THE TEAM

Created for us, by us.

A few dedicated members of LGBTQ+ and ally communities make the study possible,
but it’s your contributions that will make The PRIDE Study a success!

Directors

Mitchell R. Lunn, MD, MAS

CO-DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

CO-DIRECTOR

PRIDEnet

Mitchell R. Lunn, MD, MAS

Co-Director The PRIDE Study

Co-Director PRIDEnet

Pronouns: he, him, his

Mitchell (Mitch) R. Lunn, MD, MAS is an Assistant Professor in Division of Nephrology of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Mitch is a long-standing advocate for sexual and gender minority (SGM) inclusion in research and higher education who lectures around the country on SGM medical education, SGM health, and SGM community engagement. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the Medical School Campus Pride Index; is a member of the American Society of Nephrology’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee; and is a founding member of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Medical Education Research Group (LGBT MERG) at Stanford University School of Medicine. LGBT MERG’s study on SGM health-related content in medical school curricula has influenced individual institutions and national organizations to examine their policies, procedures, educational environments, and curricular content to improve the culture of academic medicine for SGM people. In recognition of his work, he received the 2015 University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Chancellor’s Award for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Leadership.

Mitch is delighted to be joining his passions of SGM health research, internal medicine, and medical education in The PRIDE Study and PRIDEnet. Other areas of active research and interest include use of emerging technologies in research, remote data collection in nephrology, SGM institutional climate, and methods of evaluation, particularly in undergraduate and graduate medical education.

Mitch earned his Bachelor of Science degree with highest thesis honors from Tufts University in 2004, his Doctor of Medicine degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 2010, and his Masters in Advanced Studies degree in Clinical Research from UCSF in 2017. He completed internal medicine residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, MA) in 2013 and nephrology fellowship at UCSF in 2016.

Juno Obedin-Maliver, MD, MPH, MAS

CO-DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

CO-DIRECTOR

PRIDEnet

Juno Obedin-Maliver, MD, MPH, MAS

Co-Director The PRIDE Study

Co-Director PRIDEnet

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Juno Obedin-Maliver, MD, MPH, MAS is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Juno graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine in 2010. While at Stanford, Juno maintained a focus on promoting social justice in medicine. Juno was honored with The Kaiser Permanente eQuality Scholarship for service to the LGBTQ community as well as the Markowski Leach Memorial Scholarship for LGBT Activism & Leadership.

Combined with a strong focus on women’s health, Juno continued her dedication to advancing LGBT health initiatives while completing her clinical residency in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2014 and a Fellowship in Women’s Health and Clinical Research at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2016.

While at UCSF, she has been honored with the San Francisco General Hospital Julius R. Krevans Award for Community Service and The UCSF Chancellor’s Award for GLBT Leadership. During her residency, Juno was active in health policy to expand reproductive possibilities in California and in efforts to remove national Medicare Non-Coverage Determination ruling on “transsexual surgery.” She is also on the Medical Advisory Board of the UCSF Center of Excellence for Transgender Health.

Juno is enthusiastically combining her interests in research, advocacy, and medicine to design and conduct The PRIDE Study and expand community engagement with research through PRIDEnet. Additional clinical, research, and advocacy activities include the gynecological and obstetrical health of transgender men and women and the health of veterans.

Associate Directors

Matthew Capriotti, PhD

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

Matthew Capriotti, PhD

Associate Director The PRIDE Study

Pronouns: he, him, his

Matthew (Matt) Capriotti, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at San Jose State University and a Research Associate in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Matt earned his doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and he completed pre-doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at UCSF. Matt studies factors that promote resilience and wellbeing among sexual and gender minority people, with an emphasis on youth and young adults. He has a particular research interest in engaging young adults in evidence-based approaches to HIV prevention and treatment, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Matt also maintains an active line of research on the development, testing, and implementation of evidence-based behavioral interventions for young people with tic disorders (e.g., Tourette syndrome), other obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Matt is thrilled to be a part of The PRIDE Study's efforts to identify and end health disparities faced by sexual and gender minority communities.

Annesa Flentje, PhD

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

UCSF SITE DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

Annesa Flentje, PhD

Associate Director The PRIDE Study

UCSF Site Director The PRIDE Study

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Annesa Flentje, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the UCSF School of Nursing, Department of Community Health Systems. Annesa completed her PhD at the University of Montana and pre- and post-doctoral fellowships at UCSF. Annesa is a clinical psychologist who focuses on reducing health disparities among sexual and gender minority individuals. Her research has targeted multiple ways to reduce these disparities including prevention, increasing visibility of sexual and gender minorities in research and electronic health records, and improving mental health services for sexual and gender minorities. She has developed an individually delivered psychotherapeutic intervention to reduce sexual minority stress and is investigating this as a means to improve both health and mental health outcomes for sexual minorities. Annesa is funded through a K23 Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse investigating the underlying physiological pathways whereby stress and discrimination are related to deleterious health outcomes.

