Appendix B

Biographical Sketches of Planning Committee Members and Workshop Speakers

PLANNING COMMITTEE

Stephen T. Russell is Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents professor in child development, chair of the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, and Amy Johnson McLaughlin director of the School of Human Ecology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an expert in adolescent and young adult health, with a focus on sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition to his expertise in the study of sexual orientation and health, Russell is an expert in the role of school policies, programs, and practices in supporting adolescent adjustment, achievement, and health. He earned a PhD in sociology at Duke University (1994), a master’s degree in sociology at William and Mary (1989), and a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Wake Forest University (1988). He has been involved in community and professional organizations throughout his career, including as Human Relations Commissioner in several cities (Durham, NC; Davis, CA; Tucson, AZ). Russell has served on the governing boards of the Society for Research in Child Development, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), National Council on Family Relations (elected fellow), and the Society for Research on Adolescence (President, 2012-2014). He has previously served on National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus committees for The Promise of Adolescence (2019) and Understanding the Wellbeing of LGBTQI+ Populations (2020).

Aisha Canfield-Allen, MPP is a director at Ceres Policy Research. Since earning a Master of Public Policy from Mills College, she has conducted

research on the disproportionate detention of LGBQ/GNCT BIPOC youth and their pathways into the justice system. She was an investigator on a study that was the first to establish that 20 percent of youth in the justice system identify as LGBQ/GNCT and that 85 percent of those youth are also of color. From her research, there has been a growing awareness of the need for facility/jurisdiction-level data. Canfield-Allen provides training and technical assistance to juvenile probation departments to improve data collection processes that allow agencies to give youth an opportunity to disclose their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE). With this data, jurisdictions can make holistic, data-driven decisions that support young people at the intersections of their multiple identities—particularly race/ethnicity and SOGIE—within the context of their local communities. In addition to supporting detained youth, she serves as an evaluation partner to community-based organizations that are serving as healing and transformative alternatives to traditional justice system responses for LGBQ/GNCT youth, most of whom are also BIPOC. Through her work, Canfield-Allen seeks to reclaim research and data as accessible advocacy tools for BIPOC youth, their families, communities, and the practitioners working on behalf of their well-being and liberation.

David Chae is associate professor in the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences, director of the Society, Health, and Racial Equity (SHARE) Lab, and associate dean for research at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. His doctoral degree is in social epidemiology (Harvard School of Public Health, 2007); he completed postdoctoral research as a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, San Francisco (2009), in the fields of population health and psychoneuroimmunology. Chae’s research focuses on the social determinants of health inequities and embodiment of racism. He studies racism as a social-environmental toxin that shapes the inequitable population-level distribution of disease. As part of this work, he examines the interplay between context, developmental period, behavior, and biology, and links to disease susceptibility and progression. In 2019 he was elected to the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the honorary senior scientist society for those whose research is at the interface of behavior and medicine. He is associate editor of the journal Health Education & Behavior, on the Editorial Board of Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, and serves on several scientific research groups.

Nat Duran is a compassion-led and dedicated educator focused on community building and social justice across various realms of youth work. They obtained both their B.A. in Teaching of English (2007) and M.Ed. in

Youth Development (2011) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and have been a champion for putting youth voice to action throughout their adult professional life. Duran previously worked as a high school English teacher in Chicago’s public schools, and as a youth advocate and a case manager for older youth in care preparing for independence before joining the Alliance to oversee youth programming. In 2019, Duran served on Illinois’ Affirming and Inclusive Schools Task Force which informed the Illinois State Board of Education’s guidance and model policy for Supporting Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming Students.

Errol Fields is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine. He is a physician scientist and a board certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine subspecialist. His clinical work focuses on primary and subspecialty care for adolescents and young adults including gender-affirming care, inclusive sexual and reproductive health care, and treatment and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. He is the co-founder and co-director of the Emerge Gender and Sexuality Clinic for Children, Adolescents and Young Adults and co-director of PrEP is for Youth Clinic which provides PrEP and other HIV prevention services to Baltimore area youth at risk for HIV acquisition. His research focuses on using mixed methodologies to understand and reduce racial disparities in HIV among young Black, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men as well as the evaluation of community-engaged practices for reducing stigma and medical distrust as key barriers to HIV prevention, treatment and research. Fields is also committed to the provision of evidence-based, culturally competent care of sexual minority and gender diverse youth and is involved in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education in this area.

