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GSE 2009-10 to East Africa

GSE Team Leader

Janice Kurth, M.D., Ph.D.

Rotary Club of Del Mar
Janice is the current President of the Rotary Club of Del Mar. She has served on the Board of Directors in several capacities including Vocational Service, Membership, Vice President and President Elect. She also serves District 5340 on the Strategic Planning Committee. Her other service activities include mentoring teenage students, founding and/or serving on several educational foundations in her community, volunteering at local schools, sitting on the Board of the Nanotechnology Research Foundation and serving as the Founder and President of the Health Travel Guides Foundation.

Janice Kurth earned her B.A. in chemistry from Austin College, Ph.D. in human genetics at Stanford University, and M.D. from University of Arizona, with post-graduate training in internal medicine. Her professional career has included academic and industrial biomedical research, product and software development, research management and pharmaceutical medicine. She is currently an independent consultant for biomedical and pharmaceutical companies.

Janice was born in Berkeley, California but spent most of her youth in Houston, Texas. She currently lives in California with her husband of 23 years, with whom she shares her business. She has daughters, ages 18 and 20 years. Both are enrolled in university studies.

In her free time, Janice enjoys running, boogie boarding, reading, hiking, biking, swimming and snow skiing.

GSE Team Members

Tara Beeston

Tara was born in New York but moved to the United Kingdom when she was 10 and finished her schooling there, moving back to the United States with her family to attend the University of California at San Diego where she majored in Molecular Biology. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she worked in a research lab studying Multiple Sclerosis for two years. She then decided to pursue a career in Public Health and attended San Diego State University to obtain her Master's in Public Health, focusing on Health Promotion.

Throughout her graduate schooling she worked at the Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health (CBEACH), working on various research studies, including HIV prevention and tuberculosis prevention projects. She conducted her own study for her master's thesis, examining how sales of Plan B (an emergency contraceptive drug) at local pharmacies were affected when the drug became available over the counter. Tara is still working at CBEACH, currently developing a childhood obesity prevention intervention to be delivered through orthodontists.

Tara has long been interested in international health, HIV, reproductive health and women's health issues and research. She has once traveled to South Africa with a group of San Diego State University students and is excited to return to the continent.

Tara lives in north San Diego with her parents. In her free time, Tara loves to travel and explore new places, both at home or abroad, and when she can't do that, she loves to read about the places she might one day go.

Estela Blanco

Estela Blanco has been working in the research public health field since 2003. Most her work has focused on barriers and facilitators to consistent HIV care among Latinos living with HIV in the United States-Mexico border region. However, she recently accepted a position to be a Research Associate for a longitudinal study of obesity in a cohort of adolescents in Santiago, Chile. In this new capacity, Estela will assist with analysis of determinants of obesity and cardiovascular risk.

Estela is originally from Tracy, California-a small town located 1 hour east of San Francisco, in the main agricultural valley of California. She is from a family of three children-one older sister and one younger brother, her mother is a bilingual (Spanish & English) grade school teacher. Estela moved to San Diego to pursue university studies at the University of California, San Diego. She remained in San Diego after graduation and later earned dual master degrees in Public Health, Epidemiology and Latin American Studies from San Diego State University. She has lived in San Diego for the past 10 years, with the exception of a 1 year study abroad program in Santiago, Chile.

In her personal life, Estela is an active member of a local chapter of the National Organization for Women, serving 2 years as the Vice President. In this role, she assisted the President in planning events related to the national organization's charter to promote equality and justice in society. She also coordinated a supplies and monetary donation drive for a local domestic violence agency. Estela has been married for nearly 3 years and has no children.

Lwbba Chait Llamas

Lwbba Chait was born in San Diego California, in April 19, 1983. She currently lives with her parents and 11-year old brother in San Diego, California.

Lwbba attended San Diego State University from 2001-2003 and then transferred to Medical School at Xochicalco University in Tijuana, Mexico from July 2003 to June 2007 and graduated with Honors.

Between 2007 and 2009 she has worked as a physician in a community clinic in Tijuana, Mexico with some of the most underserved and marginalized groups, HIV/AIDS patients, sex workers and drug users. These experiences caught her attention and interest in public health research.

She is currently awarded a fellowship at the University of California San Diego, Division of Global Public Health, through the Center for HIV/AIDS Minority Pipeline in Substance Abuse Research, working on binational (Mexico-US border) studies on HIV prevention relating to substance use and other comorbidities.

To further her training in research, Lwbba' goal is to be complete a residency in Preventive Medicine. Combining clinical experience and training in research will fulfill her future objective, to work in public health research with underserved populations.

Edna Esquer

Edna Esquer has been a Family Nurse Practitioner for over six years providing primary care services to the culturally diverse underserved population of San Diego and Imperial counties. She is an active member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. Community involvement has been one of the most rewarding experiences of her nursing career. She is also a member of the Nurse Practitioner Association in the Imperial County. Edna has served as a nursing professor in the undergraduate nursing program from Imperial Valley College and San Diego State University.

Edna was born and raised in Mexicali, Mexico which is border city located across border with Calexico, California. She immigrated to the United States to continue her education at the age of 16 with her parents and 3 sisters. She completed her Associate of Science Degree in Nursing from Imperial Valley College and earned her Bachelor in Science of Nursing from National University. Later Edna obtained a Master's degree in the Science of Nursing and completed the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. In addition, she has focused her efforts working as a clinical research practitioner conducting multiple research studies addressing the health care needs of the indigent population.

Edna is not married and lives near her parents. She enjoys being close to her extended family(sisters, nieces and nephews). She enjoys traveling with her family during the summer. Despite her busy working schedule, Edna is very active and she enjoys taking her classical-Jazz dance lessons.

Timothy Goldberg

Tim is a Physical Therapist and Supervisor of The Outpatient Orthopedic Rehabilitation Department at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, California. He has two brothers, a sister, a step-brother and a step sister, all of whom live in the Midwest region of the United States.

He grew up in Toledo, Ohio and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology from The Ohio State University in 1998. He then attended Daemen College in Amherst, NY and received a bachelor's of science in Physical Therapy. Upon completion of a student affiliation in San Diego, he knew he would soon call this beautiful city home.

Tim moved to San Diego in 2002 and has been very active in the community personally and professionally. He volunteers with other Scripps Encinitas staff members annually at the Carlsbad Marathon and enjoys assisting Physicians with physicals for local high school athletes. In addition, he formed an annual fund-raiser with a colleague and friend, "Bocce By The Bay", to benefit the Community Resource Center in Encinitas and Carol's House, a shelter for battered women and children in north county San Diego. He has volunteered as a Big Brother and has a passion for helping improve the lives of underprivileged children. Tim is in constant pursuit of growing as a clinician and he has recently become a Certified Orthopedic Manual Therapist.

In his spare time, he can be found playing volleyball or spending the day at the beach. Other interests include reading and politics. He is always looking for new adventures. Recently, Tim traveled to Las Vegas to work on a presidential campaign, went hang gliding, and tried climbing rock boulders in Big Bear, CA. Future goals include traveling and meeting new people all over the world and he hopes to run his first half marathon in 2010.