Community Advisory Board
AHP’s Community Advisory Board (the CAB) was established in 1986 to help AHP achieve its mission. The CAB helps AHP by advising us on the needs of the communities we serve and on programs to meet these needs. Board members further assist the agency by increasing community recognition of AHP’s mission, services, and accomplishments and raising funds to support AHP’s activities.
The Community Advisory Board consists of 10 to 20 members from various backgrounds and professions that reflect the community of providers, clients, and donors that AHP serves.
Phil De Carlo, Chair, is a partner at Eagle Partners in San Francisco, involved in investment banking services for middle market companies. Prior to starting Eagle Partners, Mr. De Carlo spent 19 years at Bank of America, most recently serving as Executive Vice President responsible for the middle market corporate finance group. Mr. De Carlo holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a BS from California State University, Northridge.
Judy Ahrens, Vice-Chair, recently retired from her position as Vice-President/Owner of Mill Valley Insurance Services, Inc. She has had a long career in the food service industry and has been a long-term volunteer at Marin Abused Women's Services and, more recently, at the Women's Community Clinic. Ms. Ahrens serves on AHP's Art for AIDS and Gala committees. She is also a painter and has donated her paintings to Art for AIDS.
Rick Fallis, Secretary, made a career change nine years ago and began working in the field of clinical research for infectious diseases. For the past six years, he has worked at Gilead Sciences on registrational and post-approval studies for HIV and hepatitis B. Originally from upstate New York, Mr. Fallis has a BA in Social Psychology from Hamilton College and has lived in the Bay Area since 1986.
Dan Dean, JD is a partner at the law firm of Taylor, Gutierrez & Marca. Mr. Dean has been a volunteer support group facilitator at AHP for five years; serves on the board of directors of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), the nation's oldest LGBT bar association; serves on the Board of Governors at USF School of Law; and co-chairs the Minority Bar Coalition, a group comprised of all Bay Area minority bar associations. A fourth-generation San Francisco native, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1988 and his law degree from the University of San Francisco in 1992.
Scott Garcia Originally from Vermont, Scott graduated from Western New England College with a B.S.B.A. in Finance and a minor in Economics. Joining Advent Software in 1997, Scott is a Senior Support Analyst, involved in product roll out, training, implementation, and support. Prior to moving to San Francisco in 1996, Scott worked in the retail banking and training division of Shawmut Bank, N.A./Fleet National Bank for seven years.
Leah Lau is a Project Manager and Editor of Investment Research and Communications at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Ms. Lau is also a professional natural landscape photographer who has donated her work to AHP's annual Art for AIDS auction since 2002. While at the University of Chicago, she concentrated in English Literature and Language, and Spanish. She volunteered with terminally ill AIDS patients at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and is a trained rape crisis counselor. Ms. Lau grew up in California and has lived in San Francisco since 1998.
Yan Liu is an in-house corporate attorney at Hewlett-Packard Company. He serves on the board of Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS) and is an active member of the San Francisco FrontRunners. Mr. Liu has a JD from Columbia University Law School and a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from M.I.T. He has lived in San Francisco since 1992, except for two years spent in Grenoble, France.
Levi Morgan is the Director of Public Relations for Bonhams & Butterfields, the American subsidiary of the London-based auctioneers Bonhams. He earned a journalism degree at Boston University, worked at CNN, and has held a variety of positions in training, advertising, project management, and public relations. Mr. Morgan has been a resident of San Francisco since 1994 and a California resident since 1984. .
Ken Pearce ran several Bay Area psychiatric hospitals until retiring in the mid-1990s. He joined the board of AHP in 1996, serving as Vice-Chair from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Pearce has served on the boards of various other HIV organizations in San Francisco and in Sonoma County. Currently, he is a member of the San Francisco Ryan White Care Council, the San Francisco HIV Prevention Planning Council, and he volunteers for Project Inform's HIV Hotline. Mr. Pearce, a North Carolina native, moved to the West Coast in the mid-1970s, received a graduate degree in Seattle, and moved to San Francisco in the early 1980s. He feels fortunate to call this wonderful city his home and is grateful for the support he has received from AHP in his long-term battle with AIDS.
Clifford Samuel, Senior Director of Commercial Operations at Gilead Sciences, has been instrumental in the launch of five oral HIV and hepatitis B antiviral treatments: Viread, Emtriva, Truvada, Atripla, and Hepsera. In 1977, Mr. Samuel migrated with his parents to the United States from the Caribbean Islands, settling in northern New Jersey. He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology and practiced engineering in the New Jersey area before entering the pharmaceutical industry in 1990.
Kate Shumate, Division Chief Analyst at UCSF, contributes to budget management, reporting, and financial planning for the university's Medical Oncology division. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of San Francisco and started her career in finance in 1995 at the McLaren School of Business at USF.
Raoul Thomas has lent his skills, talents and energies to many HIV services over the years, including Thrive and AHP. He has lived in San Francisco for more than 30 years and tested HIV positive nearly 20 years ago. Raoul is a painter who works part time for Wine & Spirits Magazine and as a professional art hanger for hotels, restaurants and private clients. He is dedicated to giving back to the community in his free time, as his health permits, through volunteering.
Sally Van Doren, PharmD, Vice President, of Drug Safety at InterMune has worked for the past 16 years in the field of clinical drug research and drug safety for the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to InterMune, she held various clinical positions at Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Cerus Corporation, Gilead Sciences, and Syntex Laboratories. She has been involved in several early access programs and Food and Drug Administration approvals of HIV and hepatitis B antiviral treatments. A native of Maryland, Dr. Van Doren received her doctorate of pharmacy from the University of Maryland and completed her clinical pharmacy residency at UCSF in 1986. She has lived in the Bay Area since 1985.
Bridget Wagner, MD is a physician in the drug safety department of the pharmaceutical company, Genentech. She has worked with HIV in the United Kingdom and the United States for the last 14 years.