Jessica N. Fish is assistant professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and deputy director for research and evaluation at the CDC-funded University of Maryland Prevention Research Center. With a Ph.D. in Family and Child Sciences (Florida State University, 2014) and a master’s degree in Couple and Family Therapy (Purdue University Calumet, 2010), her research centers LGBTQ+ young people and their families, with a specific focus on identifying school, family, and community factors implicated in the positive development and health of LGBTQ+ populations. Fish has published over 75 peer-reviewed publications in top-ranking journals specific to LGBTQ population health and development. Ultimately, her work aims to identify modifiable factors that contribute to LGBTQ-related health disparities in order to inform developmentally-sensitive policies, programs, and prevention strategies that

promote the health of sexual and gender minority people across the life course. Fish’s most recent scholarship incorporates a community-engaged approach designed to accelerate translational science and bridge the research-to-practice gap for addressing LGBTQ+ youth mental health and substance use in family and community contexts.

Amorie Robinson is a clinical psychologist in metro Detroit serving as the behavioral health lead therapist at the Ruth Ellis Center for at-risk LGBT+ youth. She previously worked at the Wayne County juvenile court psychiatric clinic for 15 years, providing psychological services. Robinson earned her B.A. in psychology at Oberlin College and doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan where she has taught LGBT and multicultural courses in the Women’s Studies Department. Robinson conducts cultural competence workshops and is a trainer for the Michigan Department of Education. Robinson has published articles on domestic violence in Black lesbian communities, Black lesbian youth resiliency, and Black LGBT and gender nonconforming youth in juvenile justice. Robinson coined the term “attractionality” to replace “sexuality” when referring to one’s identity. She is a member of the Association of Black Psychologists and Association for Women in Psychology, having served on both boards.

Jama Shelton is an associate professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and the associate director of the Silberman Center for Sexuality and Gender at Hunter College. After receiving their PhD in social welfare from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2013, Shelton spent 3 years working at True Colors United where they engaged in national organizing, policy, and research activities geared toward addressing LGBTQ+ youth homelessness across the country and in Europe. Shelton continues to work with True Colors United as the chief research officer, overseeing research projects in the U.S., Europe, and Central Asia in partnership with the European Federation of Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA). Shelton’s research examines homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, with particular attention to the experiences of transgender and gender expansive youth and the structural barriers rooted in cisgenderism, racism, and economic inequality that transgender and gender expansive youth face in exiting homelessness and maintaining housing stability.

WORKSHOP SPEAKERS

José Bauermeister, M.P.H., Ph.D., is the Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations at the University of Pennsylvania. Bauermeister is

committed to addressing health inequities among LGBT youth of color through his scholarship. Given his expertise in applied sexuality and health research, Bauermeister co-edited the first LGBT specific book focused on health research (LGBTQ Health Research: Theory, Methods & Practice), published by the Johns Hopkins University Press and served as associate editor of the APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology and the SAGE Handbook of LGBT Lives in Context. Bauermeister is chair of the Department of Family and Community Health at the Penn School of Nursing, Director of the Penn Program on Sexuality, Technology & Action Research, and Professor of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine. Bauermeister is also chair of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Population and Public Health Approaches to HIV/AIDS Study Section, and a standing member of the NIH’s Council of Councils’ Sexual and Gender Minority Research Working Group. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Puerto Rico (2002) and his master’s (2004) and doctorate (2007) in public health from the University of Michigan.

