Ricardo Ferrer Email & Phone Number

• Act as a lead training manager (federal employee) in the Office of the Director, Division of AIDS (NIAID/NIH/HHS).• Manage the DAIDS training portfolio. Develop and implement short and long-term program goals relating to training and education of all global, extramural clinical research site staff for DAIDS. Perform annual assessments and conduct strategic planning activities of all training activities to ensure Division health education goals, including standards, policies, guidelines, legislative activities, and operational requirements, are being met.• Enhancing the training IT infrastructure used by DAIDS, including NIAID Clinical Research Managements System (NCRMS), DAIDS Learning Portal (DLP), DAIDS Connect, and others. Linking systems to share information and providing knowledge management accounting. And working with NIAID IT staff to improve security throughout the systems architecture.• Provide technical expertise for the DAIDS Applied Research Training (DART) program. Work closely with Division staff to deploy the DART 2.0 event as a wholly virtual training for clinical research staff in the Caribbean and Central/South American regions. Do site visits and other information gathering to plan for next event. Assess IT infrastructure at regional site hubs, provide IT solutions (both soft and hardware), and work with contracting staff to develop technical support to insure program success.

Rockville, Maryland, United States

• Acted as a principal technical advisor (contractor) in the Office of the Director, Division of AIDS (NIAID/NIH/HHS).• Advised senior DAIDS management on all public health training functions. Developed and implemented short and long-term program goals relating to training and education of all global, extramural clinical research site staff. Conducted strategic planning activities to meet DAIDS health education goals, including standards, policies, guidelines, legislative activities, and operational requirements.• Coordinated multiple governmental and contracting teams for DAIDS health-related education projects. This included negotiating agreements with contracting companies; coordinating workflow processes; preparing annual budgets; developing project requirements; identifying needs and gaps; managing manpower resources and expenditures; and, writing reports on contract activities and progress. Additionally, acted as liaison between federal and contracting staff, maintaining and fostering relationships with internal subject matter experts, external technical specialists, DAIDS program/medical staff, and other stakeholders.• Supported the pilot DART event in 2019, launched as a face-to-face event in South Africa. Provided technical guidance and budgets; worked with site focus groups and subject matter experts’ teams to collect data and perform reviews of existing programs; and, hosted a video room to produce testimonials and other promotional materials for the DART program.

Rockville, Maryland, United States

• Acted as training program lead (contractor) in the Office of the Director, Division of AIDS (NIAID/NIH/HHS).• Designed the public health education program for all of DAIDS extramural clinical research staff by developing strategy, planning training tools, implementing curriculum, reviewing proposals for new public health technologies, and providing expert analysis of industry-wide health education systems.• Managed DAIDS educational web architecture, the DAIDS Learning Portal (DLP), a network of virtual learning tools and educational resources with over 15,000 users from governmental, educational, and corporate organizations around the world. The DLP utilizes cutting edge technologies to improve the capacity of all DAIDS global, extramural HIV clinical research sites and ensure compliance on topics, such as good clinical practice, adverse event reporting, protocol registration, etc. Analyze feedback and usage trends through Google Analytics and the DLP HelpDesk tools to assess system and content utility. Perform annual review of content and quarterly review of technology to provide recommendations to senor staff on health education program improvements.• Implemented comprehensive review of health education policies to collect data on the effectiveness of DAIDS-wide health education. Interpreted findings to assess the usefulness of trainings and their impact on clinical research site’s protocol success. Results culminated in improvements in DAIDS health education goals, specifically updates to non-education policies, training guidelines, legislative activities surrounding education, and DLP operational requirements.

Rockville, Maryland, United States

• Acted as a specialist for training needs (contractor) in the Office of the Director, Division of AIDS (NIAID/NIH/HHS).• Organized and implemented all DAIDS OD meetings webinars, including the All-Hands, Strategic Working Group, and varying conference and meeting debriefs. Prepared and made presentations for events; managed the technology tools; interfaced with building staff on conference space; and, provided reports to the senior staff on critical data and outcomes.• Hosted an ongoing virtual speaker series to highlight new clinical research initiatives, enhanced collaboration with external stakeholders, and distributed new data on topics germane to the DAIDS network, such pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), vaginal rings, and transgender issues. Provided briefings to DAIDS senior leadership.• Developed the DLP program to deploy wide-reaching health education to all DAIDS global, extramural HIV clinical research sites. This tool included a Drupal-based content management component, a learning management system in Moodle, a full suite of social networking tools, and extensive helpdesk functionality. A leap in new technology, the DLP was a comprehensive tool that acted as the vehicle for DAIDS to carry out its health education goals across thousands of disparate global research staff with differing levels of training, background, and language.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Asia Bureau’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) contract, overseeing team of M&E specialists, as well as designed the online portal component for USAID staff performing M&E functions in high threat environments. • Integrated gaming and simulation into company’s training capacity, including design of five avatar-based training vignettes and virtual tutorials; developing a white paper on the use of virtual environments; and, organizing over 20 tabletop exercises and simulations for our Afghanistan Pre-deployment Training.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed IRG’s M&E role in supporting interagency-led, Provincial Reconstruction Team programs in Iraq and Afghanistan, including creation of a long-term evaluation strategy; modernizing traditional surveying methodology; and, supporting senior Department of Defense, State, and USAID staff through statistical and trending analysis.• Built a knowledge management & information system which was used by all USAID PRTs in Iraq.• Supported company-wide training efforts through by developing multimedia products for marketing, including audio capture and online course module development.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed US-Iraq International Partners for Peace Grant Initiative, specifically distribution of seed grant funding to 10 Iraqi communities. Acted as liaison between US-Iraqi community partnerships on designing local development projects, as well facilitating relationship between partners and DOS, US military, and private donor organizations.• Forged a relationship with Gifts in Kind International to improve the way we utilized philanthropy, including a donation program for our members, a humanitarian aid kit system to send to recipients abroad, and a Habitat-style reconstruction program using joint resources.• Developed and maintained a network of online tools to support our humanitarian work, including a online supply distribution service, micro-grant donation website, and a large e-Library of resources for members on designing and implementing relief and reconstruction programs.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Developed all major publications, including bi-weekly e-Newsletter distribution services, quarterly newsletter, annual membership directory, and other annual pieces.• Designed organization's editorial process manual, including writing for newsprint, outreach/marketing, and working with printers, outsourced graphics firms, and other publications contractors.• Maintained portal system, specifically overhaul of outdated platform, overseeing content management, and streamlining user interface and organization of user database.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Managed website redesign process from storyboarding and design documentation to vendor selection and quality testing.• Maintained the Microsoft Access database of all members, included coding the database, producing reports, and providing maintenance of the data (deduping, filtering, etc.).• Designed annual publications, including all 2001 USAID reports and the 2001Ad Campaign layout (both developed in Adobe Pagemaker and Photoshop).• Organized a traveling photo display gallery, specifically the logistical planning of locations, travel arrangements and shipping, and security and insurance on-site.

London, United Kingdom

• Developed country and region specific briefing files for humanitarian emergencies, specifically Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, East Timor, and Kosovo.• Coordinated publications exchanges with international non-governmental organizations, United Nations, and development agencies for the upcoming UK Human Rights Library.

Master Of Arts (Ma), Security Policy Studies, 3.66

• Relevant Coursework: Disaster Recovery and Organizational Continuity; Military Intervention in Humanitarian Crises; and, Logistics.

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Double Degree: Political Science & Sociology, 3.8

• University Awards: Dean's List; and, the Golden Key and Political Science Honor societies. • American University Summer Program.