RADx Data Hub User Advisory Board

The User Advisory Board (UAB) serves as the voice of the user community and the Champions of the Data Hub. The UAB contributes valuable perspectives to help shape and improve the Data Hub and ensure the platform meets user needs. Liesl Jeffers-Francis, PhD Associate Professor, North Carolina A&T State University LinkedIn Liesl K. Jeffers-Francis is an accomplished microbiologist and educator specializing in virology, and microbial evolution. She serves as Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator for the Biology MS Program at North Carolina A&T State University, and as adjunct faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Adams School of Dentistry. Her research spans viral pathogenesis—such as BK polyomavirus in HIV patients—to bacterial adaptation, focusing on bacteriophage evolution and metal resistance in E. coli. Her work contributes valuable insight into public health, molecular biology, and microbial ecology. Dr. Jeffers-Francis teaches a broad range of courses and is widely recognized for her engaging, student-centered teaching, and has received multiple accolades, including the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. A dedicated mentor, she supports students from early-college to Ph.D. level, cultivating future leaders in STEM through hands-on guidance and inclusive mentorship. Oswaldo Alonso Lozoya, PhD Scientific Computing Principal Investigator, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International LinkedIn Oswaldo Alonso Lozoya is a Scientific Computing Principal Investigator in the Center for Data Modernization Solutions (CDMS) at RTI International. A seasoned biomedical engineer with over 20 years of professional experience across industry, academic, and government sectors. His cross-disciplinary research lies at the intersection of metabolism, mitochondrial biology, biophysical stimuli, and epigenetics on stem cell physiology, with a particular emphasis on the effects of environmental exposures and infectious pathogens. Dr. Lozoya’s mission is to amalgamate biological insight from “Big Data” by deploying new analytical paradigms and emerging technologies to the benefit of public health. He has received multiple honors for his scientific service and achievement throughout his career, including recognition as lead inventor of a virus-and-host surveillance technology licensed in 2022 by the U.S. Government to Least Developed Countries under royalty-free access and development agreements through the WHO C-TAP Initiative for global pandemic preparedness. Nader Mehri, PhD Statistician Investigator, University of North Carolina School of Medicine LinkedIn Nader Mehri is a Statistician Investigator at the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) and the Abacus Evaluation Center at UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine, where he provides high-quality analyses and guidance to researchers, leveraging his expertise in statistical and demographic methods and project management skills. Dr. Mehri specializes in advanced techniques to analyze longitudinal data with complex survey designs and clinical trials to understand health and mortality disparities. Proficient in Stata, R, and Mplus, he employs methods such as multistate life table analysis, meta-analysis, structural equation modeling, spatial analysis, and the development of interactive data visualization dashboards. He has also developed custom Stata programs using maximum likelihood estimation for research on healthy life expectancy. Thais Rivas, MPH Adjunct Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill LinkedIn Thais Rivas is a multidisciplinary scientist with significant experience across various sectors, including public health, health informatics, and project management. With expertise in complex public health initiatives, she has led projects that have improved data accuracy, streamlined operations, and enhanced patient outcomes. Through her work, she aims to identify community-level barriers and facilitators to inform future culturally responsive public health interventions. Peter Rose, PhD Director, Structural Bioinformatics Laboratory at San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) LinkedIn Peter Rose is the Director of the Structural Bioinformatics Laboratory at San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). Since joining SDSC in 2007, his group built the RCSB Protein Data Bank to its current strength as a key resource in biology and drug discovery. He currently works on the NIH-funded Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) projects to enable large-scale mining of 3D macromolecular structures. Dr. Rose has held research and management positions at Pfizer La Jolla, formerly Agouron Pharmaceuticals, where he was instrumental in the establishment of the structure-based drug design platform. His research interests include structural bioinformatics, structure-based drug design, 3D visualization, and the application of big data technologies and machine learning in bioinformatics and biomedicine.