Annesa is thrilled to be a part of The PRIDE Study as a means to give voice to the physical and mental health needs of the diverse sexual and gender minority community.

Staff

Darren Arquero, MA

LGBTQ COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

PRIDEnet

Darren Arquero, MA

LGBTQ Communications Specialist PRIDEnet

Pronouns: he, him, his

Darren Arquero, MA uses the power of storytelling to advance multidisciplinary research for strategic communications and impactful change. With a decade of nonprofit experience, he serves as the LGBTQ Communications Specialist for PRIDEnet.

Prior to joining the PRIDE team, Darren served as a Butler Koshland Fellow to Kate Kendell at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) where he focused on strategic messaging through a broad range of issues affecting LGBTQ people and their families, including nondiscrimination in employment and the transgender military ban under the Trump administration. Through NCLR’s Born Perfect campaign to end conversion therapy, Darren successfully secured coverage for conversion therapy survivors in national news and media outlets including The Advocate, Teen Vogue, and Colorlines.

Darren also served as a Research Fellow to Director john a. powell (lowercase spelling) at the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, where he prepared public and private presentations for high-profile clients including the Ford Foundation and the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative under the Obama administration. Before the Haas Institute, he worked as a Network and Research Associate at Race Forward, writing as the primary author for the report “Better Together in the South: Building Movements across Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation."

Originally from Sugar Land, Texas, Darren is also a communications consultant at the Arcus Foundation and an associate curator at the GLBT History Museum, and currently serves on the board of directors for the CHEER For Life Foundation in San Francisco. He earned his BA degree from Rice University and an MA degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where he is currently a PhD candidate.

Darren is excited to develop and implement initiative-level digital community strategy and content aimed at educating and improving the physical, mental, and social health of LGBTQ and SGM communities with the PRIDE team.

Mahri Bahati, MPH

LGBTQ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

PRIDEnet

Mahri Bahati, MPH

LGBTQ Community Engagement Specialist PRIDEnet

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Mahri Bahati, MPH is a creative and passionate public health professional with extensive experience across the HIV/AIDS continuum of care, including anti-retroviral medication access, HIV prevention and surveillance, harm reduction, and community mobilization. Most recently she worked for the Global Forum on MSM and HIV as Public Health Advisor where she developed and managed a global capacity building project to facilitate organizational development and build self-sustainability for trans-led organizations throughout the global south. Her professional interests include sexual and gender minority health equity, HIV treatment adherence, PrEP access, and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections.

Mahri earned her Master of Public Health degree at the University of Kentucky in 2013, with a focus in Epidemiology. As an undergrad she began volunteering with local HIV/AIDS non-profits which sparked a professional interest in public health along with a lifelong interest in volunteering and community organizing.

Mahri is excited to join the PRIDE team as the All of Us Research Program Engagement Navigator, where she will work to engage 'yet to be reached’ sexual and gender minority sub-communities who are new to health research, who have experienced barriers in accessing healthcare, or who have had negative research experiences.

Zubin Dastur, MS, MPH

LGBTQ DIGITAL CLINICAL RESEARCH MANAGER

The PRIDE Study/PRIDEnet

Zubin Dastur, MS, MPH

LGBTQ Digital Clinical Research Manager The PRIDE Study/PRIDEnet

Pronouns: he, him, his

Zubin Dastur, MS, MPH is the LGBTQ Digital Clinical Research Manager of The PRIDE Study in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Zubin joins PRIDE with 14 years of clinical research management experience. He is honored and humbled to be part of such an impactful and important endeavor to help underrepresented, underreported, and underserved LGBTQ populations that have been historically known to be stigmatized, ostracized, and victimized.

Zubin believes in promoting health and wellbeing through cutting-edge, evidence-based empirical research. At Columbia School of Social Work, he worked with disenfranchised and low-income families by implementing socially-driven prevention trials in New York. At Cornell Medical College, he helped introduce survey technology in HIV/AIDS community-based hospital clinics in Queens and the Bronx. He managed multiple therapeutic trials that offered innovative therapies for all subtypes of breast cancer at Yale School of Medicine (Comprehensive Cancer Center) and Yale-New Haven Hospital. He has also managed multi-million-dollar NIH/NCI-funded, pharmaceutical-sponsored, and investigator-initiated trials at New York University (Cardiology) and University of Hawaii (Oncology). Zubin has been trained in providing culturally-responsive care for transgender and gender non-binary communities at Harvard School of Medicine.

