ZATA Project Board and Founders
Jane Oppenheim, MPH
President, ZATA Project Board of Directors
Jane Oppenheim received her Bachelors and Masters of Public Health from the University of Michigan. She held a number of senior management positions in Miami, Florida before becoming Administrator of the Department of Radiology, and then the Department of Medicine, at the University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine. In these administrative roles, Ms. Oppenheim managed significant research, clinical, endowment and educational funds oversaw the management of a number of divisional administrative staff. Finally, Ms. Oppenheim served as the Executive Administrator of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) which has afforded her the opportunity to work closely with the medical staff at the University of Zimbabwe and other resource-limited countries in which HIV/AIDS remains a very serious problem.
Constance Benson, MD
Vice President ZATA Board of Directors
Constance Benson, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine and Senior Attending Physician in the Department of Medicine/Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in San Diego, CA. She is the Principal Investigator and Chair of the Executive Committee of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) of the National Institutes of Health and Principal Investigator of the University of California, San Diego AIDS Clinical Trials Unit. She also serves as the Vice Chair of the ACTG Scientific Agenda Steering Committee of the ACTG, and is a past chair of the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. Dr. Benson is an internationally-recognized researcher and clinician in the field of HIV and AIDS. Her areas of research focus include Mycobacterium avium complex disease, other HIV-related opportunistic infections, metabolic complications of HIV therapies, antiretroviral treatment and new antiretroviral drug development, treatment of acute HIV-1 infection, and the treatment of HIV infection and its complications in resource-limited international settings. Her contributions to the field of HIV/AIDS are numerous. To date, she has published more than 220 original manuscripts, book chapters and abstracts reporting and summarizing findings from HIV-related research. She is a reviewer for 11 medical journals and lectures frequently both nationally and internationally on topics within her areas of research and clinical expertise. Dr. Benson is a member of the International AIDS Society, the Infectious Disease Society of America, the HIV Medicine Association of the IDSA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Tina Campbell, BS
Recording Secretary - ZATA Project Board of Directors
In 2001, Tina accompanied her husband, Dr. Thomas Campbell, to the University of Zimbabwe Medical School Clinical Research Center in Harare. On this first trip, she was able to gain first hand knowledge of the devastation the HIV/AIDS epidemic had wrought in Zimbabwe. Her basic love of African art and a second trip to Zimbabwe in 2003 with her husband and his associate, Jane Oppenheim, was the inspiration for the formation of the ZATA Project. Tina graduated from the University of South Florida in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. Upon graduation, she became a sales representative for Moore Business Forms in Denton, Texas. She was soon promoted and spent 2 years in management. She was promoted to District Sales Manager and transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1988. In 1997 she became Operations Manager of the Denver Sales Office. The company was purchased by the R.R. Donnelley Company in 2002, and Tina works as an Account Representative.
Thomas Campbell, MD
Founding member of ZATA Project and on the ZATA Advisory Board
Dr. Thomas Campbell is a researcher at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and has assisted his colleagues at the University of Zimbabwe with the development of AIDS research and care programs since 1998. He is a founding member of the Zimbabwe AIDS Treatment Assistance (ZATA) Project and a member of the ZATA Project advisory board. He joined the faculty of the Infectious Diseases Division of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1995 where he conducts research programs that are aimed at improving the care of people with HIV infection and AIDS-related complications in the United States, and around the world. Dr. Campbell is a graduate of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed internship and residency in internal medicine at Southwestern Medical School, and a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Suzanne Fiorillo, MSPH
ZATA Project Board of Directors
Suzanne Fiorillo joined the ZATA Project in 2011. She started working in HIV clinical research at the University of Colorado Denver in 1996. Having received her master’s degree in public health in 2002, she has maintained a strong interest in global health issues and infectious disease research in Africa. Her first of several trips to Zimbabwe was in 2005, where she spent 5 weeks teaching University of Zimbabwe research staff in conducting clinical trials research. In 2008, Suzanne worked for Duke University for 2 years as the HIV research site coordinator at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania. Having returned to Colorado in 2010, she is currently working as the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) CRS Site Coordinator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado Denver.
Jill Hess
ZATA Project Board of Directors
Jill Hess has been a principal of InSource Denver and La Vie Concierge Services, two women-owned and operated businesses for the past eight years. Prior to starting these businesses, Jill was involved in the publishing industry as advertising director for the Denver Business Journal from 1987-1996 and co-owner and publisher of Colorado Parent Magazine from 1996-1998. For the past number of years, Jill has focused her volunteer efforts on a variety of programs at her children’s schools, Slavens K-8, and most recently Littleton High School. She is currently serving as President of the International Baccalaureate Parent Organization (IBPO) at Littleton High School. Jill joined the ZATA board 8 years ago: she became interested in African art and the Zimbabwean HIV/AIDS cause in 2004 when ZATA held it first fundraiser in Denver. Jill graduated from the University of Colorado with a BA in French. She is married to Jim Wollum, principal of James Wollum & Associates, a local architectural firm. They have two daughters, Allie and Jamie.
Kathy Johnson
Treasurer - ZATA Project Board of Directors
Kathy has been involved with AIDS service organizations for over 10 years serving as a Board Member for the Women’s Lighthouse Project, an organization devoted to women living with HIV infection, and as a member of the Colorado AIDS Project Art Against AIDS committee. She joined the ZATA project in 2006. She has served on the Girls Inc. Alliance Board as well as other local and community institutions. Kathy graduated from the University of Colorado in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. Her work experience includes commercial lending, analysis, and loan review, tax preparation, and financial audits. She is currently with Great West Life. Kathy’s husband, Dr. Steven Johnson, directs the HIV clinical program at the University of Colorado. Kathy and Steve have two daughters, one son, and two grandchildren.