Meet the Board Members
Juan Ibarra (MPH, MSW, Ph.D.) is a skilled, thoughtful health professional who has been involved in public health research and youth mentorship for years. He met Dr. Winkleby in 1990 when he participated in SMYSP and has been involved with outreach and mentoring youth ever since.
Dr. Ibarra was born in a small agrarian community in Michoacan, Mexico. He was the youngest of ten children for whom schooling ended in the sixth grade. Before Dr. Ibarra was born, his father began traveling to the U.S. to work seasonally under the auspices of a 1940 American program. His father slowly brought his family to the U.S. where they followed the crops, moving from Chino to Fresno to Five Points and beyond.
When he was five, the family settled in Stockton, CA. By 4th grade, he began to excel in school under the influence of his brother Raul. When he was in the 8th grade, Dr. Ibarra’s family suffered a terrible tragedy. In the early morning before his parents left for the fields, an intruder killed both of his parents. He left Stockton to live with his sister in Menlo Park and attended Sequoia High School, excelling in math and science. In 1990, Dr. Ibarra’s math teacher encouraged him to apply to SMYSP where his love for science was cultivated.
Dr. Ibarra graduated from high school and was accepted to Stanford University, a significant feat given that Latinos make up only eight percent of the university’s undergraduate population. As an undergraduate, he made history in SMYSP when he became the first alumni to become program director. He majored in Human Biology and went on to become a community health educator in Mountain View where he worked at a clinic for low-income families.
Soon after, he accepted a job as a communicable disease investigator with Santa Clara County. He became known for his cultural sensitivity and was named the Santa Clara Public Health Department employee of the year in 1999. Following a joint Master’s degree in Social Work and Public Health at San Diego State University, he completed a doctorate in Public Health at U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health. In his current work as an epidemiologist at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, he evaluates community behavioral health programs funded by San Francisco’s Mental Health Services Act. He develops evaluations plans and implements them in culturally and linguistically.
Dr. Ibarra lives in Oakland and enjoys reading, spending time with family, and maintaining an active lifestyle.
Erica Frank (MD, MPH, Ph.D.) is an educational inventor, physician, medical and educational researcher, professor, and public health advocate. Dr. Frank brings a lifetime of advocacy for accessible health sciences education to Access to Achievement.
Since 2006, Dr. Frank has been a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She received her MD and MPH with an emphasis on health education and epidemiology and was an NIH Prevention Research Fellow at Stanford University. She is board-certified in Preventive Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.
She is the Inventor/Founder of NextGenU.org, with learners in every country. Starting with a focus in the health sciences, NextGenU.org’s free courses, certificates, and degree-materials span from primary school education and community health worker trainings, through college-level pre-health sciences, Graduate Medical Education, and the first globally free degree content, a Master’s in Public Health.
Dr. Frank has published over 190 peer-reviewed scientific publications, including first-authored papers in JAMA, and other major peer-reviewed medical journals such as The Lancet, BMJ and Annals of Internal Medicine. She is the steward of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize commemorative medal awarded to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.