Pangaea Strengthens Medical and Program Staff
Israelski and Martin Bring Deep Experience in International HIV Treatment and Prevention
February 1, 2008 —Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation has added two senior staff members to augment its HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention capability worldwide. Dennis Israelski, MD, has joined the non-profit consulting group as Medical Director and Julia Martin, MHSc, has been named Vice President for Programs.
Pangaea CEO and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eric Goosby commented: “I’m tremendously excited to have both Dennis and Julia on board. Dennis is a recognized physician leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings. Julia brings extraordinary insight, commitment and depth of experience to the fight against AIDS in the developing world. Throughout their careers, these are individuals who have been able to bring people together to build successful HIV treatment and prevention programs in the most challenging circumstances.”
As Medical Director, Dr. Israelski will work closely with in-country partners on the strengthening of existing programs and the development of new HIV/AIDS treatment capabilities. Recognized as a leading clinician, educator and researcher, he has devoted his career to community-based healthcare of indigent patients and quality service delivery to vulnerable populations.
Dr. Israelski is Clinical Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and has served for two decades as Medical Director of the San Mateo County Public Health’s AIDS program and the Chief of Infectious Diseases at the San Mateo Medical Center and Clinics. Dr. Israelski has extensive experience in the development of community-based HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Africa, previously serving as Medical Director of AIDSETI, an NGO that helps community-driven development programs scale up their activities. He was also the co-founder of the World Wide AIDS Coalition (WWAC)
As Vice President for Programs, Ms. Martin, who will be based in Washington, D.C, will lead development and implementation of Pangea’s full range of programs worldwide including its new treatment-based prevention initiatives targeting women, adolescent girls, and youth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Over the past five years, Ms. Martin has played a key project management role on Pangaea projects in Uganda and Ukraine. Most recently, she has been a key member of the Pangaea team working with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (“CHAI”) in Ukraine, which is assisting the Ukrainian government in the scale-up of AIDS treatment efforts. She coordinated the clinical, prevention, and training programs of the Infectious Diseases Institute (“IDI”) in Kampala, Uganda. Ms. Martin’s was previously coordinator of HIV Prevention Strategies, Applied Research and Knowledge Development for Health Canada, where she oversaw the management of national and international HIV prevention programs and national policy development.
Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation is a non-profit consulting organization that supports in-country and international partners in the development of healthcare infrastructure for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention efforts. With a special focus on resource-poor settings and underserved populations, Pangaea helps its partners, which include national health ministries, NGOs, universities, foundations, and corporations, strengthen HIV/AIDS treatment infrastructure and systems of care and develop new treatment capacity in order to increase access to care. Pangaea also designs and pilots innovative, effective approaches to HIV/AIDS treatment and treatment-based prevention that can be scaled for country-wide application.
Media Contact: Carl Whitaker 510-847-0599