Zubin earned a Master of Science (MS) degree in Health Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Alabama Birmingham. He hopes to get his PhD in LGBTQ Studies in the future to reduce healthcare inequities and health disparities among sexual, gender, and racial minority and marginalized populations.

In his spare time, Zubin loves to lounge on a beach, try different cuisines, travel to Paris, and incessantly watch British comedies. He comes to Stanford from Kaiser Permanente Hawai’i where he learned the importance of Social Work, and hopes to spread the Hawaiian principles of aloha (love), mahalo (thankfulness), and ho’ihi (respect).

Carolyn Hunt, MPA

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

PRIDEnet

Carolyn Hunt, MPA

Community Engagement Director PRIDEnet

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Carolyn Hunt, MPA is fascinated with developing ways to help diverse groups of people connect, address power imbalances, problem-solve, and take positive action together.

She has worked in community collaborative research settings for more than 20 years, starting at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), moving to non-profits, and ultimately landing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She has managed projects in LGBTQ smoking cessation and alcohol and drug treatment and prevention and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Carolyn’s academic background includes Ethnic Studies and public and non-profit management. She has received national fellowships in African American Studies and public management as well as awards for her LGBT activism.

Carolyn is thrilled to serve as Community Engagement Director for PRIDEnet.

Micah Lubensky, PhD

PARTICIPANT ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study/PRIDEnet

Micah Lubensky, PhD

Participant Engagement Director The PRIDE Study/PRIDEnet

Pronouns: he, him, his

Micah Lubensky, PhD has always held a deep passion for and dedication to social justice for sexual and gender minority, racial/ethnic minority, and low-income communities. These passions helped motivate his graduate education at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and manifest his career as an applied social psychologist.

After completing his doctorate, Micah spent almost 10 years at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) as the Community Mobilization Manager, working predominantly with low-income African American SGM communities across the San Francisco Bay Area. His efforts focused on community education around HIV risk and holistic well-being, advocacy for increasing health resources specific to HIV and holistic health broadly, and building and sustaining African American SGM community.

After SFAF but before arriving at The PRIDE Study, Micah worked for the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (now called M-PACT) as the Community Development Manager. At M-PACT, Micah managed a global consortium of 10 regional and global networks of advocacy organizations that served SGM communities in resource-poor locations around the world (essentially everywhere except Western Europe and North America). There, Micah coordinated the consortium to harmonize efforts on HIV and human rights policy advocacy, HIV health resources, and political activism by SGM community members around the world.

Micah arrived on The PRIDE Study / PRIDEnet team in 2016 as the Program Manager. In his first two years, he was deeply involved in most aspects of our efforts, from development of the Annual Questionnaires and planning the PRIDEnet Summits, to responding to participant inquiries, to helping pay the invoices! Micah is now excited to focus his efforts more on tracking and improving the Participant Experience in The PRIDE Study, in order to maximize long-term participant retention. This position provides a unique opportunity for him to integrate his community engagement and research skills to contribute to this project of immense potential.

PRIDEnet Participant Advisory Committee (PAC)

Ward Carpenter, MD

Pronouns: he, him, his

Dr. Ward Carpenter is a Board--Certified Internist and expert in HIV medicine, transgender medicine, and LGBT primary care. He earned his medical degree from UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School where he first discovered his passion for community health. He did his residency training in Medicine-Pediatrics at St Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. Following his passion for LGBT health and care for the underserved, he worked at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in NY, one of the premier LGBT health centers in the country. Dr. Carpenter then transitioned into private practice, taking over a busy HIV and primary care practice in Manhattan. Seeking an escape from NY’s long winters, Dr. Carpenter moved to Los Angeles in 2013 and returned to his LGBT community health roots, accepting a position as the Director of Primary Care at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. In this role, he continues to expand and optimize the Center’s offerings in primary care, HIV treatment and prevention, and transgender health.

Loree Cook-Daniels, MS

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Loree Cook-Daniels, FORGE’s Policy and Program Director, has helped design and co-facilitate FORGE’s multiple in-person and virtual support groups, research studies, and programs since 2000. She has been involved in advocacy, research, training, and services for LGBT populations since 1975, and is nationally-known for her writing, training, and policy work on LGBT aging, trauma and trauma recovery, and transgender issues. She co-chairs the Policy Committee of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs and serves on the National LGBT Aging Roundtable. Cook-Daniels holds a B.A. in women’s studies and history, an M.S. in conflict management, and a post-graduate Certificate in trauma counseling.

Laura Durso, PhD

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Laura E. Durso is Vice President of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress. Using public health and intersectional frameworks, she focuses on the health and well-being of LGBT communities, data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity, and improving the social and economic status of LGBT people through public policy.

