Meet Our Team
Seble Kassaye, MD. Medical Director
Dr. Kassaye is an Infectious Diseases specialist and epidemiologist whose research and professional interests include HIV [HIV transmission, prevention, co-morbidities, and long-term outcomes]; use of technology to improve health [mobile health technologies, ethical and privacy-assured use of health data]; and education [medical education, effective health communication]. As part of her role in the GHUCCTS, she leads the Hub Liaison Team and supports investigators in their study designs and protocol development; she also provides her expertise in community engagement and innovative ideas for expanding our community engagement and inclusion of diverse populations. She leads our GHUCCTS team as Medical Director and oversees various projects underway.
Wendy Enriquez, Program Manager
Ms. Enriquez oversees programmatic elements of the Recruitment Unit of the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science to ensure all projects are traceable to the objectives. The Recruitment Unit aims to increase clinical trial participation amongst underserved populations in the DC-metropolitan region. Prior to this role, Ms. Enriquez managed programs and projects focused on promoting healthy behaviors and well-being among vulnerable populations in the DMV region.
Florencia Gonzalez, MPH, Director, Inclusion of Diverse Population
Ms. Gonzalez is Adjunct Instructor for the Department of Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. She specializes in strategic planning for community & patient engagement as part of the research development process. She also provides capacity building on developing infrastructure around research and evaluation to community-based organizations. Furthermore, Ms. Gonzalez manages consultation services for GHUCCTS institution faculty, staff, and students on community engaged research best practices and building community-academic partnerships. Since 2018, she has served as Director of GHUCCTS Inclusion of Diverse Populations (IDP) core overseeing efforts for inclusion of underrepresented groups in health research, particularly people with limited English proficiency. Ms. Gonzalez has a history of managing clinical trials, disparity health research within community settings, and public health projects in cross-cultural settings.
Finie Richardson, MPH, Participant Advisory Board Director
Dr. Richardson is an Instructor and Program Manager for the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the Howard University College of Medicine. She is the Coordinator for DC PrimCare, a network of primary care practices serving the DC Metropolitan area. Her professional background merges translational and community-based research conducted in medically underserved communities. She has implemented projects that developed. culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions using a community-based participatory research approach to improve health outcomes among low-literacy minority populations. She coordinates programmatic activities for the Volunteer Participant Advisory Board and local Practice Based Research Networks to facilitate recruitment for GHUCCTS research.
Tonya Bishop, Outreach Lead Coordinator
In her current role as Lead Outreach Coordinator, Tonya attends local community events to bring research awareness to the community. Since joining the GHUCCTS Team, Tonya acts as a liaison between investigators and community members, and has been a key member of several research teams. Notably, Tonya is a co-author of the recent research publication Community-Based versus Traditional Research among Older Minority Women with Urinary Incontinence, published in the Journal of Urogynecology. Tonya focuses on growing existing community partnerships and identifying new partners that supports our health research efforts.