Staff
Public Health Law & Policy is staffed by a team of attorneys and other professionals skilled in a wide range of focus areas.
As founder and executive director of Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP), Marice Ashe has launched and directs multiple pioneering efforts to improve public health outcomes through the use of law and policy. Under her leadership, PHLP builds the capacity of leaders across the nation to use practical public policy solutions as they address a range of chronic diseases. PHLP’s team of lawyers, city planners, architects, and policy specialists develop model laws and policies, consult on tough policy questions, and provide training and technical assistance to ensure strong policy initiatives that create sustainable solutions. Marice is a frequent speaker at public health conferences throughout the nation, and she consults with federal and state agencies on how best to incorporate legal and policy tools into groundbreaking public health strategies. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and received her MPH and JD from the University of California at Berkeley.
Lisa Chen is a planning and policy associate with PHLP’s Planning for Healthy Places program, where she partners with communities to incorporate public health and social equity goals into city planning. Prior to joining PHLP, she worked as an administrator and teacher at nonprofits focused on youth development, sustainable food systems, and school gardens. Her more recent projects included health impact assessments of transportation policies in California and China, and leading a team of students to develop upgrade plans for urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya. She graduated from UC Berkeley with highest honors and holds a joint master’s degree at UC Berkeley in city planning and public health.
As an administrative assistant at PHLP, Susan supports the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity. Before joining PHLP, she worked as an executive assistant at the Pacific Maritime Association, which negotiates and administers labor agreements with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Prior to that, she worked as a legal assistant for more than 20 years at law firms in New Jersey and San Francisco. She has also done volunteer work for the San Francisco Bar Association. She graduated from Katherine Gibbs College in New Jersey and attended The New School for Social Research in New York and City College of San Francisco. 
As the legal technical assistance director for the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN), Quang oversees the development and dissemination of legal and policy tools aimed at addressing the environmental causes of childhood obesity. Prior to joining PHLP, he worked as a senior litigation attorney at a law firm in San Francisco, and as a director for an international consulting firm, where he led teams to optimize the use of technology in litigation. He has also worked extensively with organizations serving at-risk youth in a range of areas, including health education, HIV/AIDS prevention, homelessness, elimination of discrimination and bias, leadership training, and mentoring. He is a graduate of Brown University (Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude) and the UC Berkeley School of Law.
Amber Figueroa is PHLP’s development coordinator, responsible for identifying and executing sustainable funding strategies for the organization. Prior to joining PHLP, Amber worked in marketing and outreach for the Bioneers 2010 Conference on social and scientific innovation, and oversaw online strategic communications planning for the Real Medicine Foundation, a humanitarian support organization. Before entering the nonprofit arena, Amber worked in corporate advertising, leading new business development teams and integrated marketing strategy planning and execution for a variety of private sector clients in the financial services, tourism, real estate, journalism, and food industries. Amber graduated from Seattle University and has an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Christine Fry is the senior policy associate for PHLP's childhood obesity prevention team. She specializes in sugar-sweetened beverage regulation, healthy restaurant policies, and the federal Farm Bill. Prior to joining PHLP, she consulted with local, state, and federal agencies on child welfare, mental health, and housing policy. Christine is a board member for America Walks, the national advocacy organization for walkable communities. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.
As the Director of Legal Research, Samantha helps identify and frame the organization’s research needs. She engages and oversees expert researchers from leading institutions across the country and manages the development of PHLP resources relating to the legal research. Samantha has published peer-reviewed articles on a range of legal issues relating to tobacco control and obesity prevention. She currently serves as the in-house expert on tobacco and food marketing issues and represents PHLP on the Steering Committee of the national Food Marketing Workgroup. Prior to joining PHLP, she worked as a fellow with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; an associate at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati; a federal law clerk for Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the Northern District of California; and a case writer for Harvard Business School. She is a graduate of Harvard University (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and Yale Law School.
Genie Gratto leads PHLP's communications team, which is responsible for ensuring the organization's products and services reach their target audiences. She also directs the communications effort for the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN). In the 14 years leading up to her joining PHLP, she worked as a journalist before moving on to the advocacy, non-profit, labor union, corporate and web software development arenas. She is a cum laude graduate of Mary Baldwin College and received her master's in writing from Johns Hopkins University.
Julie Jones has more than 20 years of administrative and nonprofit experience and joined PHLP in 2008. Prior to joining PHLP, she served as the director of external affairs for a nonprofit rehabilitation organization, and has worked with other Bay Area nonprofit organizations in an administrative capacity. Her areas of expertise include customer and community service, accounting, and event planning. She graduated from Healds Business College.
