2025 – 2026 Fellows
Sarah Baranes, MD
Medical School: Dartmouth
Residency: Contra Costa Medical Center
Bio: Sarah Baranes, MD (she/her) is originally from Washington, D.C. but has made the Bay Area her home. She earned a B.A. in Anthropological Geography from Colgate University. After college, she worked as a wrangler on a ranch in Wyoming and then served as a research assistant in an oncology lab at the National Institutes of Health, which led her to complete a post-baccalaureate program at Mills College. Her volunteer work includes syringe services through HEPPAC and care coordinating a mobile clinic run by Roots Community Health Center, deepening her commitment to address health disparities. She attended medical school at Dartmouth University, where she helped establish a syringe service program offering rapid HIV and HCV testing in rural New Hampshire. Sarah completed a family medicine residency at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. Sarah is passionate about providing high-quality care for people living with HIV, especially those also living with addiction. She is also passionate about reproductive healthcare access and care during the prenatal period. Sarah is thrilled to continue her medical training at Kaiser Permanente, where she aims to deepen her skill as an HIV provider and leverage Kaiser’s robust data systems to improve health outcomes for the populations they serve.
Johnny Alvarez de La Cruz, MD
Medical School: Rush University
Residency: UC Davis
Bio: Johnny Alvarez de la Cruz, MD (he/him) was born in Mexico and moved to the United States at the age of 14. He completed his undergraduate degree in Sociology at UCLA and completed a one year of study abroad in Italy. After college, he returned to Italy where he worked in the fashion industry as a junior buyer for an independent fashion boutique. He then attended medical school at Rush University. During his time there, he was involved with outreach groups to provide healthcare to underserved communities in Chicago, specifically addressing LGBTQ+ and gender health disparities. He returned to California for residency at UC Davis in Internal Medicine. During his experiences at One Community Health with mentorship from Dr. Cohen, he was able to provide HIV primary care in one of the oldest clinics set up during the AIDS epidemic. He is excited and honored to join the Kaiser Permanente HIV fellowship and experience the diverse patient population living with HIV and learn about its comorbidities, expand on the complex knowledge related to ART, and population health in a system known for its dedication to the community and advancement of healthcare.
Derek Blechinger (faculty physician) with Sarah Baranes and Johnny Alvarez de la Cruz on a tour of the Castro.
Prior Fellows and Testimonials:
2024 – 2025 Fellow
John Hawkins, MD – HIV Specialist/Primary Care at Lifelong Medical Care (Oakland) and San Francisco Community Health Center
John Hawkins at an away rotation in University of Cape Town Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa (August 2025).
Andrew Kinimaka (2023-2024) and John Hawkins (2024-2025) at the Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).
2023 – 2024 Fellow
Andrew Kinimaka, MD – HIV Specialist/Primary Care/High Resolution Anoscopy at KP San Francisco
Andrew Kinimaka at graduation with Elysia Engelage in the AIDS Memorial Grove.
From left to right: Mitchell Luu (prior program director), John Hawkins (2024-2025 fellow), Andrew Kinimaka (2023-2024 fellow), Avani Dalal (2022-2023 Fellow) and Elysia Engelage (program director).
2022 – 2023 Fellows
Earl Clark, MD – HIV Specialist/Primary Care at KP Richmond
Avani Dalal, MD – HIV Specialist/LGBTQ+ Care at Pride Program, Einstein Health
“This fellowship changed the trajectory of my career. During fellowship, I gained confidence as a provider, acquired so much knowledge, had the opportunity to continue my love of teaching, find a new interest in research, and discover my passion for women’s health and perinatal HIV care. I now practice at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital as a primary care provider. My practice comprises HIV treatment and prevention, HIV perinatal care, and gender affirming care for people who identify within the Pride community. I truly love what I do and it’s possible due to my time with the fellowship. Beyond the medicine, the people of the fellowship are some of the greatest I know. The year I spent in SF has given me some of my most treasured memories to date.”
-Avani Dalal (2022-2023): currently provides HIV specialty and primary care at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital
Avani Dalal and Earl Clark.
HIV Fellows and RN Hangout in November 2022: Left to right Avani Dalal and Earl Clark (2022-2023 Fellows), Brandon Imp and Kurtis Mohr (2021-2022 Fellows).
2021 – 2022 Fellows
Brandon Imp, MD MPH – HIV Specialist/Primary Care at California Correctional Health Care Services
Kurtis Mohr, MD – Public Health Medical Officer, STD Control Branch, California Department of Public Health
“The fellowship set me up perfectly for my early career transition. Fellowship solidified my HIV knowledge, grew my Bay Area and national network of HIV providers, and led to my job. During my prison rotation, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the patients and HIV team; I was offered a job after the rotation and gladly accepted. I remotely care for HIV and HCV infected patients throughout the entire state, and I have sprinkled in addiction medicine, gender affirming care, HBV, and primary care.”
-Brandon Imp (2021-2022)
I’m Kurtis Mohr, I use the pronouns he and him, and Kaiser‘s HIV Fellowship helped me with getting my previous job as public health medical officer at the California Department of public health office of sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis C (3.5 years). It has since contributed to my new position as senior medical Director of an HIV nonprofit organization called PreventionX (www.preventionX.org) in Orlando, FL!
-Krutis Mohr (2021-2022)
Kurtis Mohr (center) officiating the wedding of his co-fellow, Brandon Imp (right) and his now husband Arthur Espinoza (left) in August 2025.
Kurtis Mohr at CROI 2025 post fellowship.
2020 – 2021 Fellows
Lakecia Pitts, MD MBA – HIV Specialist/Primary Care at Avenue 360 Health and Wellness
Leah Goodman, MD – HIV Specialist/Primary Care at KP Oakland
I LOVED my fellowship experience so much I decided to stay at Kaiser. I thought the time balance between our core clinic as acting PCP for PLWHIV – where you get in the reps of seeing new diagnoses and adjusting ARVs on long-term survivors and dealing with the complications of aging with HIV — and rotating through other clinical environments was perfect. The outside rotations were so thoughtfully chosen to enrich my knowledge base (in the fine points of STI treatment, gender affirming care, etc.) in ways that made clinic easier and easier as the year went along, and the folks in them were excited and gifted teachers. It was the perfect transition from residency to independent practice!
-Leah Goodman (2020–2021): HIV Specialist at Kaiser Oakland
Lakecia Pitts and Leah Goodman at graduation in the AIDS Memorial Grove.
Left to right: Elysia Engelage (program director), Brandon Imp (2022), Jacek Skarbinski (faculty), Leah Goodman (2021), Kurtis Mohr (2022), Andrew Kinimaka (2024), John Hawkins (2025) and Avani Dalal (2023), Mitchell Luu (previous program director).