Team
Sten Vermund, MD, PhD
President
Dr. Sten Vermund is a pediatrician and infectious disease epidemiologist focused on diseases of low- and middle-income countries. His work on HIV-HPV interactions among women in Bronx methadone programs motivated a change in the 1993 CDC AIDS case surveillance definition and inspired cervical cancer screening programs launched within HIV/AIDS programs around the world. The thrust of his research has focused on health care access, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, and prevention of HIV transmission among general and key populations, including mother-to-child. Dr. Vermund has become increasingly engaged in health policy, particularly around sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs and their expansion to non-communicable diseases, coronavirus pandemic response and prevention, and public health workforce development. His recent grants include capacity-building for public health in Chad, molecular epidemiology for HIV in Kazakhstan, and COVID-19 vaccine studies in Dominican Republic and Connecticut. He has worked with schools and arts organizations for COVID-19 risk mitigation and institutional safety.
Linman Li, MBA, MPH, PMP, CPH
Vice President of Operations and Partnerships
Linman Li manages development and operational activities for GVN. She leads in strategic business development, contracting, partnership scoping and management in both public and private sectors as well as promoting GVN globally.
Linman brings several years of partnership building experience to GVN. In 2016, she developed a Sister City agreement between the City of Tampa and the City of Lanzhou, China. This was a unique opportunity to work with the mayors of both cities and thereafter, Linman worked as the Chair for China collaborations through the Tampa Sister Cities Committee and still directs this major partnership between Tampa and Lanzhou.
Linman received an MPH from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2019, an MBA from USF in 2013 and a BA in Finance from the Chongqing Technology and Business University, China in 2010. She has extensive knowledge in strategic business planning and development, contract negotiations, budget planning and management, organizational development, business outreach, project management, public relations, and partnership development.
Linman is the first recipient of the USF President Genshaft Outstanding Global Achievement Award and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Tampa Bay Area Council on Foreign Relations, and Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Tampa Bay. Linman is actively involved with the Project Management Institute’s Tampa Bay Chapter.
Prior to joining GVN, Linman served as the Associate Director of USF Medicine International and Director of Asia Programs at the Morsani College of Medicine (MCoM), at USF.
Email: [email protected]
Maggie Bartlett, PhD
Program Director
Dr. Maggie Linn Bartlett, a virologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializes in emerging infectious diseases, focusing on RNA persistence and post-infectious conditions. Her groundbreaking work spans neurotropic viral diseases, post-viral syndromes, and immune-privileged zones. Utilizing multimodal sequencing and systems biology, she explored the resilience of bat immune systems to the filovirus Marburg. From addressing filovirus outbreaks at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to studying B cell responses to SARS-CoV-2, Dr. Bartlett's expertise extends to alphaviruses, paramyxoviruses, and bunyaviruses. Her innovative multi-modal single-cell sequencing provides a holistic analysis of host-virus interactions, impacting therapeutic development and patient care. Dr. Bartlett's systems biology analyses identified potential biomarkers for neurotropic viral illness and are being explored for prognostic capacity in post-viral syndromes. Passionate about infectious disease mysteries, she investigates links between post-acute SARS-CoV-2 syndrome and post-viral illnesses, particularly in individuals with genetic connective tissue diseases. Dr. Bartlett's expertise in BSL-3/4 research and innovative methodologies positions her at the forefront of virology, reflected in recent grants for agnostic virus detection, therapeutics, and biomarker discovery.
Email: [email protected]
Ruby Ferrari
Action Committees Coordinator
B.S. from the University of Maryland on Neurobiology and Physiology and is currently working on her MPH at George Washington University. She is originally from Venezuela (fluent in Spanish, English and Italian). She also has a cat, loves to hike, and likes to play TTRPGs in her free time.
Avita Ukpabia
Program Administrator
Avita is a current Public Health Science student at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a degree with a concentration in Program Management. She has previously supervised a food insecurity awareness project with a local group and interned at a non-profit organization to integrate global health efforts with the United States Congress.
Email: [email protected]
Nora Samaranayake
Public Relations Senior Advisor
Nora Samaranayake is a longtime public relations and public affairs professional with an array of expertise including special counsel and has served as Public Relations Senior Advisor to the GVN since 2011. She is also Public Relations Senior Advisor to the University of South Florida (USF) Health Virology Center, the USF Health Microbiomes Institute, and the Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Cancer Institute.
Nora began her career in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill and eventually moved into the private sector where she worked with high profile clients on sensitive issues. Through her work in both the public and private sectors, she has a breadth of experience in designing and overseeing public relations campaigns, writing highly visible communications, leading effective advocacy campaigns, implementing public diplomacy initiatives, managing large accounts and teams of professionals to develop, implement and integrate marketing and messaging strategies. Nora’s positions have been all-encompassing involving varying high-profile challenges including crisis communications, media relations, public policy, marketing and branding, and strategic development.
Previously, she served as Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine for more than fifteen years and she contributed to the co-founding of the GVN.
Email: [email protected]
Danielle DeNofrio
Danielle DeNofrio is a graduate student at the University of South Florida, where she is pursuing a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and minor in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. Danielle's graduate work focuses on Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Applied Biostatistics, reflecting her commitment to reducing disease burden and improving public health outcomes.