Prior to joining the Center for American Progress, Laura was a public policy fellow at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, where she conducted research on the LGBT community, including LGBT homeless and at-risk youth, poor and low-income LGBT people, and the business impact of LGBT-supportive policies. Earlier in her career, Laura conducted research on the health impact of weight-based discrimination. Her research has been published in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, including Sexuality Research and Social Policy, Obesity, and the International Journal of Eating Disorders, and she has presented her work at both national and international conferences.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University as well as master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

Porsha Hall, MPH, MA

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Porsha Hall is the Program Manager for Health and Wellness at Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE), where she oversees and evaluates the health management, exercise, and nutrition programming for the organization's five senior centers located throughout New York City. At SAGE, she also assisted with the evaluation of the nation’s first federally-funded National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. She has worked in the fields of aging and health education for over a decade, conducting gerontological health research in academic institutions, providing case management to homebound older adults, and working as a fitness consultant for community-dwelling retirees. She holds an MPH in Community Health Education from Hunter College and an MA in Gerontology from Georgia State University.

Tari Hanneman, MPA

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Tari Hanneman is the Director of the Health Equality Project at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. In this role she oversees the annual LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) and other projects related to LGBTQ health and aging.

Tari has over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, primarily focused in the areas of health and women’s issues. Prior to joining HRC, she served as the initial Director of The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem where she led all aspects of developing The Fund’s programs and brand in the community. Prior to her move to North Carolina, she served in a number of roles at The California Endowment, one of the nation's largest health foundations. She has also worked for elected officials and non-profits focused on the environment, reproductive rights and HIV. She has a Master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis on Nonprofit Management from the University of Southern California, where she also did her undergraduate work.

Gabe Murchison, MPH

Pronouns: he, him, his

Gabe is a doctoral student in Population Health Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His research interests include mental health and substance use among LGBTQ youth, and the primary prevention of sexual and dating violence in teens and young adults. Previously, Gabe was Senior Research Manager at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, where his publications included Supporting & Caring For Transgender Children, a guide co-published with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians; and Preventing Substance Use Among LGBTQ Teens, co-published with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. He holds a BA in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and an MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Yale University.

Tonia Poteat, PhD, PA-C, MPH

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Tonia Poteat is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in the Department of International Health. Her research, teaching, and practice focus on HIV and LGBT health with particular attention to transgender health. She completed her doctoral dissertation on stigma, HIV risk, and access to health care for transgender adults, co-authored a global meta-analysis examining the burden of HIV among transgender women worldwide, and is lead author of a comprehensive review of HIV among transgender sex workers in The Lancet HIV and Sex Workers series. In addition to her academic work, she provides medical care for people living with HIV at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Poteat graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1991 and received a Masters of Medical Science from Emory University’s Physician Assistant (PA) Program in 1995. She earned a Masters of Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health in 2007 and completed a PhD in the Social and Behavioral Interventions Program in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2012. During her 20 years as a PA, she has devoted her practice to providing medically appropriate and culturally competent care to members of the LGBT community as well as people living with HIV. Dr. Poteat is a certified HIV Specialist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine; and she has provided primary care for trans-identified individuals since 1996.

Asa Radix, MD, MPH, MPhil

Pronouns: he, him, his, they, them, their, theirs

Dr. Asa Radix is trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Connecticut, and also holds postgraduate qualifications in tropical medicine and public health. Previously Dr. Radix held the position of Associate Medical Director at Callen-Lorde. In addition to having a clinical practice (HIV primary care and transgender health), Asa coordinates electives in LGBT health for medical and nursing students and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at NYU and Yale.

Dr. Radix is of West Indian origin and has a special interest in the needs of LGBT populations of immigrant status. For 7 years, Asa was the director of a public health department in the Netherlands Antilles and assisted in the development of insular strategic plans for HIV prevention as well as federal guidelines for communicable disease prevention. Other positions prior to Callen-Lorde have included being the medical director at the University of Hartford, serving a population of 5,000 undergraduates under 24 years of age and being an infectious disease specialist in private practice in West Hartford, Connecticut. A major focus of Dr. Radix’ work has been the development and dissemination of prevention, treatment and care guidelines for HIV+ and at-risk persons in the Caribbean including provision of LGBT cultural competency training to Caribbean healthcare providers.

Dr. Radix is an associate editor of Transgender Health and member of the editorial boards for the International Journal of Transgenderism and the PRN Notebook. Other contributions include being a consultant for the World Health Organization/PAHO on transgender health issues and the co-chair of the WHO/PAHO HIV/STI technical advisory committee. Dr. Radix is the site-PI/co-investigator for 3 NIH/NIMH studies, including a demonstration project on PrEP.

