Mel Neri is a Research Associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the Director of Curriculum Development for the College of Personal Assistance and Caregiving (CPAC), managing and co-authoring online training courses. She has been working in the disability and health services research field for over two decades. Before coming to UCSF in 2007, she worked at the Oregon Office on Disability & Health at the Oregon Health & Science University, the Center for Health and Disability Research at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, and the Center for Disability Policy and Research at the University of Washington.  

Diana (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Sociology department at the University of California, San Francisco. They hold an M.A. in Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies from California State University, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts in Chicana/o & Central American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, with minors in Public Affairs and Labor and Workplace Studies. With a rich background in Latino Health and Culture, Diana focuses on health equity, and health policy. Their research interests encompass a wide array of topics, including educational equity policy, digital and historical archival research, and both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. They are passionate about health advocacy and social justice movements, employing frameworks such as Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), Community-Based Partnership Research (CBPR), and ethnographic research in their work. Diana is also deeply engaged in migration and transnational border studies, aiming to contribute to the understanding of complex social dynamics through their research and teaching.

Kattia Vargas, a seasoned professional, earned her B.A. in general Psychology from UC Berkeley. She previously held key roles in two departments at UCSF as a clinical research coordinator: the Institute of Global Health Sciences (IGHS) and the Department of Medicine at ZSFG. Her expertise has been pivotal in evaluating interventions aimed at reducing birth inequities in one study and understanding the impact of healthy eating and nutrition support services on the well-being of individuals with Type 2 Diabetes in another. She is currently working as a Project Policy Analyst in the Institute for Health & Aging at UCSF in different projects with Dr. Jarmin Yeh. Her research has allowed her to refine her skills in English-Spanish cross-cultural research, qualitative data analysis, and recruitment. Her unwavering passion lies in improving access to culturally competent healthcare and health equity for underrepresented communities, including people of color, immigrants, and those from low-income backgrounds. This passion is deeply rooted in her personal journey as a Latina immigrant, a non-native English speaker, and from a low-income family.