Bernadette Brown, J.D., is the president of B. Brown Consulting, LLC. She provides consulting, training and technical assistance to federal, state, and local government agencies (and allied organizations) on the development, implementation, and enforcement of policies, procedures, and best practices designed to support the safety and well-being of LGBTQI+ people in detention. Some of Brown’s clients include the National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar, South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, Alameda County Probation Department (California), Maricopa County Probation Department (Arizona), Pennsylvania Bureau of Juvenile Justice Services, Michigan Center for Youth Justice, Durham Veteran Affairs Medical Center (North Carolina), and U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Prisons, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Civil Rights Division. Prior to launching B. Brown Consulting, she was the deputy legislative director at the New York Civil Liberties Union. She began her career as a public defender in New York City and has served as the director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity at Duke University, and a senior program specialist at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in California. She is also a faculty member of the National Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center, where she developed the LGBTI and GNC (gender nonconforming) training curriculum for people seeking to become certified PREA auditors by the U.S. Department of Justice. She received her A.B. from Columbia University and her J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Shelley L. Craig, Ph.D., is professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) at the University of Toronto and Canada Research

Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Youth (SGMY). Drawing on 25 years of community and clinical practice, Craig’s program of research is focused on: (1) understanding the experiences of SGMY in systems of care and community, (2) developing affirmative programs and interventions to cultivate SGMY resilience, (3) exploring the role of technology on SGMY well-being, and (4) enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in organizations. Craig has developed and tested several of the first evidence-informed interventions for SGMY mental health. She is also the principal investigator of INQYR, an international and interdisciplinary research partnership designed to train LGBTQ+ graduate students in SGMY research and conduct critical studies to support their well-being. Craig has been very involved in LGBTQ+ communities. She has served in leadership roles as founder and Executive Director of SGMY nonprofits and as Board co-chair of organizations such as WorldPride and the Council of Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression and Identity of the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE).

J. Garrett-Walker, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She earned her B.A. from University of San Francisco and her Ph.D. from the Graduate Center of City University of New York. Garrett-Walker is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on mental health and multiple identity development for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2SLGBTQ+) emerging adults with a focus in Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC). Garrett-Walker utilizes quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine the intersections of multiple identities; specifically gender, race, religion, and sexuality. Garrett-Walker is most interested in the ways in which BIPOC 2SLGBTQ+ young adults maintain positive mental health and well-being in the face of negative religious rhetoric, racism, homophobia, transphobia, cissexism, and heterosexism. Garrett-Walker’s work has emphasized the role of identity in the development of culturally competent HIV prevention interventions and community resources. Garrett-Walker also has a line of inquiry that examines the ways in which shared educational privilege impacts color-blind racial ideologies and privilege awareness among college students. Garrett-Walker implemented a university-wide social marketing campaign at University of San Francisco, Check Your Privilege, that sought to raise student, faculty, and staff awareness around social inequalities and privilege. The campaign went viral on the internet and has been implemented at universities from Turtle Island to New Zealand. All of Garrett-Walker’s research challenges systems and structures that seek to oppress and marginalize racialized gender and sexually expansive people. Garrett-Walker’s research focuses on the ways in which BIPOC 2SLGBTQ+ people survive and thrive as opposed to the pathology entrenched in psychology.

Karina Gattamorta, Ph.D., is a research associate professor at the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami whose work focuses on racial/ethnic sexual minority youth and their families. She has conducted research on the coming out experiences of Hispanic sexual minorities and their effects on youth and parents and has also examined health disparities of sexual minority high school students. Recently, she has examined the role of family rejection, racism, and living arrangements on psychological distress and sexual and gender minority-related stressors such as internalized homophobia, internalized transphobia, LGBTQ identity concealment, and LGBTQ victimization among LGBTQ college students. Currently, she is working on developing a measure of acceptance for parents and caregivers of LGBTQ youth and is also evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention to promote acceptance among Hispanic families. Her goals are to continue working with diverse sexual and gender minority youth and their families to help increase acceptance and reduce rejection that is linked to disparities in mental and behavioral health among this population. Gattamorta is also involved in mentoring underrepresented and minority students through her role as the program director for the Minority Health Research Training (MHRT) program at the School of Nursing and Health Studies and through mentoring programs for first-generation and LGBTQ students at the University of Miami.