Javier Ríos, MA

Pronouns: he, him, his

Javier Ríos was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is a New Mexican of diverse Irish, Mexican, and LGBTQ background. Javier joined UNM Truman Health Services in the Manzano School Based Health Center as the Health Educator in October 2016, bringing 11 years of non-profit and government experience focused in health equity, HIV/AIDS prevention, harm reduction, immigrant health, and cultural humility. In 2017 and 2013 Javier participated in the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission program Líderes a través de las Fronteras/Leaders across Borders addressing binational and border health. Since 2005 Javier has worked in HIV/AIDS prevention with LGBTQ+ communities of color focusing in community organizing, outreach, and education. His community recognitions include the 2013 Pride and Equality Vincent R. Johnson Models of Hope Award, the 2012 NMCPAG Kahlo Benavidez Leadership Award, and service as a 2012 HIV/AIDS Embajador/Ambassador for the National Latino AIDS Action Network at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. Currently Javier is the Communications Chair of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities Region VI Southwest RHEC, as well as the co-chair for the Immigrant Committee of the City of Santa Fe. Javier earned his M.A. in Spanish: Southwest Studies from the University of New Mexico in 2005 where he taught Spanish as a Heritage Language. Javier received his B.A. from Creighton University in 2001. Javier is excited to be a part of The PRIDE Study team that cultivates health awareness of our diverse LGBTQ+ communities.

Shalonda Ingram

Pronouns: s/he

Leveraging decades of experience, Shalonda Ingram is an innovator who embodies the mantra: Strategize. Design. Produce.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Shalonda is committed to cultivating collective consciousness and empowering communities to take actions that transform their circumstances. Shalonda has deployed worldwide to produce transformative experiences with artists, activists, and changemakers. Native to grassroots activism, Shalonda serves social justice, spiritual, and corporate organizations to explore network effect and elevate opportunities for resource sharing. Shalonda influences existing structures to create collaborative environments for communities to thrive. Shalonda is honored to serve Queer+ Communities in the areas of arts presenting, wellness research, placemaking and enterprise development.

Charlie Solidum

Pronouns: he, him, his

Charlie Solidum joins the PRIDEnet PAC with over 12 years of direct service experience in HIV/AIDS and LGBT health. As a lifelong activist and grassroots organizer, Charlie is deeply invested in utilizing participatory research methods to empower vulnerable communities. Before starting his current position as a Research Associate at Hunter College's HIV/AIDS Research Team (HART), he served as the Linkage Coordinator for Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, navigating newly-diagnosed HIV-positive youth into primary care. A firm believer in interventions that come directly from the communities they serve, Charlie co-founded The Tool Shed in 2016, NYC's first and only in-person support group for transmasculine-spectrum individuals dedicated specifically to discussing issues related to phalloplasty, metoidioplasty, and related surgical procedures.

PRIDEnet Ambassadors

Louie Francesco / 瑠威明 Francesco

LGBT DISABILITY ACTIVIST, SPEAKER

TRANSLATOR

Between English & Japanese

Louie Francesco / 瑠威明 Francesco

LGBT Disability Activist, Speaker

Translator Between English & Japanese

Pronouns: he, him, his

Full Name: 瑠威 (Louie) 明 (Akira) Blaise Francesco

Gender: Trans Man

Condition:
Autistic Spectrum Condition (In Britain, it’s called a condition, rather than disorder)

Also struggling with Autistic Catatonia

Also Colorblind for most colors

Translator: Between English & Japanese

Ever since he was 5, Louie has been a loyal Seattle Mariners fan. Louie is from Eastern Asia but grew up all over the world—including England, New Zealand, S. Korea, and Canada—but most of his time was spent in Michigan, with brief experience in Kentucky. Louie has been heavily involved in Call To Action (cta-usa.org) on Young Adult Leadership and as a board member for CTA's Vision Council. Louie also worked as with young adult leadership for Dignity USA.

Jamison Green, PhD

CONSULTANT

Transgender Strategies Consulting, LLC

Jamison Green, PhD

Consultant Transgender Strategies Consulting, LLC

Pronouns: he/him

Jamison Green, Ph.D. (Equalities Law), M.F.A. (Creative Writing) is an author/educator/activist specializing in equitable and appropriate healthcare access, workplace issues, and social safety for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. He transitioned from female to male in 1988 when he was 40 years old and has been a transgender policy thought leader in the U.S. since 1992, though he started pushing the queer and non-binary envelope in 1966. He has encouraged trans people and their friends and families and inspired activists, artists, and writers globally through film, print, and speaking appearances since 1996 with the global release of the documentary “You Don’t Know Dick.” While working in corporate management positions for 30 years, he has also served on numerous non-profit governing boards and is a former elected President of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), having served a total of 15 years on the board of that Association. Through his consulting firm, Transgender Strategies Consulting, LLC (aka Jamison Green & Associates), he has advised businesses ranging from small shops to multi-national corporations, as well as government agencies and educational institutions, on respectful equality for trans and gender-nonconforming people as employees, clients, and customers. His award-winning book, Becoming a Visible Man, (2004, Vanderbilt University Press) chronicles the rise of trans men’s community consciousness and (in)visibility. He has published numerous scholarly articles and received many awards. He is currently working on several new books (both fiction and non-fiction) and consults part-time. He also enjoys doing occasional expert witness work in employment discrimination litigation on behalf of trans and non-binary people. A native of Oakland, CA, he lives with his wife in Vancouver, Washington, and is the proud father of two adult children.

