Staff and Contact Information

General contact information:

The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research

Department of Prevention and Community Health
School of Public Health and Health Services
The George Washington University
2175 K St, NW, Ste 700
Washington, DC 20037
Main Telephone Number: 202-530-2370
Office Fax Number: 202-530-3923
Web site: www.hivforum.org

info@hivforum.org

Staff

Veronica Miller, Ph.D., Executive Director

Dr. Veronica Miller is the director of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research at the Department of Prevention and Community Health and Associate Research Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the George Washington University School of Public Health. She joined the Forum after having directed the interdisciplinary HIV Research Group at the HIV-1 Outpatient Clinic of the JW Goethe University in Frankfurt. Dr. Miller has carried out research on HIV treatment strategies, focusing on immunological and virological impact of antiretroviral treatment protocols. One major area of interest is viral drug resistance, and much of the work has focused on the characterization of treatment failure. Dr. Miller was a co-founder of and chaired the EuroGuidelines Group on HIV Drug Resistance, the first pan-European group established for the purpose of assuring a common standard-of-care for patients in all European states. In addition, she has been an active member of various European collaborative projects, including the EuroSIDA study. She obtained her PhD in Immunology at the University of Manitoba, Canada.

Ben Cheng, Deputy Director, M.Sc.

Ben Cheng is Deputy Director at the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research (FCHR). Before joining the FCHR in 2002, he was the Associate Director of the Information and Advocacy Department and Director of Antiviral Advocacy at Project Inform, one of the United States' most influential community based HIV treatment information and advocacy organizations. Mr. Cheng joined Project Inform in 1993. His advocacy efforts have included virology, pharmacology, clinical trial designs, antiviral drug development, drugs to treat and prevent viral opportunistic infections, and novel anti-HIV approaches.

Mr. Cheng has sat on various advisory boards for the pharmaceutical industry, community, and government establishments in many capacities, including: consultant, member, community advisor and community representative. Mr. Cheng has served on numerous committees, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee, the Blood Products Advisory Committee to the FDA, AmFAR's Clinical Programs Advisory Committee, reviewer for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Centers for AIDS Research review committee, reviewer for the Basic Sciences Panel for the University wide AIDS Program as well as a member of various Data Safety and Monitoring Boards. Mr. Cheng was also a member of the National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development and the Community Constituency Group of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). He was also the co-chair of the ACTG Protocol Development Subcommittee, which defines the scientific priorities from a community perspective. Mr. Cheng is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for AIDS and Immune Research (FAIR) and is a member of the Scientific Committee to the 4th International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Lipodystrophy in HIV.

Mr. Cheng has served on numerous advisory boards, including the San Francisco AIDS Clinical Trials Unit's (ACTU) Community Advisory Board, the AIDS Clinical Research Committee Advisory Board, and the AIDS Research Review Committee at San Francisco General Hospital.

Mr. Cheng was on the Scientific Program Committee for the 1995 and 1996 National Conference on Human Retroviruses and Related Infections and on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the HIV Surrogate Marker Conference.

Mr. Cheng received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University in 1986 and his Masters of Science degree in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987.

Nyasha Bakare, M.D., M.P.H., Project Manager

Dr. Nyasha Bakare is a Project Manager at the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research since 2007. Dr. Bakare began her work in the field of HIV/AIDS as a physician in the Dept of Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases and its HIV Outpatient Clinic at Frankfurt University Hospital. She subsequently joined the Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy in Washington, DC in 2001, where her research focused on the early clinical development of a therapeutic HIV vaccine. Dr. Bakare received her M.D. and doctoral degrees from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. She received a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) from Johns Hopkins University, where she was the inaugural J.B. Grant Scholar in 2005.

Benjamin Hauschild, M.P.H., Senior Research Associate

Ben Hauschild is a Senior Research Associate at the Forum for Collaborative Research.  Before beginning with the Forum, he worked in the Prevention Program in the Louisiana Office of Public Health-HIV/AIDS Program.  In Louisiana, he served as the health department co-chair of the state’s HIV Prevention Community Planning Group.  He has also worked as a laboratory research technician in the areas of physiology and cell biology at the Louisiana State University Medical Center, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH, and Tulane University Medical Center.  Mr. Hauschild received a BS from the University of New Orleans in 1998 and an MPH in epidemiology from the Tulane University School of Public Health in 2002.

Linda Onaga, M.P.H., Research Associate

Linda Onaga, MPH is a Research Associate for the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research (FCHR). Ms. Onaga received her B.S. degree in Biobehavioral Health/Health Policy Administration from the Pennsylvania State University.  She received her Masters of Public Health degree from the George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services.  She assists the FCHR staff with literature reviews along with obtaining various research materials for upcoming projects. In addition, Ms. Onaga also helps the Forum facilitate numerous meetings/workshops by assisting with meeting planning and logistics.

Abigail Wilkes, M.P.H.c, Research Assistant

Abigail Wilkes is a Research Assistant for the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research. Ms. Wilkes received a B.A. degree in Biology from Ithaca College and is currently working on a research project with the Georgetown Women's Interagency HIV Study when she is not helping out at the Forum. She is in her second year at George Washington University School of Public Health and plans to graduate in May 2008 with a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology.