Our Team

Click on each photo to read bios.

STAFF

Ari Agha, Ph.D
Development Officer

Mariana Alvarado

Case Manager

Aaruba Ayesha, APCC
Trauma Therapist

Biruktawit Bekele, LL.M.
Director of Development and Operations

Amy Berlin, MD
Psychiatrist

Kevin Cheng

Junior Salesforce Administrator

Valeria Gonzalez

Clinical Coordinator

Melanie Liu
HR Generalist

Sandra Lopez, MA
Grant Reporting Manager

Jessica Lopez-Morales
Interpreter Program Manager

Jeanine Mangabu
African Communities Program Wellbeing Coordinator

Penélope Mato Vilar, MA, LMFT
Counseling Program Manager

Gianina Pellegrini, Ph.D
Executive Director

Salomé Ragot 
HRC Clinical Coordinator

Mariyam-Ifteam Rufael, MA
African Communities Mental Health Specialist

Larissa Sajous

Psychosocial Care Program Manager

Jason Straussman, LCSW

Trauma Therapist

Sonya Svoboda

Clinical Director

Tizita Tekletsadik, LLB, MA
African Communities Program Manager

Fresnia Vu
Administrative Assistant




REFUGEE VOICES INTERPRETER TEAM

Faten Kamel
Arabic Interpreter

Hoi Lam Chung (Karena)
Cantonese, Mandarin Interpreter

Enieh Yazdanpanah
Farsi & Dari (Persian) Interpreter

Mouneissa
French Interpreter

Issiaka Dembele
French Interpreter

Alta Bayanjargal
Mongolian Interpreter

Myriam Da Silva
French, Spanish, Portugese Interpreter

Robin Nazarian
Spanish, Portugese & French Interpreter

Cristina Ceballos
Spanish Interpreter

Dalia Lizbeth Nava Jacobo
Spanish Interpreter

Gisslle Perez-Leon
Spanish Interpreter

Joanna Oyarzabal
Spanish Interpreter

Yanett Kenney
Spanish Interpreter

Yolando Romo

Spanish Interpreter

Eugnia Arbol
Spanish Interpreter

Aidan Muñoz-Christian
Spanish Interpreter

Irene
Spanish Interpreter

Kisanet Tekie
Tigrinya, Italian Interpreter

Tsgereda A. Syoum
Tigrinya Interpreter

Joseph Asunka, Ph.D
CEO, Afrobarometer

Gauri Bhardwaj, MBA
PTR Board Chair

Director of Operations at Toronado Capital Management

Cathy Chen, MPH
Regional Director, Continuum of Care, Kaiser Permanente

Alex Cook

PTR Board Treasurer

Senior Director of Product Management

Julianne Orr, Esq.

PTR Board Secretary

Law Practitioner, Cooley LLP.

Stephanie Wu

Operations Expert


ADVISORY BOARD

Nahid Fattahi
Research Associate at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research

Tara Ghassemikia
Strategy and Implementation Consultant

Caroline Powell Donelan
Partner, Labor & Employment, Blank Rome

Molly McCoy, Esq., MPH, JD
Chief Privacy Official and Privacy Counsel at Blue Shield

Gilbert Newman, Ph.D.
Dean and Director of Clinical Training, Wright Institute

Monika Parikh, MA, MPA
PTR Co-Founder

Jonathan Rico
Software Engineer, Salesforce