Kezia Gilyard is a nonbinary educator, facilitator, and curriculum creator who uses they/them pronouns. Currently, they serve the students, employees, and families of Broward County Public Schools as the LGBTQ+ Coordinator. Their areas of specialization include facilitating conversations and building courses which allow participants to examine the experiences of students who have been marginalized by various and intersecting systems of oppression. Gilyard has trained both pre-K–12 and post-secondary educators across the country about the importance of approaching queer and trans equity through an intersectional lens. They have spent nearly a decade providing guidance, mentorship, and leadership opportunities for queer and trans youth in South Florida and beyond. Gilyard was recently selected as one of South Florida Gay News’ “Out 50,” a distinguished list recognizing openly LGBTQ individuals who make an impact in South Florida. Gilyard is also a recipient of the Bishop S.F. Makalani-Mahee award for Trans Equality for their work supporting transgender youth and was a finalist for GLSEN’s Educator of the Year award in 2020.

Naomi Goldberg, M.P.P., is the deputy director and LGBTQ program director at the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), an independent think tank focused on providing independent and rigorous research, insight, and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all. For more

than 13 years, Goldberg has focused on advancing LGBTQ public policy with a focus on engaging, collaborative, and data-centered efforts. At MAP, she frequently collaborates with leading LGBTQ organizations and progressive allied organizations on issues including LGBTQ people and the criminal justice system, the importance of marriage for same-sex couples and their families, and the challenges facing LGBTQ workers, LGBTQ women, and LGBTQ people of color. Prior to joining MAP, Goldberg completed a public policy fellowship at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Goldberg has published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Fertility and Sterility, Journal of Health Psychology about findings from the U.S. Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, a study of data from the California Health Interview Survey about intimate partner violence in Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and several book chapters about LGBTQ-parent families and economic well-being, LGBTQ family law, and transgender people and economic security. She received her master’s of public policy from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and graduated from Mount Holyoke College.

Ghirlandi Guidetti, J.D., (he/him/his) is a staff attorney in the ACLU of Illinois’ LGBTQ & HIV Project where he is involved in a broad range of advocacy and litigation on behalf of LGBTQ individuals and people living with HIV. Since he joined the ACLU in the fall of 2015, Ghirlandi has focused his practice on representing youth, including students whose schools have denied them use of the facilities that match their gender identity, solely because they are transgender. He has also utilized the ACLU’s long-standing consent decree with DCFS (B.H. v. Smith) to investigate the experiences of LGBTQ youth in the child welfare system and advocate for reforms to better protect and serve this vulnerable population. Ghirlandi is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago where he earned his J.D. and a master of public policy degree.

Stacey S. Horn, Ph.D., is a professor and head of the Department of Family Social Science in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Her current research focuses on issues of sexual prejudice and bias-motivated harassment among adolescents and parents of adolescents, adolescents’ reasoning about peer harassment, as well as LGBT students’ experiences in schools and communities. Much of this work looks at the underlying moral, social, and personal dimension of exclusion and peer harassment, how adolescents construct an understanding of their peer interactions based on these dimension, and the role that bias plays in adolescents’ understanding and experiences of harassment. She has published articles in journals such as Developmental Psychology, Journal of Social Issues, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Cognitive Development,

and Equity and Excellence in Education. Her edited book (with Stephen Russell) Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Schooling: The Nexus of Research, Practice, and Policy won the best social policy book from SRA as well as the best book award from APA Division 44. She is a past recipient of the University Scholar award and the Award for Excellence in Teaching from UIC, as well as the Wayne F. Placek Award from the American Psychological Foundation (2002). Horn is a former high school English teacher and has worked with young people for over 30 years.

David M. Huebner, PhD, MPH, received his PhD in clinical psychology from Arizona State University and his MPH in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at George Washington University (GWU), and co-director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core at the Washington, DC Center for AIDS Research. Prior to joining the faculty at GWU, he was on the faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah and in the School of Medicine at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. His research examines how discrimination from families, schools, and communities impacts HIV risk and other health outcomes among sexual minority adolescents and young adults, and how preventive interventions can help mitigate those impacts. Huebner has a strong commitment to mentoring doctoral students and junior faculty, particularly those from underrepresented groups. He is also committed to supporting community organizations’ efforts to engage in evidence-based practices—he has served on several local and regional HIV prevention community planning groups, and was the chair of the National Board of Directors for the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national nonprofit with a $7 million annual budget, that seeks to improve K–12 school experience for sexual and gender minority youth.

