Community engagement is core the UMD-PRC's mission and values. When advocating for LGBTQ+ mental health, community expertise, needs, and input is necessary. We believe in the importance of collaboration and connection in order to create change.
Our CAB is composed of experts in LGBTQ+ mental health, whether due to their community work and advocacy, research experience, clinical experience, legislative work, or more. Integral to our projects, the CAB contributes to UMD-PRC efforts at all levels.
Current Members
Wendy Bostwick, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Health Systems Science Department, College of Nursing, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Wendy conducts research related to health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations, with a focus on mental health and substance use among bisexual women. She has been engaged in women’s health activism, research and advocacy for over 20 years. Her research incorporates multiple methods including survey research, qualitative interviews, and electronic diaries. Her current work explores how microaggressions associated with race, gender, sexual orientation and their intersection may affect mental and physical health among bisexual women and men.
Ellen Kahn is the Senior Director, Programs and Partnerships at the Human Rights Campaign. In her role, Ellen provides national leadership and expertise in public education and advocacy efforts on behalf of LGBTQ youth and families. Prior to joining HRC, Ellen spent 12 years at the Whitman-Walker Health in various roles; Director of the Lesbian Services Program, Associate Director of LGBTQ Health Promotion, and as supervisor of a behavioral health program for people with HIV. She also was a founding Board member of Rainbow Families DC, the capital area’s support and education organization for LGBTQ-headed families and has facilitated “Maybe Baby” groups for over 15 years and consults with dozens of prospective LGBTQ parents each year.
Ezra Halstead, MA is the Director of Education and Outreach at FreeState Justice. In their position, they work to build connections and resources through client advocacy, community organizing, education, and outreach to achieve equity for vulnerable LGBTQ+ Marylanders. Outside of their work with FreeState, they were a Law and Policy Committee Member of the Baltimore City LGBTQ Commission and a Core Team Member of Trans Healthcare Maryland, a trans-led group that aims to unify the transgender community of Maryland for the purpose of extending competent, accessible, and affirming healthcare to everyone in the state.
Guin Davis, MA is an Educational Consultant. Born and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Guin Davis attended American University for their Masters in Philosophy & Social Policy. During their time there they began working in public health and reproductive rights and continued a career in advocacy for disenfranchised communities. They began teaching philosophy at Prince George’s Community College in 2018, and worked with various public health agencies at the same time. They currently work as a consultant and capacity builder for local businesses and agencies throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Jean-Michel Brevelle has been an activist fighting for the rights of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV for over 30 years. He devotes much of his time to providing capacity building training and technical assistance to improve HIV prevention services for LGBTQ communities and people living with or at risk for HIV. He sits on several Community Advisory Boards for current HIV research initiatives and is the Co-Chair of the Transgender Response Team.
Christi McGeorge, PhD has been a faculty member in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at North Dakota State University since 2003. Dr. McGeorge’s research has focused on the influence of heterosexism and homophobia on clinical practice and training, gender equity in therapy, gender equity in higher education, feminist theories, and societal perceptions of single parents.
Paul Heins is Associate Conductor of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C. He joined the GMCW artistic team in the 2014-15 Season. One of his chief responsibilities is the direction of the GenOUT Chorus, established by GMCW in January 2015 for LGBTQ and allied youth, ages 13-18. Under Dr. Heins’ direction, the GenOUT Chorus has performed at Lincoln Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, The Kennedy Center, and the White House, and in 2016 made its debut GALA performance in Denver. Paul was previously the director of the Concert Choir at Georgetown University, where he also taught music theory, piano, and introduction to voice, and served as music director for the university’s opera and musical theater productions. He is also the past director of the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington.
Sarah Gilden, LCPC, NCC is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Board-Approved Supervisor in Maryland and a National Board Certified Counselor. For the past 6 years she has worked at her private practice, Outside the Box Counseling, in Rockville, MD. Sarah’s specialty area is working with LGBTQ clients on issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, with an interest in social justice and diversity issues. She is a member of WPATH, the American Counseling Association, the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Issues in Counseling, and the Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors of Maryland.
Tiff Cunin is a public health professional and scholar committed to social justice and health equity. They are a Senior Program Manager for Health at the National Recreation and Park Association where they oversee multiple bodies of work including Healthy Aging in Parks and Youth Mentoring through Parks and Recreation. Tiff is also a qualitative researcher as a Translational Health Sciences PhD student where they are exploring the lived experiences of transgender older adults living at the intersection multiple historically marginalized identities.
Ellesse-Roselee Akré, PhD, MA is an assistant professor of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Akré’s research portfolio focuses on health inequities, intersectionality, and access to healthcare. She utilizes tools from health services research and population health science to demonstrate how macrolevel systems such as heterosexism, sexism, and racism are determinants of health inequities.
Erica Hartwell, PhD, LMFT is the Program Director and founder of the Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health Certificate at Fairfield University. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Therapy and Social Work, where her teaching, supervision, and scholarship focus on creating community, compassion, and justice. Erica is committed to elevating the lives and well-being of queer and trans people. To that end, she created Pride & Wellness, a health and wellness fair for the LGBTQ community in Fairfield County. She also serves on the Board of Directors at Triangle Community Center in Norwalk, CT, as the Past Chair of the AAMFT Queer and Trans Advocacy Network, as the Chair of the AAMFT CEO Workgroup on Guidelines for LGBTQ Affirming Therapy, and was recently elected to the AAMFT Board of Directors.