Manel Kappagoda is the deputy director of PHLP's National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN). Prior to joining PHLP, she worked at the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), where she served first as a staff attorney in the health law practice and later as director of administration and policy. While at EBCLC she provided legal services to low-income clients living with HIV/AIDS in the areas of fair housing, access to health insurance, disability benefits and estate planning, and she founded AIDS Lanka, a multidisciplinary project that effectively advocated for increased access to HIV medications in Sri Lanka. She also conducted program planning for EBCLC's successful medical-legal partnership with Children's Hospital Oakland. From 2000 to 2003, Manel served on the Oakland Eligible Metropolitan Area HIV Services Planning Council. In addition, she has worked with the UC Office of the President and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. She graduated with high honors from UC Davis, and received her law degree from the UC Hastings College of the Law and her master's in public health from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
Scholastica Kinuthia is the senior accountant for PHLP. Before joining PHLP she administered a $20 million federal grant from the Department of Energy for a solar power technology start-up. Prior to that, she was an accountant at the Global Fund for Women. Originally from Kenya, she worked as a researcher for the University of Nairobi's Center for Development Studies and Urban Housing before moving to the United States in 1998 to pursue her MBA at California State University-East Bay.
Elisa Laird-Metke is a staff attorney specializing in legal issues involving product marketing, the retail environment, and exposure to secondhand smoke. Prior to joining PHLP, Elisa litigated consumer protection, civil rights, and employment class action lawsuits. Before law school, she worked as a sign language interpreter and was the first deaf services coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Elisa graduated cum laude from East Carolina University and received her law degree from Golden Gate University.
Hannah Burton Laurison, MA, is a Senior Associate at Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP), where she leads capacity building and advocacy efforts to create healthier communities nationwide. She is also a co-convener of the national Healthy Corner Store Network. Prior to joining PHLP, Hannah staffed the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a $120 million public/private initiative to develop new grocery stores in underserved communities. In addition, she has worked with corner store owners to increase healthy choices, coordinated a hunger relief program, and organized community gardens in low-income communities. Hannah has written and spoken extensively on innovative policy solutions to public health challenges. She is the recipient of a Roots of Change fellowship for sustainable food system innovators. She graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and holds a master’s degree in planning from Tufts University.
Pilar Lorenzana-Campo is a senior associate in planning and development for PHLP's Planning for Healthy Places program. She specializes in forging partnerships among disciplines interested in leveraging their resources to improve public health conditions, and engaging community stakeholders in building common goals and priorities across agency and departmental boundaries. She also develops policies and development standards that make healthy choices possible in communities nationwide. Over the past 14 years she has worked extensively in the private sector as an architect and planning consultant, designing master planned communities and crafting specific plans for developments throughout California. She is a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines and received a graduate degree in urban and environmental planning from Arizona State University.
Linda Merola is a senior staff attorney at PHLP, focusing on policies to create safe and healthy housing in low-income communities nationwide. Prior to joining PHLP, she worked as a staff attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center in the housing and health practice groups, providing legal services to low-income clients in the areas of tenants’ rights, disability law, and public benefits. She also represented low-income tenants in affirmative habitability and discrimination suits at a public interest law firm. In addition, she has worked at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she counseled students pursuing public interest legal careers. Prior to attending law school, Linda served as a research assistant for a consulting firm specializing in education policy. Linda is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the UC Berkeley School of Law, where she completed a Certificate in Environmental Law.
Catherine Mongeon is a staff attorney at PHLP focusing on tobacco control. She specializes in legal issues that affect the sale of tobacco and the retail environment. Before joining PHLP, Catherine received a fellowship to collaborate with a Papua New Guinean NGO in a campaign to strengthen accountability in development projects abroad. Prior to law school, Catherine served for three years in the United States Peace Corps in Paraguay, South America, where she helped develop and implement an environmental education campaign and trained teachers in environmental education techniques. Catherine is a magna cum laude graduate of Colby College and received her law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law.
Matthew Moore is a staff attorney at PHLP focused on tobacco control, specializing in secondhand smoke and tobacco retailer licensing issues. Before joining PHLP, Matthew worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Seattle regional office, specializing in enforcement of federal civil rights laws as they apply to public health programs and services. Matthew is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and Tufts University School of Medicine. He also holds a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from San Francisco State University, where he focused on health care access issues among San Francisco’s homeless population.
Keith Nagayama is a staff attorney at PHLP, responsible for the negotiation and formation of all grants and contracts between PHLP and the organization's funders, clients, partners, and consultants. He also assists with the organization’s nonprofit business operations, corporate governance, legal matters, and strategic planning. Prior to joining PHLP, Keith practiced law in the areas of redevelopment, affordable housing, municipal governments, nonprofit organizations and small businesses. He began his legal career at the Public Law Center, where he provided legal assistance and education to nonprofit organizations and advocated for more affordable housing in Orange County. Keith graduated from UCLA and received his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law.
Robert Ogilvie directs PHLP's Planning for Healthy Places program. Over the past 15 years he has worked extensively in community development and planning to help improve low- and middle-income neighborhoods. Prior to joining PHLP, he served as a faculty member in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley, as a consultant to city and county governments, nonprofit organizations, and neighborhood activists, and as director of volunteers at the Partnership for the Homeless in New York City. He is the author of Voluntarism, Community Life, and the American Ethic (Indiana University Press, 2004), an examination of why people volunteer and how local organizations create community. Robert holds a PhD in political science from Columbia University and is a graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of South Carolina.
