Staff
Caroline Baker
BS, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Caroline is a research specialist and has been with IGHID since May 2016. She has been with UNC’s Division of Infectious Diseases since 2013, previously working in the Garcia-Martinez lab. Her job includes quality control of research records, creation of source documentation, and database maintenance. She specifically assists with our Acute and Cure studies.
Phone #: (919) 966-2623
Email: caroline_baker@med.unc.edu
Keely Copperthite
Keely is a research assistant and has been with the IGHID since August of 2021. She graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2020 with a degree in Computational Applied Mathematics & Statistics on the Mathematical Biology track. Her responsibilities include assisting with our ACTG, COVID-19, and IGHID studies, as well as providing administrative support. Prior to joining our group, she worked with Fairfax County Health Department as a COVID-19 case investigator, providing valuable public health assistance to over 390 schools both public and private.
Phone #: 919-448-4382
Email: keely_copperthite@med.unc.edu
Tracy Eldred
BS, University of Vermont
Certificate in Core Public Health Concepts (PHCP), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Tracy is a data coordinator and has been with the IGHID since September 2016. Her responsibilities include quality control of research records, responding to database queries, data entry and randomization of subjects. She specifically assists with our prevention studies: HPTN 085, 087, & 083.
Phone #: (919) 843-2544
Email: tracy_eldred@med.unc.edu
Cheryl Hendrickson
Cheryl is a regulatory coordinator and has been with the IGHID since November 2013. Cheryl provides regulatory support for global women’s health studies in Zambia and Malawi. She also assists on studies with UNC project China. Domestically, she works on pharmaceutical funded studies, iTech, and with the ID compromised host group.
Phone #: (919) 843-2541
Email: cheryl_hendrickson@med.unc.edu
Jaclyn Leone
BS, Tulane University
Jaclyn is a data coordinator and has been with the IGHID since October 2019. Her responsibilities include quality control of research records, creation of source documentation, responding to database queries, and data entry. She specifically assists with our ACTG studies, our COVID treatment studies and some of our industry studies.
Phone #: (919) 843-2539
Email: jaclyn_leone@med.unc.edu
Yerson Padilla
BA, North Carolina State University
MA, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Yerson Padilla joined our group in 2020 as the Bilingual Community Outreach Educator. Prior to being at UNC, Yerson worked with victims and survivors of domestic violence at a local domestic violence agency. Yerson is responsible for our outreach and educational programming. He worked with our COVID-19 clinical trials and is now working with HIV & AIDS prevention, treatment, and cure studies.
Email: ypadilla@med.unc.edu
Phone #: (984) 364-0879
Debbie Pettus
Abigail Riddick
Abigail is a Data Coordinator who began working for IGHID in January 2018. She currently assists with quality control and data entry on multiple HIV prevention and treatment studies, namely HPTN 083, A5332, A5359, A5377 and A5391. In addition to working full-time, she is enrolled at the UNC School of Social Work and will bring her experiences from IGHID to her future career in direct practice with individuals, families and groups.
Phone #: (919) 843-8421
Email: abigail_riddick@med.unc.edu
John Rowell Jr
B.S in Psychology – Fayetteville State University
M.P.H in Public Health, concentration in Health Behavior ‘24
John Rowell Jr joined our group in 2021 as our Community-Based Recruitment Specialist. Prior to being at UNC, John worked with the Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina, as an Outreach Prevention Specialist, conducting HIV testing, treatment resource allocations, counseling, and PrEP navigation. John also served as the Program Coordinator/Program Director for the Keep It Up eHealth HIV Prevention and Intervention grant. John is now working on our HIV & AIDS prevention, treatment, and cure studies.
Email: jrowell@unc.edu
Brittney Soderman
BS, BFA, Appalachian State University
Brittney has been with the IGHID since January 2017. She assists with creating print materials for our various studies, and assisting the data team with various projects.
Email: brittney_soderman@med.unc.edu
Hannah Thaxton
BS, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
MSc, University of Nottingham, UK
Hannah is a research assistant for the CURE group and joined us in July, 2018. Prior to joining our division, she worked for UNC hospital providing direct patient care.
Phone #: (919) 843-3482
Email: hannah_thaxton@med.unc.edu
Mandy Tipton 
Licensed Practical Nurse, US Army
Mandy is a Clinical Research Associate and has been with the IGHID since January 2013. She’s been with UNC’s Division of Infectious Diseases since February 2000, previously working for the Center for AIDS Research and, prior to that, in the Infectious Diseases Clinic at UNC Hospitals.
Phone #: (919) 843-2239
Email: mandy_tipton@med.unc.edu
Noelle Vogt
Noelle is a research screener placed at Wake County Human Services. She graduated from the University of Tampa in May of 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a concentration in Wellness and Education. She recruits for HIV & AIDS prevention, treatment, and cure studies. Noelle has also assisted with vitals signs and phlebotomy for the Novavax boosters.
Phone #: 984-364-0770
Email: noelle_vogt@med.unc.edu
Taylor Whitaker
BA, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Taylor is a research assistant for the CURE group and joined us in February, 2020. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2019 with a degree in psychology. In addition to assisting with CURE research, she was involved with convalescent plasma donation for COVID-19 patients at UNC Medical Center and other COVID-19 related research. Prior to joining our group, she provided direct patient care at UNC Hospitals where she had the privilege of caring for diverse patient groups.
Phone #: 919-966-8794
Email: taylor_whitaker@med.unc.edu