Scott Lumry

Pronouns: he, him, his

Mr. Lumry is presently being clocked at age 60+. He is a gay man and recent widow. He and his husband have maintained good and honest relationships with their health care providers, from physical therapists to primary care physicians, and all providers in between. Mr. Lumry brings a passion for making more resources workable for our LGBTQ+ members and their families who live in rural communities.

Daryl Mangosing, MPH

DOCTORAL STUDENT, PUBLIC HEALTH

UC Berkeley

Daryl Mangosing, MPH

Doctoral Student, Public Health UC Berkeley

Pronouns: he, him, his

Daryl Mangosing, MPH is currently a graduate student in the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program at the University of California Berkeley. Prior, he has worked for over three and a half years at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) and Prevention Research Center (PRC) in the Division of Prevention Science at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where he drove communication efforts and disseminated HIV prevention and public health research. As a queer Filipino-American born and raised on the island of Guam, he pursued his health sciences degree at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky with a full-tuition scholarship in 2013. Afterwards, he attended Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated in 2015 with an MPH, concentrating in health communication. During his time at Tufts, he served as a Research Coordinator for the former Center for Global Public Health, Teaching Assistant in mobile health design, and Consultant at the Harvard School of Public Health. He then relocated to the Bay Area to work full-time at UCSF CAPS/PRC. Daryl is dedicated to supporting local queer events and community efforts, particularly those pertaining to Asian and Pacific Islanders and his fellow people of color. Daryl’s research interests lie within the intersection of LGBTQ health disparities, identity and intersectionality, community engagement, and public health discourse.

Raisa S. Negrón

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Raisa S. Negrón earned a BA in Psychology from Eastern Connecticut State University. She has spent the majority of her career as a sexuality educator teaching and improving the sexual health needs of many individuals working with non-profits, private sector and as a consultant. With 20 years of experience, Raisa shares that body image, sexual expression, including our overall health are inter- connected and an integral part of who we are. Acknowledging our individual culture plays a role, too. When these are in alignment, and we have un-learned negative behaviors, we begin to feel more satisfaction with our bodies and ourselves. Raisa currently works in HIV prevention, specifically adolescent health, LGBTQ* youth, along with persons struggling with tobacco, alcohol, other substance misuse to improve their health outcomes. Raisa speaks Spanish, is a qualified medical interpreter and trainer in the healthcare industry.

Hanh Nguyen

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Hanh Nguyen was born and raised in San Jose, California. As the daughter of refugee parents, she experienced disparities in health and privilege which motivate her to pursue a career at the intersection of medicine, public health, and social justice. She attended the University of California Davis where she graduated with a BS in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. She returned to San Jose to work in education, health engagement, and outreach among the community she grew up in. She is now gaining clinical experience while working as a scribe at a hospital and health center. In her free time, she practices yoga, reads, eats, and helps facilitate a community for queer Christians.

Nancy VanReece

COUNCILMEMBER

Nashville and Davidson County Metro

VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Batch Nashville, LLC

Nancy VanReece

Councilmember Nashville and Davidson County Metro

Vice President of Business Development Batch Nashville, LLC

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Nancy VanReece is the first openly out lesbian elected to a legislative body in the State of Tennessee. She is the Nashville and Davidson County Metro Councilmember responsible for surging popularity and citizen activism in District 8, which includes parts of North Inglewood, Maplewood, and Madison. She served as Chair of the Convention, Tourism Committee and is now Vice-Chair of the Parks, Libraries & Arts Committee. She is an At-Large Board Member of the National League of Cities Local Officials constituency group and was appointed by the Mayor's Office onto the Metro Nashville Diversity Advisory Council.

The Victory Institute says this: "Each day since Council Member VanReece has been a tireless champion for the people of Nashville’s 8th District – laser-focused on bringing regional investments and opportunity to her constituents."

Hon. Nancy VanReece is also the Vice President of Business Development at Batch Nashville, LLC.—a brand builder and advocate that concentrates on client experience—and is a national speaker on issues such as online marketing, social media communications, and branding. In 2015 she was added as a speaker to the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs.

