The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot. ~Audre Lorde
Bio Sketch (CV at bottom of page): I spent much of my twenties skiing, adventuring, traveling, working, skiing more, and eventually earning my Masters in Social Work from Columbia University in 2008. I then moved to Seattle in the fall of 2008 to be closer the family and friends and work in as a clinician, educator, and in policy with HIV/AIDS related issues. I’ve has since worked at Lifelong AIDS Alliance (now Lifelong), Highline Community College, and Public Health Seattle/King County.
I love to teach and mentor students and currently teach at the University of Washington and Bellevue College and was recently a Teaching Fellow in the Interprofessional Education Program across the Health Sciences schools at University of Washington, where I am entering into my sixth year of the doctoral program in the School of Social Work. In addition to my substantive expertise in social welfare policy and gender and sexuality, I am skilled at incorporating contemplative practices into social justice oriented education and have presented and facilitated workshops on the topic.
I’m also a research fellow through the National Institutes of Health Institute of Translational Health Sciences (NIH, ITHS). I serve as a member of the UW Presidents Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, the UW Student Safety Committee, the Washington Students’ Association Task Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, the Washington State HIV Materials Review Board, and the Susan G. Komen LGBTQ Health Advisory Board. I give public presentations and provides consultancy often and am deeply committed to partnering with communities to improve well-being and to make science accessible and relevant to diverse audiences.
I’m interested in exploring the social influences of behavior, decision making, and ultimately health among various populations. Substantively, my research focuses on exploring and expanding traditional conceptions of gender and sexuality norms with the aim of improving individual and population health and well-being. I recently completed a project exploring psychological aggression perpetration within intimate and sexual partnerships in emerging adulthood (18-30 years). I will expand this work to learn more about the embodied impacts of men's traditional gender role adherence (of which aggression perpetration is a part), and implications that that role adherence has for chronic health conditions for both men and their sexual partners. in addition, (and informed by my current research, as well as other work in diverse disciplines), I am exploring interventions to promote pro-social behavior and compassion cultivation to reduce violence and improve physical and mental health.
I love to ski, dance, do food experiments, pretend to be an ASTRONOMER, rock climb, do as much as possible outside, and practice and teach meditation and yoga. I have an incredible community of family and friends (many of whom live close!)