Manos Unidas is part of: Latino Commission on AIDS



Guillermo Chacón , Project Director

He is currently the Vice-President of the Latino Commission on AIDS. His present work focuses on HIV prevention in the Latino faith communities since 1995 through initiatives like The Latino Religious Leadership Project Born and raised in El Salvador, Central America, he specializes in training, community organizing, and outreach in the Latino community. He also serves as a board member for NY Immigration Coalition in NYC and as spoke person for the Salvadorian American National Network.


Miriam Vega, Ph. D. , Director of Research & Evaluation

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City, she has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed a two-year Prevention Fellowship at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, sponsored by the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and the Centers of Disease Control. A majority of her Social Psychological work has focused on the issues of interpersonal communications, evaluation, stigma, the self-report methodology, culture, social marketing, and health.


Andrew Spieldenner, Ph.D. , Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation

Dr. Spieldenner is Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation and serves as co-investigator with Dr. Vega on various research and evaluation initiatives. Dr. Spieldenner has a Ph.D. in Health Communication from Howard University, MA from University of California, Los Angeles in Theater, and BA in Ethnic Studies from University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Spieldenner has held senior staff positions at the National Association of People with AIDS, the New York City Department of Health, and the Black AIDS Institute. He possesses over fifteen years of program implementation and capacity building experience. His research focuses on HIV-related stigma and disclosure, intercultural communication, health media, and sexuality. He was the primary author on the NYC DOH report, Assessing the HIV Prevention Needs of Immigrant Men who have Sex with Men, and third author on the Institute for Gay Men’s Health assessment of HIV prevention for gay and bisexual men of color. He has produced and evaluated health media for HIV prevention, STI awareness, tobacco cessation, and West Nile Virus. Dr. Spieldenner was the PI on three cooperative agreements: two with the CDC, and one for the Office of Minority Health. All three projects built capacity in organizations and communities for people living with HIV/AIDS, especially around stigma reduction and increased HIV testing in high-risk communities.


Bertha Ramos , Data Manager

Bertha Ramos is the Program Assistant for the Manos Unidas program. She has a BA in psychology from the City College of the City University of New York. Bertha works on all aspects of the Manos Unidas program, ensuring that our program runs smoothly. Her interests include: minority women and health; youth and AIDS; and immigrants and health education. She plans on attending graduate school in health psychology.


Bolivar Nieto , CBA Specialist

Born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Bolivar Nieto obtained a degree on Statistics Engineering from the ESPOL in Ecuador and his Bachelors in Computer Science from the University of Connecticut. From 1997 to 2001, he worked as the manager of Operations for LUNA Television and later as the Director of Operations for ART, a Hispanic Advertising Representation Firm. In 2001 he joined the Latino Commission on AIDS developing the Membership program then moved to work as the Coordinator for the SOMOS Project, an HIV/AIDS prevention program.


Erika Morillo , CBA Specialist

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Erika Morillo has a very interdisciplinary background encompassing experience in Psychology, Social Work, Fine Arts, and Sociology. For the past five years Erika has worked with the Latino community in the nonprofit sector. She has worked as a Case Manager at the Hispanic Counseling Center in Long Island, and as an Art Therapist at the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, where she coordinated extensive services for Latino individuals suffering from mental illness. She coordinated the Prevention and Education Component at Alianza Dominicana’s HOPE Program, working mainly with at risk LGBT youth of color. She has a strong interest in qualitative research, specifically on the topics of cultural heritage, Caribbean gay culture, and urban studies. She has performed different ethnographic studies both in the Dominican Republic and New York City, covering issues of gay culture and socioeconomic status of Latino populations. She has Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE), and a Master’s degree in Sociology from The New School for Social Research. She is also a substitute teacher at the Pan American International High School, teaching evening ESL classes to the diverse Latino students.


Natasha Quirch , Program Coordinator

Natasha Quirch is the Program Coordinator for the Manos Unidas program. She has a BA in psychology and a BA in communication from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. As program coordinator Ms. Quirch is responsible for ensuring the Manos Unidas program runs smoothly. Prior to joining the Manos Unidas team she gained experience in the HIV/AIDS field through her internships at the Latino Commission on AIDS with the Deep South Project and Latinas Por La Salud.

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