Caleb LoSchiavo, MPH is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Health Behavior, Society, and Policy and a Doctoral Research Assistant in the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) at Rutgers School of Public Health. Caleb conducts research and teaches courses in LGBTQ health, with a focus on transgender health, sexual health and behavior, substance use, and social/structural determinants of health. His current dissertation research, funded by the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research, is using qualitative and quantitative methods to explore transgender people’s experiences with HPV-related preventive healthcare.
Jasmine Anthony has worked in non-profit for years doing work around sexual health and reproductive rights. She has experience working with individuals experiencing mental health issues, with an educational background in social work. She is a passionate queer Black woman that has always worked from a lens centering clients and patients.
Friends of CAB
Caitlin Clark, PhD is a developmental psychologist committed to creating positive change for LGBTQ youth through applied research. Clark is a research Associate at GLSEN, a national organization working to ensure safe and affirming schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
Francesca Gaiba, PhD is an IPR Research Associate Professor and its Senior Director for Operations and Outreach. She managed the Northwestern University Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing as its associate director from 2015–20. Dr. Gaiba brings a commitment to racial and LGBT justice and their intersections and policy implications to her scholarship and academic work. She has published op-eds in Time, The Hill, Rewire, RoleReboot, Medium, and TruthOut.
Paz Galupo, PhD (She/Her or They/Them) is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Sexual & Gender Identity Lab at Towson University. Dr. Galupo’s research interests focus on understanding the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity, with a particular focus on understanding non-binary expressions of bisexual/plurisexual and transgender experience. Dr. Galupo serves as the Editor-in-Chief for both the Journal of GLBT Family Studies (2013-present) and the Journal of Bisexuality (2015-present). Dr. Galupo also serves as Editor for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (2019-present; the official journal for APA’s Division 44) and Associate Editor for the International Journal of Transgender Health (2016-present; the official journal for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health).
John Pachankis, PhD is a Susan Dwight Bliss Associate Professor of Public Health at Yale University and directs Yale’s LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative, which serves as a home for scholarship devoted to understanding and improving the mental health of LGBTQ populations in the US and around the world. He has published 100+ scientific papers on LGBTQ mental health and stigma and recently co-edited the Handbook of Evidence-Based Mental Health Practice with Sexual and Gender Minorities published by Oxford University Press. You can learn more about his research at esteem.yale.edu.
Paul Poteat, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College. His research focuses on the school-based experiences of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth. His research on Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) has identified individual- and group-level mechanisms by which these school-based extracurricular groups empower and promote resilience among youth from diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and published in journals in the fields of psychology, public health, and education.
Antón Usigli, MPH is a public health leader with more of a decade-long career in sexual and reproductive health, HIV/STI prevention and management, and LGBTQ health. He is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Cheng Fellow at the Social Innovation and Change Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School. Antón is also a Consultant at the executive level of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and for Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, where he previously served as the Director of HIV/STI Prevention.
Our community partners also act as our project trainers, with expertise in clinical work as well as training.
Michael Vigorito, LMFT, CGP, CST
Vigorito Counseling and Consulting, LLC
Mr. Vigorito is a sexual health psychotherapist, author and consultant. As a District of Columbia licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, he provides individual and group therapy for men concerned about problematic and out of control sexual behavior. Mr. Vigorito co-developed a sexual health treatment protocol, published in Treating Out of Control Sexual Behavior - Rethinking Sex Addiction. As a consultant, Mr. Vigorito designs and implements capacity-building trainings to integrate sexual health and LGBTQ+ affirming practices into behavioral health services.
Transgender Training and Consulting Services
Mr. Lare is a licensed clinical social worker, advocate and consultant with a private practice in Columbia, Maryland. He has 12+ years of experience helping LGBT individuals and their families. Mr. Lare’s areas of specialty include working with transgender and gender non-conforming individuals of all ages, LGB and queer identified teens and adults and their families. Mr. Lare also provides clinical supervision to social workers with a focus on sexuality and gender.
These organizations are among some of our essential partnerships in the our mission to further LGBTQ+ mental health.
Co-Leads: Shige Sakurai, Typhanye Dyer
This group involves a broader campus conversation with the personnel and student advocates that are most focused on issues of campus LGBTQ+ inclusion and mental health, and who could really contribute to the conversation about campus needs, opportunity, and coming together to help improve mental health for LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Co-Leads: John Salerno, Hannah Tralka
The UMD-PRC's Anti-Racism Subgroup serves as a space for group reflection as well as center-specific anti-racist action.
President: Chloe Manus
Founder: John Salerno
A group for UMD students and allies passionate about promoting LGBTQ+ health equity and social justice by engaging in research, advocacy, education and leadership projects and initiatives at UMD and beyond.
Publications
COVID-19-RELATED STRESS AMONG LGBTQ+ UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: RESULTS OF A U.S. NATIONAL SURVEY
LGBTQ populations: Psychologically vulnerable communities in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contact Information
Email: LGBTQ-SAPH@umd.edu
Twitter: @lgbtqterp
TerpLink: /lgbtqsaph