HOP Staff

Executive and Administrative Staff

Cynthia (Cindy) Selmi

Executive Director

Cindy joined Health Outreach Partners as Executive Director in November 2019, bringing over 30 years of health center and non-profit leadership experience. Prior to joining the HOP team, Cindy worked for Planned Parenthood Northern California, most recently as Senior Regional Director for Contra Costa and San Francisco health centers. Cindy is a recent graduate of the Clinic Leadership Institute, a joint venture of the Healthforce Center at the University of California at San Francisco and the Blue Shield Foundation of California. Cindy is a native to the Bay Area, originally from San Francisco. Cindy has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Biology. She started her health center career volunteering for the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, which fueled her dedication to health equity and assuring access to health care for all. Cindy’s other passions, are her two boys Justin and William, listening to live music, and the San Francisco Giants baseball club.

Christina Mestas

Manager of Executive and Board Affairs

Christina joined Health Outreach Partners in the Fall of 2014 with over 15 years of administrative experience. Christina earned her BA in Liberal Studies from California State University, Sacramento with an emphasis in early child development. In 2012, Christina relocated to the Bay Area to pursue her desire to do service and give back to her community. Christina worked for a local non-profit in Berkeley helping to empower local Bay Area residents through education and outreach in energy conservation; as well as, aiding and training local disadvantaged youth through developing green job skills. Before joining Health Outreach Partners, Christina volunteered at Berkeley Acupuncture Project educating clients on acupuncture and orienting clients to the community acupuncture model. In her free time, Christina enjoys riding her bike, practicing yoga, cooking, and spending as much time as possible soaking up the joys of parenthood with her family and pets.

Program Staff

Aba Anison-Amoo, MPHc

Aba Anison-Amoo, MPHc

Project Manager

Aba joined Health Outreach Partners as a Project Manager in July 2022. She holds an Associate Degree in Social and Behavioral Science from Merced College, a Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration from Southern New Hampshire University, and is currently undertaking a Master’s degree in Public Health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aba worked with the Stanislaus Health Services Agency as a Medical Investigator for communicable diseases with specialization in COVID-19, and as a liaison for school districts in the county. She has 15 years of experience in the field of Pharmacy with a specialization in inventory and medication therapy management in autoimmune drugs for cancer and HIV patients, as well as experience in event management for immunizations. When in her native country, Ghana, she volunteers her time to the NICU department at the children’s hospital in Korle Gonno, Accra as well as in more rural areas. She is a quick learner, very organized, personable, and passionate about the gifts of life. She loves to read, write, and cook during her free time with her daughter. She is a huge sports fan, with her loyalty belonging to the Golden State Warriors, San Jose Earthquakes, and Arsenal respectively. Lastly, her mantra in life is “treat others like you would love to be treated”.
Meghan Erkel, MPH

Meghan Erkel, MPH

Senior Project Manager

Meghan Erkel joined Health Outreach Partners as a Project Manager in June 2022 and brings over 8 years of Public Health experience using project management, data, and research to drive health equity and systemic change to under-served, marginalized populations. In this role, she will manage projects that expand and improve access to care at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and other community-based organizations nationally. Prior to HOP, Meghan’s experience was primarily internationally based in Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa working on various health projects with both bilateral and multilateral agencies. After graduating with an MPH in Global Health from the University of Washington, Meghan spent two years in Peru as a Fulbright-Fogarty KUSKAYA Fellow conducting research on early childhood development. She’s particularly passionate about improving the health and wellness of families and children. Meghan has a BA in English from Rice University. She’s a Sacramento native who in her spare time enjoys weekend trips to Tahoe, soccer, pretending she’s on the Great British Bake Off, and pilates.

Smruti Shah, MPH

Deputy Director

Smruti joined Health Outreach Partners as a Program Director in August 2023 and mainly works on supporting HOP’s HRSA funded programs and organizational evaluation strategy. Prior to joining HOP, her work with Coaction Institute focused on capacity building for organizations focused on improving population health, including community health centers. As a consultant with Biel Consulting she worked with hospital stakeholders to identify gaps in community benefit programs across a large Texas health system. From 2012-21, Smruti lived in India where she co founded Lighthouse Health Solutions, a public health consulting company that provided technical support to foundations, NGOs, and health research organizations focused on maternal child health in and around Delhi. Prior to moving to India, Smruti worked at Public Health Institute where she was part of the Advancing the State of the Art in Community Benefit (ASACB) demonstration project which was aimed at developing best practices in tax exempt hospital community benefit programs. Her international experience includes stints in El Salvador and Gujarat, India as a qualitative researcher addressing inequities in maternal/child health service delivery. Smruti earned her MPH in International Health and Development from Tulane University School of Public Health. In her free time, Smruti enjoys listening to pop music, adding to her cookbook collection (already at 75!) and travelling with her family to beautiful destinations, both local and far-flung.

Sonia Lee, MPH

Program Director, Client Services and Grants

Sonia is the Program Director of Client Services and Grants at HOP, where she provides support to health centers and other community-based organizations on strengthening their capacity to deliver care and other services using a health equity lens. She has spearheaded the organization’s work on structural competency and continues to work to expand HOP’s efforts to advance social justice in health. As part of HOP’s leadership team, Sonia also manages client services and provides strategic direction to the organization’s health equity efforts. Prior to joining HOP, Sonia was a 2010 Leland International Hunger Fellow at the Congressional Hunger Center. Through the two-year fellowship, she spent a field year in Uganda working with a local human rights group and a policy year in Washington, DC as a technical advisor in health and human development for a Haitian NGO. From 1997-2004, Sonia served as the Director of Programs for Fonkoze, a grassroots microfinance institution in Haiti, where she was responsible for implementing various social and economic initiatives for rural women and their families. Previously, Sonia was a Program Coordinator for violence prevention at Prevention Institute and a Reality Tours Coordinator at Global Exchange. Born and raised in San Francisco, Sonia holds an MPH in Global Health from Yale University and a BA in Politics from Mount Holyoke College, and is fluent in Haitian Creole. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and dance classes, watching videos of baby donkeys, trying to meditate, and listening to way too much K-pop.

Mekhael N

Nadeen Mekhael, RDN, MPH

Program Manager

Nadeen Mekhael joined Health Outreach Partners as a Program Manager, training and technical assistance, in November 2023. She is a public health graduate from San Jose State University, specializing in community health education. She is also a registered dietitian and holds a BSc in Dietetics from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She has experience in preventive health nutrition, helping individuals and families reduce their risk of developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Her most memorable experience is working as a community nutritionist with a psychosocial rehabilitation center where individuals with mental illnesses are regarded as members rather than patients. This experience propelled her to pursue a career in improving vulnerable populations’ access to culturally appropriate and health promoting services. Nadeen is also a proud Copt (Native Egyptian), mom of a toddler, and an avid reader. In her free time, she enjoys baking and cake decorating, discovering new recipes, acrylic painting, and watching movies with her husband.

Interns

For current internship opportunities and a feature on past interns, check out our Internships page!

Jacqueline Tran

Christabel Akwetey

Associate Project Manager Intern

Christabel Akwetey is a highly motivated person hailing from the vibrant and culturally rich nation of Ghana. She is a Student at San Jose State University majoring in Public Health with a concentration in Population Data Science. From her early years in Ghana, she has displayed an unwavering commitment to academic excellence and a desire to contribute positively to society. These qualities have only intensified as she embarked on her journey at San Jose State University. Her passion for public health issues and data-driven insights has been evident in her coursework, research, and extracurricular activities so far. She is open to learning new things and improving herself in order to have a positive impact anywhere she goes.

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