EPE Team
| Wendy Hetherington She/Her Program Chief |
Wendy Hetherington is the Branch Chief of Epidemiology & Program Evaluation. She oversees the Epidemiology Data Team, Vital Records, Riverside Overdose Data to Action (RODA), Health Equity, and Epidemiology and Labratory Capacity (ELC). Wendy is a trained epidemiologist earning her Masters in Public Health at San Diego State. She has a wide variety of experience and is particularly focused on incorporating health equity in all public health programs, promoting data to action, and increase overdose awareness and prevention in Riverside County. |
| Sheena Patel She/Her Deputy Chief |
Sheena Patel is the Deputy Chief of Epidemiology & Program Evaluation at Riverside University Health System – Public Health. An epidemiologist by training, she oversees the research team on disease monitoring, surveillance efforts and data analysis. Sheena received her MPH from the University of Southern California in 2013 and is passionate about ensuring that data is communicated in an innovative and informative way. |
| Kevin Meconis He/Him Senior Epidemiologist |
Kevin has worked as an Epidemiologist for Riverside University Health System-Public Health since 2005. His focus areas have included infectious disease surveillance, chronic disease, behavioral health, and emergency response (including COVID-19). He has served as Accreditation Coordinator, assisting in the development of Community Health Assessments, Health Improvement Plans, and numerous other health surveys. He is passionate about using GIS mapping and spatial analysis, integrating health equity into all data analysis, and the emerging impacts of climate change on health. |
| Aaron Gardner He/Him Senior Epidemiologist |
Aaron Gardner has been with Riverside University Health System – Public Health since 2005. Aaron has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and communication, with a particular focus on health equity and social justice issues. He has been a project lead on HIV surveillance studies, program evaluation, grant writing, and LGBTQ health. |
| Hongbin (Fred) Jin He/Him Infection Preventionist II |
Hongbin (Fred) Jin is an Infection Previontist at Riverside University Health System - Public Health. Fred is a trained ICU nurse, passionate university instructor, and a proud US military veteran. As the infection preventionist, Fred works to investigate outbreaks and communicable disease spread in Riverside County. |
| Michael Castro He/Him Epidemiologist |
Michael Castro is an Epidemiologist with Riverside University Health System - Public Health. He is a population health researcher focusing on highlighting health equity issues. Michael has an abundance of expertise in various coding languages such as Python, SAS, and R. He utilizes those tools to uncover data quality issues and ensure that data is represented in an accurate and meaningful way. |
| Gimena Ruedas She/Her Epidemiologist |
Gimena is an Epidemiologist with RUHS-Public Health. She worked in the field of disease control before going back to school to earn her MPH in Epidemiology. She is passionate about using a holistic approach to understanding the health needs of the community and focuses on improving health by analyzing spatial relationships, behaviors, and outcomes to different types of exposures in an effort to share information and empower individuals as well as decision makers in the community. |
| Aviva Goldmann She/Her Epidemiologist |
Aviva Goldmann is an Epidemiologist with RUHS-Public Health. She is passionate about health equity in access to care, outcomes in chronic disease management, interactions with the built environment, and health services in carceral settings. She received her PhD in Entomology from UC Riverside and worked in public health entomology as a postdoctoral scholar and as a vector ecologist. Aviva is experienced in data analysis and visualization, experimental design, research methodology, and the creation and adoption of new tools to support data-driven decision-making in public health. |
| Dulce Martinez Luna She/Her Research Specialist I |
Dulce Martinez Luna is a bilingual Research Specialist I with Riverside University Health System-Public Health. A first-generation college graduate with an MPH from California Baptist University, she has experience working in healthcare, data collection and analysis. Dulce is passionate about identifying meaningful trends in the community, sharing information, and applying new findings to public health interventions to increase health equity across marginalized communities. |
| Erin Curlee She/Her Research Specialist II |
Erin Curlee is a Research Specialist II with Riverside University Health System – Public Health. She has been with the county since 2011. Since 2022, Erin serves as the department's Public Health Accreditation coordinator. Her experience is in conducting community health assessments, strategic planning, and data analysis. Both analysis and dissemination of data are her passion and interests in order to provide equity, and social justice to all people. |
| Amy Hyong Epidemiologist |
Amy Hyong is an Epidemiologist with Riverside University Health System - Public Health. She received her MPH from Loma Linda University School of Public Health. She has a wide variety of experience in research, project management, data analysis and grant writing. |
| Iman Abouazra She/Her Research Specialist II |
Iman Abouazra is a Research Specialist II for the County of Riverside Department of Public Health- Epidemiology and Program Evaluation branch. She is the current Surveillance Lead for Riverside County Overdose Data to Action Program, responsible for surveillance data dissemination, and oversees the response strategy for potential outbreaks. Iman received her Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Environmental Health and Epidemiology from Loma Linda University and has since worked within the fields of Behavioral and Public Health. |
| Krystal Silguero She/Her Research Specialist II |
Krystal Silguero is a Research Specialist II for the County of Riverside Department of Public Health- Epidemiology and Program Evaluation branch. She has experience in communication, data analysis, analytical software, strategic planning, and program evaluation. She is empowered to achieve health equity for our community through data visualization and linking together data silo systems. Krystal received her Master's in Public Health with a concentration in Research Epidemiology from Loma Linda University and has since worked in multiple sectors of Riverside County—Medical Center, Behavioral Health, and Public Health. |
| Sandra Escobar She/her Epidemiologist |
Sandra Escobar is an epidemiologist with experience working in clinical, local government, and non-profit settings. Sandra joined Riverside University Health System- Public Health in 2022 and is skilled in project management, strategy development, statistical data analysis, program evaluation, grant and report writing, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her research interests include health equity, social drivers of health disparities, chronic disease management among ethnic and racial minorities, immigrant and refugee health, social determinants of health, mental health, and trauma informed data collection methods. Sandra is passionate about working with communities and helping people use health data for policy and advocacy work. |
| Nancy Aguirre She/Her Research Specialist II |
Nancy Aguirre is a Research Specialist II for Riverside University Health System – Public Health. She has analyzed outcomes for maternal-fetal health medicine, pediatrics, and drowning prevention data. Nancy has evaluated programs for various departments within Riverside County and has experience with both SAS as well as SPSS. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Psychology and Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University. Her research interests reside in health equity and prevention measures |
| Andrea Perez GIS Research Specialist I |
Andrea Perez is a GIS Research Specialist I at Riverside University Health System – Public Health, with a background in environmental science. Andrea aims to use an intersectional lens in all spatial analysis and visualization to support dissemination of data for community empowerment. |