Our Leadership

Mike Discepola directs the work of the Stonewall Project and Syringe Access and Disposal Services at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Mike works with staff and community partners to research, design, plan and implement HIV and STI prevention, outpatient substance use and mental health programs in compliance with agency, state and federal standards and regulations. He is a member of the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council (HCPC) and the Community Consulting Group for the Substance Use Research Section of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He also supports the city-wide Syringe Access & Disposal Collaboration funded through the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

For more than 20 years, Mike has provided leadership to HIV prevention, substance use, harm reduction and community-based mental health programs for LGBTQ populations. In 2014 he served as the community co-chair for the Substance Work Group of the HIV Prevention Planning Council, from 2016 to 2018 he served a member of the California State HIV/AIDS Planning Group (CPG) and in 2017 he served as a member of San Francisco's Safer Injection Services (SIS) Task Force. In 2013, Mike was honored by KQED and Union Bank as a local Hero in the LGBT Communities of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Peita Dixon is responsible for the philanthropic engagement of individuals, corporate and institutional partners, and fundraising event participants to increase support for the vital services offered by San Francisco AIDS Foundation. She leads the Development team to meet or exceed annual fundraising goals and advises the Board of Directors, CEO, and Chief Advancement Officer on strategies to ensure the long-term financial stability of the foundation.

Peita has more than 13 years of experience developing strategic partnerships, live events, experiential marketing campaigns and brand activations for non-profit, arts and entertainment organizations. Prior to joining SFAF, Peita led events and corporate partnership for King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, managed partnerships and developed talent strategies for the leading sponsorship agent of Australia’s music festivals and events, and led sponsor-client services for the Australasia sponsorship division of Live Nation, the world’s largest entertainment company.

Tracy Evans oversees the logistics, financial responsibilities, fundraising, recruitment and communications of AIDS/LifeCycle. Tracy provides leadership to the teams at San Francisco AIDS Foundation and at the Los Angeles LGBT Center to grow the Ride, engage prior and current participants, meet and exceed fundraising goals and deliver a quality experience to everyone participating in this endurance challenge fundraising event.

Before joining AIDS/LifeCycle, Tracy was national director of development and fundraising with The Lupus Foundation of America. Before that, she spent more than ten years at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. While at LLS, she led a 14-chapter roll out of the National Hike for Discovery program, served as the national director/product manager, and was part of the team that created the wildly-successful Nike Women's Marathon.

Andrew Hattori leads the Marketing & Communications team at San Francisco AIDS Foundation which is responsible for recruiting, engaging and exciting clients, donors, and community members. His team works closely with members of every department to support program delivery, public policy work and fundraising activities.

Andrew joined SFAF with 15 years' experience developing communications strategies and marketing programs in nonprofit, corporate and small-business settings. He began his career focusing on cross-cultural communications with the Japan Exchange and Teaching program. Experiences he gained there, during his work with the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, and as a cyclist for AIDS/LifeCycle ignited his passion for LGBTQ causes, HIV activism, and social justice. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College and an MBA from the University of California Berkeley-Haas School of Business. He lives in Oakland and enjoys cycling, improv, and the queer arts scene.

Jen Hecht ensures that programs are responding to key needs and trends as part of overseeing monitoring and evaluation at San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Jen has more than 20 years of experience in public health with a focus on HIV/STIs, youth homelessness and substance use. Her work has evolved from direct service in settings such as needle exchange sites, street-based and mobile outreach and a community health clinic to include program development, monitoring and evaluation and community-based research. She has been working for many years on projects related to sexual health and dating apps and is a co-founder of Building Healthy Online Communities, a consortium of public health and app owners working together to further HIV and STI prevention. In addition to her work with dating apps, her research has focused on alcohol use in the queer community and development of structural interventions.

Ernest Hopkins leads the San Francisco AIDS Foundation national policy and legislative activities at the federal administrative and congressional levels, seeking appropriate levels of resource and sound public health policies that promote the health and wellness of San Franciscans living with and at risk for HIV.

Ernest marked 20 years at SFAF in 2017 having led federal policy and legislative activities since 1997. Prior to joining SFAF, Ernest was the director of health and treatment at the National Association for People with AIDS (NAPWA) in Washington, DC where he led clinical trial review and consultation at the inception of HIV antiretroviral development and availability, advocating for safety, effectiveness and affordability. Ernest leads and has led national advocacy coalitions like the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition (NBGMAC) and the Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR). He has testified before congressional committees and advised Congress on legislative initiatives, earning him the Congressional Black Caucus's Leadership Award.

Julie Lifshay, M.P.H., Ph.D., oversees the administration of San Francisco AIDS Foundation services for people living with HIV through programs including Black Health and Access HOPE Centers of Excellence, the Housing & Financial Benefits program, Positive Force, HIV Navigation Services and Lobby Services. Julie designs and implements models of care that assist people living with HIV to access and stay in medical care, adhere to HIV medications, learn how to live well with HIV, reduce isolation and find communities of support. Directing the Lobby Services program, she ensures that all visitors and clients to 1035 Market Street are welcomed, engaged, and linked to services both within and outside our organization. Julie is also an active member of San Francisco's Getting to Zero Coalition.

Prior to joining SFAF, Julie was the manager of health services at Centerforce, the nation's oldest nonprofit providing services to individuals, families and communities impacted by incarceration. While at Centerforce, she created nationally recognized model peer-led programs to prevent HIV and hepatitis C among people living in prison and to link them to care upon their release. Prior to that, Julie worked as a behavioral scientist at California's Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch in Richmond, California and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, M.P.H. is responsible for directing local and statewide policy work at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Courtney leads partnership opportunities related to health care reform and advocates for full funding of vital HIV care and prevention programs in the California and San Francisco budgets as well as legislation to assure appropriate state and local policy responses to the HIV epidemic.

Prior to joining SFAF, Courtney worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the implementation of Medicare Part D, with a focus on transitioning people with HIV and providing outreach to their providers. She received her master's in public health with an emphasis on health policy from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

Larry Zapatka oversees the development and implementation of the agency-wide and departmental budgets, and provides leadership in negotiating agreements with city, state and federal agencies. Working with the accounting department, he maintains the highest level of compliance and accountability for all external auditing practices.

Before his more than 25 years at SFAF, Larry was the commander of troops at Raymond W. Bliss Army Community Hospital at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He also held the position of Chief- Plans, Training, Mobilization & Security in which he oversaw company-wide annual military training, security clearance processing and during the first Gulf War, managed the logistics for the medical processing of all Army Reserve, , National Guard and Active Duty members from the state of Arizona before they were deployed to the Middle East during the first Gulf War. Larry also has served as an EMT for a municipal service and as a manager in the banking industry.