Deborah S. Levine, M.A., M.S.W., is the director of LGBT YouthLink, a division of CenterLink. She has been championing for the health needs of adolescents for the plurality of her career, working for a decade as the Director of Online Health Education at Planned Parenthood. Prior to that, she worked at a local Planned Parenthood providing career development training for youth serving professionals and managing a peer education program. Her insight into the experiences of youth is furthered by her background in education; she taught American history at Boston area public high schools. She is the founder and operator of Q Chat Space, an online LGBTQ+ space where teens can join live, chat-based, professionally facilitated support groups. As such, Levine is highly familiar with both the health needs of sexual and gender minority youth and the ability of digital

technology to help in meeting those needs in highly innovative ways. In her current role at YouthLink, Levine not only oversees Q Chat Space but also supports the development of youth programs at LGBT community centers across the country through networking opportunities for program staff, peer-based technical assistance and training, and a variety of capacity building services.

Malcolm Lin is a junior at the University of Kansas studying in the social welfare field. They spent 4 years as part of a youth advisory board for research. They are looking to do research in the social welfare field after they graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Lin did research in transgender and gender diverse youth diversity. They worked with several transgender youths and talked about the different issues they went through. The group they worked with included primarily Caucasians, while they themselves were one of two persons of color on the youth advisory board. They brought in many different perspectives on being transgender and a person of color.

Alison Macklin, MSW, is a national leader in the comprehensive sex education field for over 17 years. In 2019, she helped author and pass Colorado’s Youth Wellness Act, ensuring young people in that state are able to access inclusive comprehensive sex education. As senior policy advisor for SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, she provides strategic guidance to communities looking to advance comprehensive sex education at the state and federal level. Macklin is the author of the internationally published book: “Making Sense of It: A Guide to Sex for Teens (and Their Parents Too!),” and a skilled sex education trainer with a Masters of Social Work degree from University of Denver.

Allen Mallory is a presidential postdoctoral scholar at The Ohio State University in the Department of Human Sciences. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in Human Development and Family Sciences where he was also a trainee at the University of Texas Population Research Center. Mallory’s research takes an intersectional approach in understanding the health and well-being of sexual and gender minorities. Specifically, he studies how health disparities vary among and between sexual and gender minorities across multiple marginalized identities and how the processes tied to multiple identities, such as discrimination, intersect to affect the health of youth and adults. Mallory was funded by an F31 to investigate how race, gender, and sexual identity discrimination were independent and overlapping in their prospective associations with mental health. He was recently awarded an NIH Loan Repayment Program through NIDA where he will examine variability in the treatment effects of substance use interventions by sexual identity.

Sarah Mountz, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at University at Albany School of Social Welfare. Her research, teaching, and practice focus on the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare and juvenile justice systems using an intersectional lens. She utilizes participatory approaches and arts-based and other qualitative methods in her work to center and amplify youth voice and promote critical consciousness and youth activism. Mountz practiced as a social worker in the child welfare system in New York City prior to pursuing her doctorate in social welfare from the University of Washington. Her work has been featured in several peer-reviewed journals and books, including Child Welfare, Affilia, Children and Youth Services Review, the Journal of Public Child Welfare, the Journal of the Society of Social Work and Research, the Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, and Case Studies for Affirmative Social Work Practice with LGBTQ+ Individuals and Communities. Mountz teaches, trains, and consults on issues pertaining to systems impacted youth and families and the intersections of race, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, and other axes of identity.

John Pachankis, Ph.D., is the Susan Dwight Bliss Associate Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry at Yale. As director of Yale’s LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative, his goal is to bring effective mental health treatments to LGBTQ people in the United States and around the world and to identify strategies to getting such treatment to LGBTQ people in greatest need. His NIH-funded studies examine the efficacy of LGBTQ-affirmative interventions delivered via diverse technologies, settings, and community members. These interventions have shown efficacy for reducing the co-occurring mental health risks commonly affecting LGBTQ people (e.g., depression, anxiety, suicidality, substance use disorders) across several randomized controlled trials. He has published 100+ scientific papers on LGBTQ mental health and stigma and co-edited the Handbook of EvidenceBased Mental Health Practice with Sexual and Gender Minorities published by Oxford University Press and has received several awards for his research, including APA’s Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest award, Distinguished Contribution to the Advancement of Psychotherapy award, and awards for Distinguished Book and Distinguished Scientific Contribution to LGBTQ scholarship.

