Subject Matter Experts
Michael Scherer, CPCM
Budget and Contract Director
Michael Scherer, CPCM, who is a 20-year military combat veteran, is the Budget and Contract Director of Egality Sciences, LLC. In addition to his military experience and leadership, he also brings over 20 years of experience in the clinical research industry to the role and focuses his time on streamlining the contract and budget negotiation process in order to shorten up the site start up process and make clinical trials easier to manage.
Prior to this role, he has spent time working at different levels in the clinical research industry as a contract manager for vendors, clinical research organizations and other sponsors.
In addition to clinical roles, while at AstraZeneca he was also a committee member for the Business Resource Group – Military Support Group wherein attention was brought to those who have served and sacrificed for our country and the issues that affect them once service is complete.
Michael Scherer holds an Associate Degree of Science in Legal Studies from the Academy of Medical Arts and Business and a Masters Certification in Commercial and Government Contract Management from Villanova University and is in his last year of obtaining a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.
Graciela Ponce, MSF
Chief Financial Advisor
Graciela is the Sr. Director of Merchandise Strategy, Price, and Promotion for Rite Aid. An established 20 year retail executive with a demonstrated track record of achievement in retail merchandising, capital planning, pricing and promotional strategy, retail operations, new format innovation and new store concepts.
Graciela received her undergraduate in International Business and Marketing from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, and she received her Masters in Finance from Boston University.
Prior to joining Rite Aid, Graciela served as Director of Alternative Formats for 7-Eleven, Inc.
Tatiana Puga, BS
Clinical Development and Operations Professional
Tatiana Puga is originally from El Paso, Texas and began working in clinical research after receiving her Bachelor degree from St Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX.
She began her career as a Clinical Research Coordinator conducting pharmaceutical clinical trials with a focus on endocrinology and metabolic disorders. She shortly thereafter transitioned to the biomedical device industry where she has focused the remainder of her career.
Her experience includes development and execution of bench, preclinical, and clinical studies to support new product development with R&D, regulatory submissions for new and expanded indications, advancements in clinical practice guidelines, and marketing claims.
She is a published researcher in the field of emergency medicine and critical care and has presented her research at a number of medical society research forums and congresses.
Tatiana brings nearly 20 years of research experience.
David A. Hopkins, BS
Clinical Research Associate
Mr. David Hopkins currently serves as a Clinical Research Associate with Egality Sciences.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Hopkins received formal training from the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation Clinical Trial Academy sponsored by Bristol Myers Squib and completed his Clinical Research Core training with the Association for Clinical Research Professionals. In 2021, Mr. Hopkins received his Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management from the University of Maryland.
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Prior to this period of education, Mr. Hopkins retired from the United States Air Force as Technical Sergeant. Throughout David’s military career, he deployed 11 times across the globe leading and training hundreds of Airmen in high voltage systems. From 2012 – 2015, Mr. Hopkins received degrees in Electrical Mechanical Technologies and Information Management. By the end of 20 years of service with the U.S. Air Force he was responsible for managing multimillion-dollar high-voltage electrical system at deployed locations worldwide.
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Egality Sciences is excited to have David join as clinical research associate as his prior leadership, continued agility, and compassion for patients and those in need, are what Egality Sciences value to help bring medicines development to underrepresented communities.
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Mr. Hopkins currently resides in San Antonio with wife Mereille and two young children.
Daisy Y. Morales - Campos, PhD
Scientific & Community Advisor
Dr. Daisy Y. Morales-Campos is Area Director for Training Programs and Research Assistant Professor at the Latino Research Institute.
Her research interests include public health education, cancer prevention, and maintenance of behavior change among Hispanics. She is especially interested in health, culture and reproduction issues that immigrant women from Latin America and their children encounter in the U.S. She has extensive experience in the design and implementation of community-based participatory research, culturally appropriate research methods and protocols, cancer screening studies, and interventions for Hispanics utilizing a promotora model.
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Her research currently focuses on community-based and health system interventions to promote cancer prevention in underserved communities and in FQHC settings by working with providers and health care systems with an implementation science focus.
Dr. Morales-Campos received a bachelor’s in Sociology and Spanish (2001) from St. Mary’s University, a master’s in Medical Anthropology (2004) from Southern Methodist University, and a doctorate in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences (2009) from the UT School of Public Health, Houston.
Perla Nunes
Community Engagement
A native of Ecuador, Ms. Nunes has over 30 years in preclinical
and clinical research.
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From 2009-2020, Ms. Nunes worked at Duke University (CTSI) overseeing community engagement, outreach, recruitment, and retention efforts of
diverse patient populations for clinical research studies. One
of her objectives was to bring awareness and drive the participation of minority populations in clinical research.
Currently, Ms. Nunes is also a consultant and commits part of her time to contract work at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a Historically Black Colleges and Universities as the Director of Community Health Outreach at the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute (JLC-BBRI) at NCCU.
Perla received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Rutgers.