Staff
Meet the staff of CPEHN.
Ellen Wu, MPH, Executive Director
Ellen Wu has been the Executive Director of CPEHN since 2001. She received her Masters in Public Health from UCLA and serves on numerous boards and advisory committees including the California Budget Project, Healthy Families Quality Advisory Committee, and as a Governor's appointee to the Department of Public Health's Advisory Committee. She was an adjunct faculty member at San Francisco State University from 2004-2008.
Prior to joining CPEHN she consulted with the Community Health Center Network, was a program officer at the Tides Foundation for the Community Clinics Initiative, and served as the Director of Health Education and Cultural/Linguistic Services at the Alameda Alliance for Health.
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Ruben Cantu, Program Director
Ruben Cantu is a graduate of the University of Houston, earning a BA in English. He has over 12 years of non-profit experience in program management, technical assistance and capacity building, and HIV prevention and care. Before joining CPEHN, Ruben worked for the Human Rights Campaign and the National Minority AIDS Council, both in Washington, DC. Most recently, he was Senior Program Specialist and Project Director at Mosaica: The Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism. At Mosaica, he ran two national projects: The Leadership Campaign on AIDS and the evaluation of the National HIV Testing Mobilization Campaign, both for the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy, Department of Health and Human Services. He is a member of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Association’s Latino HIV Prevention Community Planning Advisory Board. Ruben has extensive experience in organizational development, including resource development, strategic planning, and Board development.
Pam Flood, Director of Operations
Pam Flood is a graduate of Amherst College, earning a B.A. in Sociology and Black Studies. She has over 20 years of non-profit fundraising and operations experience. Over the years Pam has worked for such organizations as Haymarket People's Fund, the Black Coalition on AIDS, Women's Educational Media, Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services, and the Tides Foundation. Her experience includes fundraising, grantmaking, human resources, operations, event management, and film distribution.
Rachel Larson, MPH, Communications Coordinator
Rachel Larson earned her Master of Public Health degree at UC Berkeley. Before coming to CPEHN, Rachel has held a variety of public health related positions, including homeless outreach worker with Lifelong Medical Care, research associate with the Kaiser’s Department of Research, and program intern with Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support. Throughout these positions Rachel’s interests have focused on reducing barriers to care and eliminating health inequities.
Martin Martinez, MPP, Policy Director
Martin Martinez earned his Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He has served on the statewide Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists, the Office of the Patient Advocate's Cultural and Linguistic Services Workgroup, and other committees. Before joining CPEHN he performed policy advocacy and community organizing for AIDS Project East Bay for five years. His past advocacy work has included advocating for increased program funds for communities of color, and for culturally competent care and prevention strategies for African American and Latino men, and for Gay and Bisexual men of color and Transgender individuals.
Cary Sanders, MPP, Director of the Having Our Say Coalition and Senior Policy Analyst
Cary Sanders earned a Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining HOS/CPEHN, Cary worked as a policy analyst for the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) promoting pro-immigrant policies that address and respect the needs and contributions of California's diverse immigrant communities and their families. She has also worked as Assistant Policy Director for SEIU United Health Care Workers-West representing over 150,000 health care workers in California and as Policy Director for Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) in San Jose. Cary is proficient in Spanish after having lived and worked in Guatemala.