Board of Directors

Past Board members

VIVIANA MARTINEZ-BIANCHI MD, FAAFP

  • Doctora de Familia

  • Co-founder of LATIN-19 Board Chair

  • Advisor to the NC DHHS on Latina community health 2020-2023

  • President-elect World Organization of Family Doctors 2023-2025

  • Interesada en la igualdad de la salud global y comunitaria, en la defensa, la justicia social y en la responsabilidad.

PABLO FRIEDMANN

Gabriela Maradiaga

GABRIELA MARADIAGA PANAYOTTI, MD

  • Doctora Pediatra Familiar que sirve con orgullo a una comunidad diversa en Durham, NC.

  • Retired from the Board in 2024, co-founder of LATIN-19

  • Líder y Doctora con mucha experiencia e interés en la lactancia materna, la nutrición, la obesidad infantil y la defensa de las familias inmigrantes.

  • Está trabajando para mejorar la comunicación de la información de salud a las familias a través de la escritura y las redes sociales.

Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda

ROSA M. GONZÁLEZ-GUARDA, PHD, MPH, RN, CPH, FAA

  • Board Member 2021-2024

  • Enfermera científica dedicada a promover la igualdad en la salud entre las comunidades Latinx en los Estados Unidos abordando los determinantes sociales y estructurales de la salud en esta población

  • Uses community-engaged participatory approaches to develop, test, and disseminate culturally tailored and strengths-based health promotion programs addressing acculturation stress, resilience, and co-occurring mental and physical health conditions among Latinx communities, especially first-generation immigrants

  • Long history of working prevention of intimate partner and community violence, HIV, substance abuse, and mental health through research, practice, and policy

IRENE FELSMAN, DNP, MPH, RN,C-GH

  • Board Member 2021- 2024

  • Enfermera-Educadora e Investigadora con experiencia en salud global y comunitaria/pública

  • Se centra en el uso de métodos de participación comunitaria para el desarrollo de intervenciones culturalmente alineadas para mejorar la salud y el acceso a la atención de las mujeres, los niños marginados y las familias en diversos entornos, incluidos los refugiados y los inmigrantes Latinx

ROSA SOLORZANO, MD, MPH

  • Board Member 2022-2023

  • Consulting Associate in School of Nursing

  • Public health, community engagement

  • Director, Centro de Recursos Multilingües, Escuelas Públicas de Durham

  • Member-at-large on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs

GABRIELA PLASENCIA, MD, MAS

  • Doctora de Familia

  • Associate physician policy researcher at RAND

  • Her current research focuses on understanding the experiences of Latinx communities with Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina, policy and practical interventions for improving language concordance in health care settings, policy strategies for sustaining multisectoral partnerships with community health workers and community-based organizations for improving equitable crisis response, and the measurement and impact of systemic racism on Latinx communities.

  • Board member since 2023

PERLA NUNEZ

  • Community Engagement & Outreach and Clinical Research

  • Patient Advocacy & Empowerment Champion

  • passion for working in the community and making an impact on any level.

  • Board member since 2025

ALICIA RICO-LAZAROWSKI

  • Retired researcher and senior director in clinical marketing

  • Tango dancer and teacher

  • Board member since 2025

MARIANA RODRIGUEZ-PARDY

  • Ceramic artist

  • Advocate for the Triad LatinX residents, both in their creative endeavors and in their effort to access health care and community services

ANDREA THOUMI, MPP MSc

  • Board Member 2023-2024

  • Health policy researcher aiming to reduce health inequities by generating and translating evidence to change policy and clinical practice while centering community perspectives in my research and scholarship

  • Uses community-engaged methods to study structural determinants of health using a disease-agnostic approach due to well-established influence these determinants have on multiple health outcomes during the lifespan

Support Team

Lea Efird-Green, MSW, MPA

Lea supports calendaring and social media for LATIN-19

She is a doctoral student at the UNC School of Social Work. She holds a BA in History and Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, an MSW, and an MPA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.