Resource Team

Esther Saraelle Tahrir, MPH

Program Director
International Health Programs/Public Health Institute

Esther Tahrir currently directs the Young Reproductive and Sexual Health Leaders Program and the International Family Planning Leadership Program Latin America for International Health Programs/Public Health Institute. These two international fellowship programs, conducted in Spanish, focus on enhancing leadership skills of reproductive, sexual health and family planning leaders, both established and emerging, in Central America and Southern Mexico. Esther has over 10 years experience working in public and reproductive health with a focus on development of leadership and capacity in underserved communities including immigrant and low-income families. She has worked for extended periods in West Africa, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Throughout the Northern California Bay Area she has worked as a trainer, community organizer, health educator, manager, researcher, social worker, outreach coordinator and medical assistant. Esther has interned and volunteered throughout the world and lived in Europe, Africa and Latin America. She is fluent in Spanish and French and is studying Portuguese. Esther completed her undergraduate work in Community Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz and received a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of California Berkeley. At Berkeley she held various leadership positions, including Student Representative on the Faculty Council and Strategic Planning Committee. She was honored with the Henrik L. Blum Award for Distinguished Social Action.

Denise Raquel Dunning, MPA

Training Manager

Denise works as the Program Director of the Emergency Contraception Leadership Initiative, a program implemented by International Health Programs of the Public Health Institute that builds the capacity of local leaders to increase access to Emergency Contraception in Mexico and Central America. As Training Manager of the Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program (GOJoven), Denise also manages the Summit Fellowship training program. In this role, she designs and conducts GOJoven trainings, creates program training curricula, and manages the GOJoven Training of Trainers process. Denise collaborates with a team of Summit alumni and international consultants to implement trainings in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Denise previously worked in the Population Program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation on grantmaking and research in Mexico, India, Ethiopia, and the Philippines. Denise has served as a Fulbright Scholar in Honduras, working with the United Nations Development Program to implement hurricane relief efforts following Hurricane Mitch.

Denise is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Sociology at the University of California Berkeley, where she is conducting research on youth, gender, sexuality, and HIV prevention. She received a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, where she focused on international development and health after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Duke University. Denise is Vice-Chair of the Board of IDEX, a non-profit organization supporting global grassroots development efforts and was recently recognized as a Choice USA ‘30 under-30′ Activist for Reproductive Rights. Denise is a native Spanish speaker who also speaks fluent French, Portuguese, and German.

Josie Ramos, MA

Program Coordinator

Josie is a program coordinator for the International Health Program (IHP)’s GOJoven project at PHI. As such, she administers GOJoven’s Summit Educational Scholarship Fund, which supports youth health leaders’ educational goals. She also oversees the professional development of GOJoven’s Summit Fellows.

Since starting at IHP seven years ago, Ramos has worn several hats. She joined the IHP team as a program assistant. Then she took on the role of grants manager for the Compton Emergency Contraception Grants and facilitator of GOJoven, which administers the Summit Fellowship Program and provides technical assistance and health leadership training to Mexico and Central American countries.

Throughout her career, Ramos has pursued a deep interest in Latino and women’s issues. Raised by Mexican-American parents in Pasadena, California, this bilingual Spanish speaker has worked at several nonprofits including Defensa de Mujeres, a Latina-based domestic violence agency in Santa Cruz, California.

Currently, this Stanford graduate is a member of the Board of Directors at Triangle Speakers, a nonprofit that works to eliminate homophobia. She also volunteers with her neighborhood council in Oakland, California. Santa Cruz County recently nominated Ramos for a Queer Youth Leadership award.

In addition to her work as program coordinator at GOJoven, Ramos plays a key role in implementing the Emergency Contraception Leadership Initiative (ECLI), which is funded by the Compton Foundation. She also serves on PHI’s Institutional Review Board.

Julia Zeuli, MPH

Program Coordinator

Julia is a program coordinator for the International Health Program (IHP)’s GOJoven project at PHI. The newest member of the GOJoven team oversees the professional development of GOJoven’s Summit Fellows and is coordinating GOJoven’s latest workshop, Lideres en Voz Alta.

Julia has over 14 years experience in city government and non-profit, social welfare programs, both domestic and international. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras where she developed and coordinated health education workshops and trainings for youth focusing on sexual and reproductive health and gender issues, and creating community gardens, among other issues. While in Honduras she evaluated a national youth life skills and HIV/AIDS prevention pilot program for the Global Fund.

Julia worked with the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter where she coordinated the international candidate program that provided training and support to paid and volunteer staff interested in international assignments, which included teaching courses in international humanitarian law and disaster relief. She also supervised and supported a six-county Bay Area international family reunification program. In addition, she conducted in-country evaluations of trainings and provided technical support to the Panamanian Red Cross and the Mexican Red Cross.

Julia, a first generation bilingual/bicultural Spanish speaker raised by Nicaraguan parents, has spent her life advocating and working for social justice and equality. She has worked with the Central American Resource Center helping immigrants secure legal status and advocating for their rights. She also helped develop and implement Planned Parenthood Golden Gate’s first Spanish language contraceptive training for youth. Julia received a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley

Rudy Ariel Felipe Pocop

Regional Program Administrator

Rudy Ariel Felipe Pocop is the Program Assistant for the Public Health Institute’s Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program (GoJoven). He has eight years experience in the fields of Community Health and Environmental Studies. Rudy has worked in several different regions of Guatemala in the fields of Primary Health Care, Environmental Conservation, Health Advocacy and Disease Prevention. Rudy’s specific areas of expertise include training, program coordination, and the design, management and implementation of local development projects.

Rudy is an Agronomist, a graduate of the Escuela Nacional Central de Agricultura (the Central National School for Agriculture). He studied Environmental Engineering AT the Rural University of Guatemala and is presently preparing for the General Private Exam and Graduate Thesis in order to complete his Environmental Engineering Degree.

Eva Marisol Burgos

Country Representative in Belize
National 4-H Center

Eva Marisol Burgos is 29 and has been Country Representative for Belize for 3 years and was a Summit Fellow in 2004. Eva is a nurse and has three years experience in community sexual health from Belize´s Ministry of Health´s Materno Infantil (Young Mothers) program, she also teaches Reproductive Health in the 4-H Education Center. Presently she also supports the Leadership Initiative for Emergency Contraception (ILAE) and is a trainer for the GOJoven program in various areas including, contraceptive technologies and reproductive health rights, among others.

Eva volunteers her free time at the HIV/AIDS Committee in Belmopan and is a mental health counselor in the Western Regional Hospital in Belpoman. She is also a consultant for health questionnaires for Belize´s Central Office of Statistics.

Eva is married and has one beautiful daughter. She loves reading, listening to music, snorkeling and spending time with her family.

José Arturo Patzán Tzay

Accountant and Program Assistant

José Arturo is GOJoven’s accountant and also contributes in several administrative and logistical capacities. He studied accounting at La Escuela de Ciencias Comerciales (The School of Business Sciences) and is currently in the first semester of the Social and Legal Sciences Program at Guatemala’s Rural University.

He has worked in the Center for National Recuperation – CERNE and the Association of Community Health Services (ASECSA), working mainly on health issues. He has 3 years’ experience in accounting, 1 year as a community promoter/facilitator of HIV topics with children, youth, and adults.

He loves reading, listening to music, and playing musical instruments including the marimba, keyboard and guitar. He likes to spend his free time with his family.

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    GOJoven's Mission

    GOJoven promotes and supports young leaders to act as catalysts for social change in Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health. Read more here


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