AJ has more than 25 years of experience helping nonprofits, government agencies, and community-based organizations strengthen their capacity, secure funding, and design programs that achieve results. A skilled grantsmanship professional, AJ has written successful grant proposals at the local, state, and federal levels across a wide range of public health and social service sectors. He serves as a Senior Trainer for The Grantsmanship Center, delivering nationally recognized courses — including Competing for Federal Grants and Designing Programs for Results — to audiences nationwide.

Before joining the CWC Affiliate team in 2017, he served as the Associate Director of the California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center at UCLA and as the Director of Community Relations for the UCLA Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services. AJ’s training and facilitation work also includes nearly a decade at UCSF’s California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center, managing a CDC-funded national capacity-building program, designing curricula for the CDC’s Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions project, and leading community processes for organizations ranging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the California Department of Public Health. AJ holds a Master of Public Health degree from San José State University.