VanReece was also a trailblazer for more than 25 years in the music business and was the 2017 recipient for the Stein Award for Public Leadership in the Arts, awarded by the Nashville Arts Coalition.. She served as the Executive Director/CEO of The Nashville Shakespeare Festival from 2007-2009; the first Senior Director of Partnership Development at Cool People Care, Inc.; and as a strategist for GivingMatters.com, and the Nashville Library Foundation. She was the first new media consultant on record for the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee.

Lou Weaver

CO-DIRECTOR

TransFORWARD

LGBTQ COMMITTEE CO-LEAD

Doctors for Change

Lou Weaver

Co-Director TransFORWARD

LGBTQ Committee Co-lead Doctors for Change

Pronouns: he, him, his

Lou Weaver is a queer transgender man and a leader in Houston’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. Lou is a sought-after speaker on transgender topics across Texas. With trans healthcare as a key component of his advocacy portfolio, he has helped educate healthcare providers and medical student groups on culturally competent care for the LGBTQ communities. Lou is an engaging and thoughtful facilitator of tough, personal conversations on sexual and gender minorities.

Advisors

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS is the Lee Goldman, MD Endowed Chair in Medicine and Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is the Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at San Francisco General Hospital, a Board Member of UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), Director of the CTSI Clinical and Translational Science Training (CTST) Program and a faculty member for its K Scholar Program. She is the PI of two collaborative center grants from the NIH/NIMHD - the Center for Health And Risk in Minority youth and adults (CHARM) addressing disparities in chronic disease in youth and young adults, and BUILD an infrastructure and training grant with San Francisco State University. She is also the joint PI of Bring It Down - an NIH/NINDS U54 research center addressing stroke prevention and stroke disparities in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente Northern California. A general internist at San Francisco General Hospital and faculty member in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Dr. Bibbins-Domingo has expertise in cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes risk in young adults. Her work focuses on racial, ethnic and income differences in manifestations of chronic disease; the intersection of biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that influence risk; and effective clinical, public health, and policy interventions aimed at prevention. Dr. Bibbins-Domingo has interest in local, national, and global prevention efforts and has collaborated with investigators in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and China. She has been a member of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) since 2010 and is currently the Chairperson of the USPSTF. She is an inducted member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

David Glidden, PhD

Pronouns: he, him, his

Dave Glidden is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco with over 20 years of collaborations with investigators in HIV Treatment, HIV Prevention, Pediatrics and Neurology.

Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH

Pronouns: he, him, his

Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH is a Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). As an epidemiologist and a general internal medicine physician, his research is designed to inform clinical decision-making and policy. This work focuses on prevention of cardiovascular disease with particular interests in early life causes of atherosclerosis, primordial and primary coronary heart disease and stroke prevention, clinical decision-making regarding use of preventive medications (statins and anti-hypertensives), and screening for subclinical cardiovascular disease. He serves as a principal investigator for the Health eHeart Study, an online technology-enabled cardiovascular cohort study. Dr. Pletcher has specific expertise in study design, decision and cost-effectiveness analysis, risk prediction, and evaluating the clinical utility of biomarkers. He utilizes this expertise in his leading role with UCSF’s nationally recognized clinical research training programs by teaching clinical research methods as well mentoring students, fellows, and junior faculty members.

Jae Sevelius, PhD

MEDICAL STUDENT Stanford University School of Medicine

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Rose Wong is a second-year MD student at Stanford Medicine, as well as an advocate for sexual and gender minority (SGM) communities and mental health de-stigmatization: she is a Point Foundation, George Benes Scholarship recipient for LGBT leadership in medicine. At the medical school, she currently focuses on creating safer spaces for vulnerability and honesty in medical education through the arts, teaching, and community-building: she is the founder of Stanford Medicine’s Vital Signs reflection groups, co-president of Stanford Medicine’s Arts Collective (SMAC), an NBIO-206 Neurosciences TA for the Stanford Science of Medicine course, and an Ears-4-Peers peer counselor for her fellow MD/MSPA students. In past lives, she had graduated with highest honors in English from the University of Connecticut Honors Program, and before then was recognized in the New York Times and other mainstream media organizations for her role in shaping admissions policies at Smith and other historical women’s colleges to become inclusive of transgender women. Her journey to medicine has included work in diverse non-profits like GLAAD, the national LGBT media monitoring organization, and SPARK, an intergenerational feminist organization dedicated to empowering women and rewriting heterosexist cultural narratives.

Rose is excited to bring her enthusiasm and dedication to learning to the PRIDE team: as a Medical Scholars grant recipient, she will be characterizing cardiovascular health profiles and risk in SGM communities using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 cardiovascular health metric. She is professionally interested in clinical research on the long-term health outcomes of SGM people, medical education, as well as the fields of neurology and endocrinology.