Leah S. Roderman is a communication specialist on PHLP's communications team, where she supports the organization's website and and database operations. Prior to joining PHLP, she worked for CodeMagi, Inc. developing online communications strategies with businesses, public agencies, artists, and non-profit organizations. She was also a web development architect at the Golden State Warriors, and has worked in website development and data management for over ten years. Leah is a graduate of Mills College, holding a BA and an MA in Interdisciplinary Computer Science.
Livia Rojas is PHLP's webinar and event specialist. As part of the organization's communications team, she helps with the design and implementation of PHLP's webinars and events. Prior to joining PHLP, Livia provided technical assistance to college campuses with multidisciplinary teams of practitioners serving survivors of sexual violence in the United States and Puerto Rico. In addition, she has experience working with immigrant communities around issues of HIV, substance use, incarceration/detention and gender-based violence. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University School of Social Work.
Carrie Spector is PHLP's senior communications officer. As part of the organization's communications team, she helps to guide the development and promotion of PHLP's products. She has worked in journalism and nonprofit communications for more than 15 years. Prior to joining PHLP, she managed the communications department for a national cancer advocacy organization. She has also worked on the editorial staff at a variety of national and regional magazines, including Health, California Lawyer, and Mother Jones. She graduated magna cum laude from Boston University's College of Communication.
Scott Watkins is a program assistant for PHLP's Planning for Healthy Places program and supports finance and operations. He previously worked for the City of Alameda’s planning and building department, where among other projects he developed a master plan for city facilities, overhauled the records management system, and wrote several new ordinances that promote the public’s health and safety. Scott is certified in building code enforcement as well as permit and zoning inspection. As a licensed California General Contractor, and accredited LEED professional, Scott works to identify practical green building techniques that implement an integrated approach from design to operation. Scott is a graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in public administration, City Planning emphasis.
As Director of Finance and Operations, Sandra Whisler oversees financial management, human relations, and information technology. Whisler comes to PHLP from PolicyLink, where she served as the director of finance and operations, and before that from CompuMentor, where she was first the launch director for www.techsoup.org and then vice president and managing director responsible for finance and operations. Previously, Whisler had a long career in academic publishing, including serving as director of electronic publishing and associate director for the Journals Division at the University of California Press, and assistant director and director of Journals Marketing at the University of Chicago Press. She holds a degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago.
As PHLP’s financial analyst, Jessica works on budget development, financial reporting, and other projects. Prior to PHLP, she worked in nonprofit administration, fundraising, and finance for more than ten years, including serving as the director of development and operations at Centro Legal de la Raza, a legal services agency, and as development and administrative coordinator at the Youth Employment Partnership, a training and job placement agency. She also served on the board of directors of Small Press Traffic, a San Francisco-based poetry organization, and is involved in a range of Bay Area literary activities, including serving as co-editor of the journal Monday Night. She graduated from the University of Chicago and has a master’s degree in creative writing from California College of the Arts.
Kim Arroyo Williamson is a communications associate on PHLP’s communications team. She coordinates publication layout, design, and production, working to ensure consistency throughout the organization’s products and identity. She also develops and provides support for staff presentations. Prior to this role, she managed the organization’s database development and implementation, coordinated a program supporting pharmaceutical access for health care organizations serving uninsured and underinsured patients, and worked in free and community clinics. She holds a BA in Community Studies and Education with honors from UC Santa Cruz.
Ben Winig is a senior staff attorney at PHLP focused on land use regulation and related public policies. Before joining PHLP, Ben practiced municipal law at a private firm and served as general counsel and assistant city attorney for several public agencies throughout Northern California. He regularly advised local government officials and public agency staff on land use and zoning regulations, development and regulatory fees, open government, and conflicts of interest. Ben graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in social anthropology. He received both his law degree and a master’s in public affairs, with a concentration in public policy analysis, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Heather Wooten is a senior planning and policy associate with PHLP's Planning for Healthy Places program, where she researches best practices, develops tools, and works with communities to connect land use, economic development, and health. She is a co-author of one of the premier publications on developing and implementing health policy language in land use plans, How to Create and Implement Healthy General Plans. Prior to joining PHLP, she co-authored the Oakland Food System Assessment: Towards a Sustainable Food Plan through the Oakland Mayor's Office of Sustainability; she also currently serves on the Oakland Food Policy Council. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and earned a Masters of City Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.
Leslie Zellers is PHLP’s director of programs. She also directs PHLP’s tobacco control work, including the Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC), a California-based project providing technical assistance to communities seeking to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke and limit tobacco marketing and sales. Prior to joining PHLP, Leslie conducted legal and policy work on tobacco prevention and childhood lead poisoning prevention for Contra Costa County and several nonprofit organizations. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and a graduate of the UC Hastings College of the Law.
Sara Zimmerman is a senior staff attorney working on the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN). Prior to joining PHLP she worked at several nonprofit organizations, including Disability Rights Advocates and the Community Benefits Law Center at Partnership for Working Families. She also clerked for Judge Richard Paez of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College (Phi Beta Kappa) and the UC Berkeley School of Law (Order of the Coif).
Public Health Law & Policy is staffed by a team of attorneys and other professionals skilled in a wide range of focus areas.
