Medicine. He received a B.A. in Biological Sciences with a minor Global Peace & Security at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As an undergraduate, he focused his volunteer work providing resources for underserved communities such as the homeless and low-income families. His past experience involves working with community health workers in Tanzania to perform house calls in rural villages and provide medicine and health education to remote communities. He has recently traveled to India to work with the Non-Profit Swami Vivekanada Youth Movement in developing a malnutrition screening protocol in tribal schools. His global health interests include global health policy, infrastructure development, and health education. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, playing sports, and attending art galleries.
