ECHO Core Team Bios (ver 1)
Raudel Bobadilla, MPH, CHW-I
ECHO Facilitator & IT Support
Raudel Bobadilla is an ECHO facilitator and IT specialist in addition to serving as a Senior Research Coordinator and Community Health Worker Instructor (CHW-I) Coordinator for the TACKLE HIV/HCV Project. He is also the Program Manager for the South Central AIDS Education & Training Centers (AETC) at UT Health San Antonio. He has built a strong skill set for engaging and partnering with communities, care-providers, and clinics to improve the population’s health. In multiple projects he has collaborated with community members, leaders, and organizations to connect the public to services and research opportunities. Mr. Bobadilla brings considerable experience as a Practice Facilitator and Case Manager for a CPRIT-funded grant to implement HCV screening and innovative treatment pathways within 18 clinics across 14 counties in South Texas. Through close collaboration with each clinic, Mr. Bobadilla, trains staff in program protocols, adapts the care model to the context of each site, and serves as lead contact between clinic partners and the research team.
James Bridges, BS
Database Manager
James Bridges has worked in data management for over 34 years. Previously at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Mr. Bridges helped develop PEDSYS a pedigree-based database. He built and maintained several data files for pedigree information retrieval and analysis. He also coordinated data from several different laboratories and institutions for large program projects. Within the UT Health San Antonio ECHO program, Mr. Bridges builds and manages several REDCap databases and is responsible for coordinating and managing program data collection.
Maria Chacko, BS, DDS
ECHO Facilitator, Coordinator, & IT Support
Maria Chacko is a research associate supporting the ECHO Program and Targeted Access to Community Knowledge, Linkage to treatment and Education for HIV/HCV in people of color (TACKLE HIV/HCV in people of color). Maria graduated from Calvin College with a Bachelor of Science, with an emphasis on biology and chemistry. She then earned her Dental Surgery degree (BDS) from Ambedkar Dental college and hospital in Bangalore. While practicing as a dentist in India, Maria was involved in community health programs that inspired her to improve health care provisions for people living in rural areas. She is looking forward to using her multicultural background to learn and grow in her skills and knowledge to make a difference in communities in need.
Keito Kawasaki, MPH
ECHO Facilitator, Coordinator, & IT Support
Keito Kawasaki is an ECHO facilitator, coordinator, and IT specialist for UT Health San Antonio ECHO in addition to being a research associate for National Rural Telementoring Training Center (RTTC) and Targeted Access Knowledge and Education (TAKE) on HIV Programs. Keito graduated from Tulane University School of Public Health with an MPH, with a focus on global health before joining the team in January 2018. Her research interests include HIV, hepatitis C, social determinants of health, health systems strengthening, health program management, and program monitoring and evaluation. Prior to coming to the United States, she lived in Japan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. She embraces diversity and is eager to contribute to improving access to quality HIV/HCV care for all who needs care regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender, and socio-economic status.
Raquel Romero, MD, MPH, CDE
ECHO Education Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator, ECHO Facilitator
Dr. Romero is a bilingual foreign medical graduate physician who has a Master of Public Heath from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She is certified by the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators as a Diabetes Educator as well as a Texas State Community Health Worker Instructor. For the past 18 years, she has been working for UT Health San Antonio as a primary care practice facilitator in the 38 counties of South Texas. Her projects focus on improving health outcomes for underserved and rural communities at the clinic level through the implementation of quality improvement strategies. Dr. Romero has devoted her professional career to helping increase the capacity of primary care physicians in community based settings to work towards health improvement in their patient populations. She has joined the TACKLE team as the ECHO Education Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator to achieve this goal of creating awareness amongst primary care physicians about the HIV/HCV ECHO program.
Andrea Rochat, MFA
ECHO Program Manager, Facilitator, Coordinator, & IT Support
Andrea Rochat serves as the ECHO Program Manager at the Center for Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH) at UT Health San Antonio. After completing dual majors in English and Classics at Washington University in St. Louis, Andrea went to Pennsylvania State University, where she earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Her work in communications and content development led her to ReACH, where she has served as a coordinator and writer for over three years on projects involving hepatitis C management in primary care, specialist teleconsultation, non-pharmacologic chronic pain management, and community engagement. Her background makes her passionate about improving the patient and provider experience through innovative forms of communication. As a member of the UT Health San Antonio ECHO team, Andrea is eager to help write a newer narrative of healthcare, in which individuals are empowered through access, technology, and education to improve their own health and the health of their community.
Shreya Prasanna, BPTh., MSc.
ECHO Facilitator, Coordinator, & IT Support
Shreya Prasanna is a Research Associate (Senior) at the Center for Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH) at UT Health San Antonio. She is a physical therapist by training and completed her Bachelors degree in India and her Masters in Rehabilitation Sciences from McGill University, Canada. Shreya has been involved in several research projects across conditions such as chronic pain, arthritis, HIV/HCV and autism. She has been extensively working with the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Program for over three years. In addition to ECHO, her research interests include evidence-based practice, community-based research, dissemination and implementation sciences and healthcare access issues.