All staff members can be reached at (415) 421-2926. Their extensions are listed below.
Eduardo Vega
Executive Director
eduardo@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 303
Eduardo Vega became the Executive Director of MHASF in November 2010. Over twenty years, he has worked in five states as a leader in transformative mental health programs and practices including national, state and regional technical assistance, research and training projects and major policy initiatives in suicide prevention, stigma and discrimination reduction, consumer rights and empowerment, community integration, self-help and peer support for mental health consumers. In his role as ED, he is responsible for cultivating the strategic direction and long-term organizational sustainability of MHASF. He holds an M.A. in Psychology from New School for Social Research and serves also on the SAMHSA Recovery-to-Practice Initiative, Social Justice Advisory Committee of the California Mental Health Directors Association and the Advisory Council to the national Alternatives Conference.
Michael Gause
Associate Director
michael@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 304
Michael has worked in the nonprofit sector in San Francisco for the past 8 years with a particular focus on supportive housing, program development, and consumer empowerment. Prior to working at MHA-SF, Michael created the Family Housing Program with the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, as well as the Children and Youth Program with Community Housing Partnership. He oversees all program operations at MHA-SF, including the SOLVE Program, PREP Program, and the Institute on Compulsive Hoarding and Cluttering. Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Duke University and a Master’s in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Bennington College.
Luba Botcheva, Ph.D.
Statewide Project Manager
luba@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 320
Luba has more than 15 years of applied research, evaluation and counseling experience in the areas of public/behavioral health and social services. She has worked in the field of mental health intervention and prevention, first as a mental health counselor for culturally diverse populations, and then as a researcher and evaluator of variety of behavioral and mental health programs in community-based organizations, schools, and clinics. Prior to joining MHASF Luba was a Senior Research Associate at Sociometrics Corporation, Los Altos where she led the design and implementation of large NIH funded research to practice initiatives for disseminating evidence based practices among behavioral health professionals.
She was a Program Director at the Children’s Health Council, Palo Alto, a research associate at the Stanford Center of Adolescence, and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford where she conducted research on youth development in changing social context. Dr. Botcheva holds a Ph.D. degree in developmental psychology from Moscow State University and post-doctoral fellowship from Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Jenifer Reeve
Communications and Development Director
jenifer@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 316
Jenifer Reeve brings more than 20 years experience working with individuals affected by disabilities from Pennsylvania to Ohio and from Alaska to California’s Bay Area. Reeve spent the first decade in the field as a Special Needs teacher and mental health counselor before being drawn to research and grant writing, leading her to the University of San Francisco where she earned a Master’s Degree in Non-Profit Administration. Prior to her graduate work, Reeve individually designed her major in Improvisational Theater, Sociology, Minority Studies and Folklore “The Influence of Culture on Performance” at Denison University (Ohio).
Stephen K. Marks, Ph.D.
Training and Evaluation Director
stephen@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 322
Stephen Marks Ph.D has been working in health-service-related fields since 1993. Among other things he is an Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator, an Anderson and Anderson Certified Anger Management Facilitator (CAMF) and a substance abuse peer support specialist. His professional experience includes organizational development (OD); T-Group Learning; program evaluation; adult learning; training curriculum development; grass roots community organizing; songwriting and musical arrangement; and domestic and community violence reduction and prevention. He has been enjoying his own recovery and wellness for many years. He is currently at work on a novel based on his lived experience as an adolescent living in state hospitals.
Karen Denicore
Administrative Assistant
karen@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 300
Daniel Esparza
Program Manager/Promising Practices Program
daniel@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 312
Daniel Esparza recently has over 10 years in providing and leading technical assistance. Most recently he provided technical assistance and oversight on a national campus program with over 120 colleges/universities on reducing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking on college campuses.
Mark Salazar
Community Projects Manager
mark@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 317
Mark has over 7 years of working experience in nearly every aspect within a mental health non-profit organization from program manager and community advocate to organizational operations. He is currently MHASF’s Community Projects Manager and also the Program Manager for the Institute on Compulsive Hoarding and Cluttering (ICHC). Prior to MHASF Mark was the Operations Manager at Mental Health America of Hawaii where he was on Hawaii’s Statewide Children’s Mental Health Day Committee and on the Mental Health Court Advisory Board. Mark received a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology from the University of Hawaii – West Oahu and is a member of Psi Chi National Honor Society in Psychology which still surprises Mark because he never expected to pursue a degree in psychology after receiving a C in Psychology 101.
Anita Hegedus
Executive Assistant
anita@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 318
Anita joined MHASF as an Education & Training Intern in 2011 and is currently the Executive Associate. In addition to assisting the Executive Director, she also is the support staff for the MHASF Board of Directors. Prior to MHASF, Anita volunteered with the Coalition on Homelessness. Anita received her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Psychology from San Francisco State University and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, with emphasis on Marital & Family Therapy. A native of Romania, Anita can usually be found traveling the Bay Area when not in school or the office.
Monica Martinez
Research Coordinator
monica@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 324
Monica has her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from San Francisco State University. Upon graduation she was the research assistant for Yo Puedo, an NIH funded pilot intervention study with Mission District youth 16-21. Her interests in research are focused on reducing health disparities among disadvantaged populations, particularly youth, women, and racial and ethnicminorities.
Nicole Plata
Youth Initiatives Coordinator
nicole@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 302
Nicole Plata is a passionate and uncompromising advocate for Transitional Aged Youth (TAY) in the mental health system. Having overcome a variety of challenges in her youth, from abuse and community violence to involvement in the criminal justice system and a traumatic brain surgery, Nicole offers a well-informed perspective to those she works with. She seeks to use her perspective and experience to advocate and inform services for the diverse youth of California. She does this through her work as the Youth Initiatives Coordinator for the Mental Health Association of San Francisco and her involvement on various Transition Age Youth advocacy groups within San Francisco County and statewide. In her free time, Nicole is an artist and muralist who loves to awaken her roots through salsa dancing.
John Franklin
Project Coordinator, Peer Hoarding and Cluttering Response Team
john@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 314
John Franklin is a career adult educator for progressive groups and causes. He is co-founder and former Executive Director of Educational Development Group, Inc. (EDG, Inc.), an educational non-profit in Boston. He moved to SF in 2007 and is currently Project Coordinator of the Peer Hoarding and Cluttering Response Team. John holds an M.A. in Drama from University of Toronto.
Jesse Gortarez
Communications Specialist
jesse@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 323
Shukri Shiraz
Bookkeeper
shukri@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 313
Julian Plumadore
Peer Responder
julian@mentalhealthsf.org
Sandy Stark
Peer Responder
sandra@mentalhealthsf.org
Valerie Jackson
Research Consultant
valerie@mentalhealthsf.org
Ext. 327
Valerie is currently a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco. Valerie received her MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University and BA in Human Biology from Stanford University. Her research interests include mental health stigma in underserved populations and reducing barriers to care using integrated behavioral health. Valerie has worked in China with rural health outreach and program evaluation, as well as at the VA with health care evaluation. She is also on Student Committees for the American Psychological Association (APA) Division on International Psychology and the APA Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.
