Aileen Y. Chang, MD, MSPH, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Aileen Chang is an Associate Professor of Medicine with her research focused on arboviruses such as chikungunya, dengue, and Zika viruses that are all spread by the Aedes mosquito. She received her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency, General Medicine Fellowship and Masters in Science and Public Health at the University of Miami. She is also holds a Certificate of Knowledge in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health and Advanced Rheumatology from the American College of Rheumatology. She is boarded in Internal Medicine and cares for a panel of primary care patients. She is part of the faculty of the Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.
As Chief Operating Officer for the Dengue Relief Foundation, Dr. Chang has spent the last decade focused on dengue fever clinical management, laboratory diagnostics and public health management internationally and domestically. In response to the 2009 Florida Keys dengue outbreak, she became part of a task force brought together by the Center for Disease Control and the Florida Department of Health to train physicians in the management of dengue. She is currently running a clinical trial to identify the role of zanamivir to treat dengue vascular permeability syndrome and assess non-structural protein-1 related effects of dengue.
Carlos Herrera Gomez, MD
Project Manager
Carlos Herrera, MD, is a Laboratory and clinical trial project manager at George Washington University. He was born and raised in Colombia, where he attended med school; He has experience in ICU, ER, and Hospitalization wards. In terms of education, Carlos Herrera worked as an assistant professor at a med school teaching Biochemistry for two years; then he was a BLS and ACLS trainer and recently speaker in the U.S. He also has experience in clinical trials and translational research; he worked in a clinical research center, then he served on a Colombian IRB, and finally here at GW. Carlos Herrera recently applied for an internal medicine residency position matching at George Washington University in 2023.
As a long-term goal, Carlos wants to become a Pulmonary and critical care sub-specialist and lead clinical trials and translational research in that field. About his family, he is the youngest of 3 siblings; the older brother is a pilot, his sister is a lawyer, and actually, she is his twin and parents; briefly about himself. He is a very sociable, passionate, and highly motivated person. He loves riding bikes, cooking, and making new friends.
Alfonso Sucerquia, MD
Center Administrator
Alfonso Sucerquia Hernández, MD, is a Clinical Trial Center Administrator at The George Washington University. Dr. Sucerquia received his MD from Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia. He then trained as a sub-investigator and quality coordinator at Clinica De La Costa Clinical Research Center.
Throughout his time at Clinica De La Costa, Dr. Sucerquia oversaw extensive clinical research trials to prevent and treat diseases rooted in internal medicine. Specifically, he worked with infectious diseases (COVID-19 vaccines, Zika vaccine, and RSV vaccine), nephrology, and rheumatology. Additionally, he led six COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, two of which Janssen (study ENSEMBLE) and Clover (SCB-2019), were approved.
Dr. Sucerquia is passionate about volleyball, dance, and his family. He began playing volleyball at nine years old and continued to play at university, where he captained the men's volleyball team for four years. His love for dance began at birth and he attributes this love to his family. His family bestowed a deep love for Colombia's cultural festivals, especially his hometown's world-renowned festival, Carnaval de Barranquilla. He has actively participated in the festival since he was five years old. Dr. Sucerquia is the youngest of three siblings. His parents and older sisters have been his strongest supporters, and he would like to one day repay them for all their love and dedication.
Dr. Sucerquia is an applicant for the next Internal Medicine Match with a great desire to continue his career as an infectious disease doctor and to lead clinical trials in his country and abroad.
José Forero, MD
José Forero is a physician from Barranquilla, Colombia. His interest in addressing health inequalities started early in his career, when he volunteered with a non-profit organization in an underprivileged community in a Brazilian favela while studying at the Universidad del Norte School of Medicine. After graduation, he spent a year in an emergency room, where he learned to work in a high-pressure environment.
In 2021, he took on another challenge in the midst of the pandemic to help conduct the first COVID-19 vaccine trials in his hometown as a sub-investigator at the Clinica de la Costa Research Center. It was there that he first collaborated with Dr. Chang and GWU to evaluate the chronic symptoms of Chikungunya Arthritis in the same population, in which arboviruses are endemic and represent a public health problem.
Now, in Dr. Chang's lab, he aims to apply the knowledge he gained as a Visiting Scholar at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Department of Pathology where he learned the fundamentals of cellular pathology and the dynamics of clinical laboratories and motivated him to continue expanding his knowledge within the field. He dreams of being a pathologist and is excited to be a pioneer in digital pathology and artificial intelligence in his country.
Paige Fierbaugh
Paige Fierbaugh is a second-year medical student at the University of Louisville, with an interest in pediatrics and infectious disease research. After completing a B.S. and M.Ed in Education at the University of Georgia, she served as a Children’s Programming Director for an international mission organization, based in Haiti. She decided to return to school and completed George Washington University’s Post-baccalaureate Pre-medicine program. She began working with Dr. Chang in the Tropical Medicine Laboratory during her time at GW and was able to connect her experiences abroad with the ZAP-dengue and CHIKV trials Dr. Chang was working on.
She comes with clinical experience as she worked at Children’s National Medical Center on the Heart and Kidney Unit, learning a multitude of various medical techniques, terms and conditions. She currently serves as the President for the Pediatrics Interest Group at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and is a part of the Distinction in Global and Public Health Track. Paige is a volunteer in both the “Heart of a Bookworm” program on the cardiac ICU and “Snuggle Squad” in the NICU at Norton Children’s Hospital.
Paige was awarded both the New York Academy of Medicine’s David E. Roger’s Fellowship Grant as well as the IDSA G.E.R.M. Grant, which has helped her to spend the summer working again in Dr. Chang’s lab. She is thrilled to be rejoining the team and continuing the projects that she worked during the post-baccalaureate program. Paige’s long-term goals include matching into a Pediatrics residency program in 2026 and continuing to grow in her knowledge and experiences with pediatrics and infectious disease.