The PRIDE Study thanks its former team members for their contributions:

Seema Bhaka,
Matthew Beld,
Jeffrey Ferrell,
Katie Katuzny,
Sophie Lieberman,
Naeemah Logan,
Rowan Lowden,
Ariane Marcus,
Ruth McFarlane,
Satyanand Satyanarayana,
Dennis Xiong

A Message from the Directors

My interest in LGBTQ+ health began in medical school when I became frustrated about how little we knew about the healthcare inequities LGBTQ+ people face. As an out gay man, I feel connected to LGBTQ+ populations with a sense of responsibility to improve the quality of the data available with the overarching goal to improve health. Our research showed that medical students are taught little about LGBTQ+-related health, but a new question arose: what are the LGBTQ+-related health topics that must be taught to the physician workforce? That question requires notable evidence about the disparities, and these data are unavailable.

In 2011, the Institute of Medicine composed a report on LGBT health, which stated: “The relative lack of population-based data presents the greatest challenge to describing the health status and health-related needs of LGBT people.” That quote is particularly powerful to me and serves as a call to action! Unfortunately, sexual and gender minorities remain largely excluded from national demographic assessments, health studies, and clinical trials. Without long-term longitudinal studies, detailing the factors that influence health and disease in the LGBTQ+ populations will be challenging. But I believe that current scientific and sociopolitical environments are ripe for change!

The time is now for all LGBTQ+ people to come out for PRIDE! By doing so, we can get the data we need to improve health for everyone!

- Mitchell R. Lunn

I never intended to focus my time on LGBTQ+ health. But as an out lesbian, I knew that, regardless of what I did professionally, I needed to know how to take care of my friends and the members of my communities that I care so much about. I had lesbian friends who developed cervical cancer even though they “weren’t supposed to.” I had trans friends who were having kids even though medical science said they “couldn’t,” and I had gay friends who were more worried about their risk of heart disease than HIV but couldn’t get the information they needed. So, when the topic of LGBTQ+ health issues never came up in my medical training, I got fired up to start researching and advocating for LGBTQ+ health beyond my circle of friends.

But the more I looked, the more I found a lot of dangerous misinformation and unanswered questions. I found that LGBTQ+ people were categorized and stigmatized, but our experiences were never understood. Medical science seemed blind to the uniquely beautiful and challenging ways that LGBTQ+ people have navigated and created their lives.

It is time for us to be counted. It is time for medical science to understand our health so we get the care and services we need.

This is what The PRIDE Study is all about, a chance to put LGBTQ+ lives front and center so we can ask and answer the questions that matter to us.

THE TEAM

Created for us, by us.

Directors

CO-DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

CO-DIRECTOR

PRIDEnet

Mitchell R. Lunn, MD, MAS

CO-DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

CO-DIRECTOR

PRIDEnet

Juno Obedin-Maliver, MD, MPH, MAS

Associate Directors

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

Matthew Capriotti, PhD

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

UCSF SITE DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study

Annesa Flentje, PhD

Staff

LGBTQ COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

PRIDEnet

Darren Arquero, MA

LGBTQ COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

PRIDEnet

Mahri Bahati, MPH

LGBTQ DIGITAL CLINICAL RESEARCH MANAGER

The PRIDE Study/PRIDEnet

Zubin Dastur, MS, MPH

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

PRIDEnet

Carolyn Hunt, MPA

PARTICIPANT ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

The PRIDE Study/PRIDEnet

Micah Lubensky, PhD

PRIDEnet Participant Advisory Committee (PAC)

Ward Carpenter, MD

Loree Cook-Daniels, MS

Laura Durso, PhD

Porsha Hall, MPH, MA

Tari Hanneman, MPA

Gabe Murchison, MPH

Tonia Poteat, PhD, PA-C, MPH

Asa Radix, MD, MPH, MPhil

Javier Ríos, MA

Shalonda Ingram

Charlie Solidum

PRIDEnet Ambassadors

LGBT DISABILITY ACTIVIST, SPEAKER

TRANSLATOR

Between English & Japanese

Louie Francesco / 瑠威 明 Francesco

CONSULTANT

Transgender Strategies Consulting, LLC

Jamison Green, PhD

Scott Lumry

DOCTORAL STUDENT, PUBLIC HEALTH

UC Berkeley

Daryl Mangosing, MPH

Raisa S. Negrón

Hanh Nguyen

COUNCILMEMBER

Nashville and Davidson County Metro

VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Batch Nashville, LLC

Nancy VanReece

CO-DIRECTOR

TransFORWARD

LGBTQ COMMITTEE CO-LEAD

Doctors for Change

Lou Weaver

Advisors

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS

David Glidden, PhD

Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH

Jae Sevelius, PhD

Volunteer Research Assistants

Louie Francesco / 瑠威明 Francesco