Meet Our Staff

Since our involvement in the first-ever HIV preventive vaccine study, our staff has remained dedicated to finding a vaccine to protect against HIV infection. Though we all love to joke and have fun, we take our work and efforts to find an HIV vaccine very seriously.

Our Front Office
At the Seattle HVTU our front desk personnel are the first people you’ll see. Their dedication to our work and charming personalities will no doubt leave lasting impression!

Michele Crist
Michele is so dedicated to our vaccine unit that she has been with us from the start. In addition to greeting volunteers, Michele is our data manager. She reviews HVTN Datafax forms, and ensures the accuracy of and keeps up to date all our data. Michele loves to golf and sometimes thinks she missed her calling as a travel agent. If that’s true, we’re sure glad she did!

Janis Chin
Janis has so many roles we don’t know where to begin. Along with ordering supplies, answering the phones, screening volunteers, and processing specimens for the labs, she is our project coordinator that works on streamlining administrative and lab procedures with clinical staff. Basically, she keeps the clinic running! In her spare time (we sometimes let her get away) she traveling the world experiencing diverse cultures and enjoying their local cuisine.

Noel Williams
Noel is another important asset to our front office staff. Her primary responsibility is to support our cohort study staff. She also handles scheduling, phone screens, lab processing and assists with procedures. Noel plays the saxophone and enjoys hiking in the woods.

Gina Braun, MSRA
Gina is a native Washingtonian and is our regulatory manager who handles all of our submissions to regulatory bodies, such as the Center's Institutional Review Board (IRB). Gina is also responsible for ensuring the unit's compliance with institutional, state and federal regulations. She writes all of the site's consent forms and assists with protocol development and implementation for many of the unit's cohort projects.

Our Pharmacists
Our pharmacists administer and prepare vaccines, and keep all associated records.

Meredith Potochnic has been with our clinic since 1997, after moving to Seattle from Baltimore where she worked on AIDS clinical trials at Johns Hopkins University. Meredith works half time with the Seattle HVTU and the other half as an HIV/AIDS-specialty pharmacist at Madison Clinic (Harborview Medical Center) and other research clinics.

Click here to check out Meredith in her other role giving the first clinical trial Swine Flu vaccine done right here in Seattle! Courtesy of KOMOnews.com.

Meredith job shares with Bobby Santucci. Bobby loves administering vaccines because it allows him to interact with our volunteers. In his own words, “This is the perfect job.”

Our Docs
Our staff physicians provide medical supervision and oversight for the medical activities of the unit, including management of adverse reactions, diagnostic evaluations for HIV-1 infection, and physician referrals.

Julie McElrath, MD, PhD (Principal Investigator)
Dr. McElrath, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center member and UW Professor of Medicine has a wealth of experience providing the overall leadership of the Seattle HVTU. She is the Prinicipal Investigator for Seattle HVTU, Director of Laboratory Programs with the HVTN and also has many of her own research projects that support the HIV vaccine effort. Besides her work with the unit and network, she collaborates with many other groups for HIV vaccine reserach, securing study grants and keeping us all in check!

Janine Maenza, MD (Clinic Director)
Dr. Maenza has been our Clinic Director since 2004. She started once a week to help with screenings and now an integral part of our leadership. Dr. Maenza also is a staff physician for the Primary Infection Clinic. She received her medical degree from Columbia University and continued her training in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia, and then in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University. She worked in HIV clinical research and patient care at Johns Hopkins for six years, then moved to Seattle in 1999. We are very lucky and grateful she has time to work with us!

Click here to hear former Clinic Co-Director Dr. Karen Mark talk about HIV Vaccines on KBCS radio.

Our Clinical Staff
Our clinical staff makes sure that every volunteer receives the best personal attention and care in participating in one of our vaccine studies. They are the heart of the clinic and enroll each volunteer who is willing to participate in the fight against HIV.

David Berger, RN
David has been with us so long we can’t even remember when he started. Rumor has it that it’s been with the clnic since 1990. David’s long history with the HVTU had made us one of the top sites within the HVTN. With his knowledge and abilities to enroll large number of volunteers, we are able to have more and more studies.

Chris Galloway, ARNP
Chris is another integral part of our clinical team. Besides her usual clinical work screening, enrolling and meeting with participants, she also conducts many of our mucosal procedures. When she is not here working with volunteers, you may catch her on a Monday night watching her favorite team the Green Bay Packers or designing mermaid costumes with her grandson.

Our Cohort Team
Josh Barnes, ARNP and Julie Czartoski, ARNP conduct studies that support the HIV vaccine research directed by Dr. Julie McElrath. These Cohort studies involve HIV positive, long-term non-progressors, HIV exposed but HIV negative volunteers and HVTN lab controls. Data from these studies may provide key information that assists with the development of HIV vaccines. This is where it all begins.

Our Outreach Team
Robert Yoon is our Community Educator that engages with all communities throughout Seattle to ensure that HIV/AIDS awareness & prevention research are important and inclusive to all.  Ro is our liaison to local community partners and to our Community Advisory Board (CAB) & volunteers.  Screen for an HIV vaccine study and meet Ro to learn more about us and our commitment to all our volunteers.

Kim Louis' and James Lilly daily work includes, speaking to volunteers over the phone, e-mail or text and developing new ways to recruit volunteers. When they aren't chatting with someone about our research, they are out with the Outreach Team. Look for other team members Jacob, Jaye, Joshua, Justin, Nate or Niall when you are on the "Hill" or at an event. And when you contact the HVTU, you may get to talk with someone from the Outreach Team!

Click here to hear former Community Educator David Garcia talk about HIV Vaccine research.

Our Community Advisory Board
We can’t forget about our Community Advisory Board (CAB). These dedicated, caring individuals help us keep a community perspective throughout our research process. In addition to attending monthly meetings, they serve on local and global working groups, research study committees and serve as spokespersons for our HIV vaccine studies.