Dr. Jorge Mera, Whitney Essex

Jorge Mera, MD, FACP, is the Director of Infectious Diseases for Cherokee Nation Health Services (CNHS), the largest tribally operated health care system in the United States. He completed his fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in Infectious Diseases. During recent years Jorge’s efforts have been dedicated to organizing the Cherokee Nation HCV elimination program, as well as the HIV/HCV ECHO project. He is also the Director of the HIV clinic since 2012 and the Principal Investigator of the End the HIV Epidemic for the CNHS. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine of the Oklahoma State University Health Science Center and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Whitney Essex, MSN, FNP-BC, received her Master of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2011 and is board certified in family practice by the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center. Whitney has been a Nurse Practitioner with Cherokee Nation Health Services since 2012 and works in the Infectious Diseases Department where she coordinates the Cherokee Nation Hepatitis C Elimination Program and co-directs the Ending the HIV Epidemic Program. Whitney assists in the maintenance of a general infectious diseases clinical service, providing primary care for HIV, HIV-PrEP, hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases related patients. She also serves as faculty for several infectious diseases-related virtual ECHO clinics across Indian Country.