Paul Poteat, Ph.D., is 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 youth. With support from NIH and IES, his research on Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) has identified individual- and group-level mechanisms by which these school-based clubs promote empowerment and resilience

among youth from diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. His work also examines bias-based harassment using an ecological framework to identify individual and peer factors that contribute to such behavior or that buffer against its effects. Poteat has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Research on Adolescence, the American Educational Research Journal, and The Counseling Psychologist, and is the current co-chair of the Equity and Justice Committee of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Myeshia Price, Ph.D. (she/they), is a senior research scientist at The Trevor Project. Price has more than 15 years of experience in adolescent public health research, with a focus on sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ youth from an intersectional perspective. After completing their Ph.D. in developmental psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with research focusing on predicting early sexual behaviors during adolescence, they were an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Old Westbury prior to taking a research position at the Center for Innovative Public Health Research (CiPHR). Her primary research interest areas include developmental understandings of adolescent gender and sexuality and reducing LGBTQ youth mental health disparities with a particular focus on the role of protective factors.

Lilianna Angel Reyes, M.P.A., a trans Latina woman and graduate from the University of Michigan school system, has extensive history in leading organizations and coalitions focused on reducing social and health disparities of marginalized populations. She has worked with many state and national civil rights organizations, and government and corporate entities such as Planned Parenthood, Detroit Police LGBT Advisory Council, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and many others. Reyes is a longtime member of the Iconic House of Ebony, now serving as the Detroit Godmother for the house and was recently inducted in the Detroit Ballroom Hall of Fame 2020. Reyes most recently spoke at the United Nations on the status of trans women of color in the global call for women’s success. Currently, she serves as Youth Drop-In Director at the Ruth Ellis Center, and is also the executive director of a transformative Detroit based nonprofit, The Trans Sistas of Color Project (TSOCP). Under her leadership, the organization won the Detroit Spirit Award 2020. Reyes was highlighted in USA Today’s Faces of Pride 2017, 100 Women of the Century 2020, and in NBC’s OUT Pride List 2020, Google’s Pride Spaces 2021, Adidas dedication to Ballroom 2021, and USA Today Pride 2021 campaign.

Benita Ramsey, J.D., is a justice and culture strategist and practitioner, a spiritual director, and a lover of books, words, rhythms, and beats. A

gifted Spoken Word artist and wordsmith, Ramsey is a third-generation Pentecostal style storyteller and preacher. She serves as a program support manager for the Inland Empire HIV Planning Council and executive director of Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance. She is a principal consultant for BRMG Management Group specializing in social justice, diversity, and inclusion. Ramsey serves as a community consultant to Riverside University Health System Behavioral Health, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Outreach Initiatives. She currently serves on the advisory board for We BREATHE, the Statewide LGBTQ Tobacco Control Project and on the Steering Committee for the CA LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network. Ramsey is an ordained minister and pastor at Unity Fellowship Church-IE, a former College Dean of Students at the Claremont Colleges, and an ethnic services manager. Ramsey received her master’s degree in African American Studies and Women’s History from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law.

Margaret Rosario, PhD., is a professor of psychology at The City University of New York. Her research focuses on identity and stress, as well as the implications of each for health and other adaptive outcomes. The research has primarily centered on lesbian, gay, and bisexual young people undergoing sexual identity development. In addition, she is interested in the determinants of sexual orientation and the intersection of multiple identities. Rosario is the recipient of research grants. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Sex Research and a member of several editorial boards. She is past president of Division 44 of the American Psychological Association, the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Rosario did her postdoctoral training at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, her doctorate at New York University, and her bachelor’s degree at Princeton University.

Renata Sanders, M.D., M.P.H., S.C.M., is an associate professor of adolescent medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her areas of clinical expertise include adolescent sexually transmitted infection and HIV, adolescent transition to adult care, caring for sexual and gender minority youth, and school-based health center needs. She serves as the medical director of the Pediatric and Adolescent HIV/AIDS Program, director of the PrEP Program (prepisforyouth.org), co-director of the Emerge Gender and Sexuality Clinic, and the co-director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Scientific Working Group, Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research. She has served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make recommendations regarding

HIV testing laws in Maryland and has worked locally with the Baltimore City Health Department to improve HIV testing strategies in youth aged 15 to 24.

Sanders’s leadership achievements have been recognized in multiple awards and roles in committees nationally and across the institution. In 2007, she was selected out of 300 applicants to attend the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Summer Institute in Applied Research on Child and Adolescent Development. She has been selected to participate in two career development programs for women faculty—the Association of American Medical Colleges Early Career Women Faculty Professional Development Seminar and the 2015 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Leadership Program for Women Faculty.

Carlos E. Santos, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Luskin School of Public Affairs’ Department of Social Welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research is focused on studying ethnic-racial identity, gender identity, and sexual minority identity using an intersectional approach. He employs developmental theories and empirical methodologies in order to study the contexts within which identities are formed, develop, and change over time among primarily Latinx youth. He has been recognized for “pioneering” research that shows the effect of peer networks on identity formation, and was awarded multiple early career awards for achievement in research from three different national professional associations. His research has been funded by both the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, and he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Forum on Children’s Well-Being.

Russell Toomey, Ph.D., is Program Chair and Professor of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona. He also serves as the interim director of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona. He conducts research on the processes by which sexual and gender minority youth thrive and are resilient despite the oppressive barriers and challenges they encounter in society. Toomey’s research identifies both the individual-level mechanisms (e.g., coping, activism) and systems-level policies (e.g., inclusive school policies) that reduce the impacts of discrimination and contribute to optimal health, well-being, and educational outcomes. At the University of Arizona, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on adolescent development, human sexuality, and advanced graduate-level applied statistics. He serves on the Executive Council for the Society for Research on Adolescence.

Manal Vishnoi is an incoming sophomore at UC San Diego majoring in chemistry. They are also an intern with the Youth Services’ Pride Youth

Program in Glenview, and have been involved in LGBTQ+ youth work since middle school. They were the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) leader for 2 years at Deerfield High School. They fought to change many issues at their high school to help make life better for LGBTQ+ students.

Angela Weeks, D.B.A., brings extensive national experience creating, implementing, and evaluating programs and initiatives that improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people and communities. Weeks is the project director for The National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for LGBTQ2S Children and Youth in Foster Care (QIC-LGBTQ2S). As the project director for the QIC-LGBTQ2S, she has helped develop, implement, and evaluate 15 different LGBTQ+ programs and initiatives for LGBTQ+ foster youth, their families, and the workforce that serves them. She also has extensive experience supporting LGBTQ+ populations experiencing homelessness and the juvenile justice system and leads the Center of Excellence on LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity.

Bianca D.M. Wilson, Ph.D., is the Rabbi Zacky Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute. Her research focuses primarily on system-involved LGBTQ youth, LGBT poverty, and sexual health among queer women. In addition to multiple peer-reviewed and institution-published reports, she co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies that featured a multidisciplinary collection of work on health and other topics from the perspectives of Black lesbians in the U.S., Caribbean, and South Africa. She earned a doctorate in psychology from the Community and Prevention Research program at the University of Illinois at Chicago with a minor in statistics, methods, and measurement, and received postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Institute for Health Policy Studies and the UCSF Lesbian Health and Research Center through an Agency for Health Research and Quality postdoctoral fellowship.

Geoffrey Winder is an LGBTQ+ youth advocate with over 20 years of experience. He is currently co-executive director of Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Network, a national organization supporting LGBTQ youth through GSA clubs across the country. He was formerly a GSA club youth leader at his own high school as well as a GSA Network alumni. Winder joined GSA Network’s full-time staff in 2008. Prior to becoming co-executive director in 2015, he led GSA Network’s Racial and Economic Justice programs for 5 years, and emerged as a national leader on LGBTQ youth and education justice issues. This work focused on understanding the impacts of the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” on LGBTQ youth of color, and organizing to address policies, practices, and patterns that

disproportionately impact LGBTQ youths’ access to a quality education. In his current role he continues to ensure the organization’s analyses, programs and culture meet the needs of the most vulnerable LGBTQ student populations. He holds a B.A. in Change Theory and Globalization from New York University’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study.