Expertise you can trust. Insight that drives better care.

Dr. Bartel (he/him/his) is a licensed clinical psychologist and LGBTQ+ health educator and consultant. He provides affirmative counseling to the LGBTQ+ community and specializes in gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) and gender-affirming surgery evaluations/letters of support. He also provides consultation and education on the LGBTQ+ community to medical and mental health professionals, students, community members, businesses, and allies. 

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Richard Cancio (he/his/el) is a public health educator focused on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC health equity. Being queer and Latinx, Richard pairs lived experience and a strong background in serving marginalized populations to promote equitable, accessible care. Richard holds a Master’s degree in Public Health and has a decade of multidisciplinary experience serving communities as a Peace Corps volunteer, LGBTQ+ advocate, and in non-profit operations. Richard is the founder of PinkSlash Partners, an organization of symbiotic partnerships dedicated to creating and improving diverse, culturally competent communities.

Beth Gladstone (she/her) is a clinical social worker and therapist. She provides therapy for adolescents, adults, and couples as well as parent coaching, and draws on modalities that include Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) as well as Relational and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. With experience in private practice, community based mental health clinics, and a hospital psychiatry department, Beth has had the opportunity to work with people of different racial, ethnic, religious, sexuality, gender, and physical ability identities. She has specialized experience working with the LGBTQ+ community and adolescents, as well as with anxiety management, healing from trauma, life transitions, and improving relationships.

Dr. Farzana A. Faisal (she/her) is a urologist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was awarded the Physician Scientist Research Award from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 2019 for her research focused on the biological determinants of racial disparities in prostate cancer. Her work has identified several molecular subtypes and genomic alterations of prostate cancer that are unique to African-American men.

Tesiah Coleman, MSN, WHNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, CLC (she/her/hers) is an innovative and results-oriented leader in digital health, a health equity strategist, educator, and a compassionate facilitator of difficult conversations. Tesiah grounds all her work in racial justice and intersectionality, and is adept at developing multidisciplinary partnerships across growing organizations in the pursuit of a better and more just health care system. She has her Master’s of Science in Nursing from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and is a licensed and certified nurse practitioner, doula, and lactation counselor.

Dr. Erin Grinshteyn is an associate professor in the School of Nursing and Health Professions, where she teaches a variety of courses in the MPH program. Her primary research interest relates to fear of crime and fear of violent victimization, and the association of fear with a variety of health outcomes. She is particularly interested in population-based health disparities associated with fear of violence and specifically examines these topics among older adults. Erin also does work examining neighborhood characteristics associated with fear of victimization.

Jessica Halem (she/her) is an award-winning educator, advocate, and consultant on LGBTQ+ issues and inclusive communication strategies with accolades from GLMA, Harvard, Howard Brown Health, and The Advocate magazine. Previously, Jessica ran the Lesbian Community Cancer Project in Chicago where she implemented the nation’s first cultural competency trainings for the CDC and served on then-candidate Obama’s first LGBT Advisory Committee.

B Harriman (he/him/they/them) is an experienced creator, facilitator, and speaker specializing in support for TGNC and LGBQ+ youth and adults. Growing up as a transmasculine, nonbinary and latinx kid, B saw little reflection of himself in the world. That experience is part of the inspiration behind all of B’s work and they find great joy in creating community, sharing reaources, and teaching tools to other TGNCNB folks. B is also the artist, writer and creator of a series of books and activities about a gender expansive hero named Mischief who’s on a mission to change the world.

Felix Gabriel Lopez (he/him) is a researcher and interdisciplinary innovator driven to enhance human behavior. By holding a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine at Columbia and a Master of Art in Psychology at The New School for Social Research, coupled with ten years of professional experience, Felix engages in sectors involving technology, human behavior, research, and consulting. For Violet, Felix has been developing our education around antiracism in medicine and the BIPOC community.

Jesse Kahn (they/them/he/him) is a licensed psychotherapist and sex therapist, and works with individuals, couples and multiple-partner relationships. They are the Founder and Director of the Gender and Sexuality Therapy Center.

Luke Keating (he/him/his) is an interdisciplinary researcher, educator, and clinician with a passion for understanding and addressing health disparities. His research efforts focus on social determinants of health and the impacts of systemic, cultural, and interpersonal stressors on health and well-being. Luke’s professional background in clinical psychology and his teaching and research work in university, hospital, and community settings provide a broad perspective on contributors to health disparities, clinician and patient communication, and innovations to improve population health and health care delivery.

Rahin Khandker (she/her) is a behavioral scientist, heading up the global health division at Ideas42, a non-profit that uses insights from behavioral science to improve lives, build better systems and policies, and drive social change. She holds an MPA in International Development from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and previously did research at Stanford and Vanderbilt for human trafficking studies.

Jennifer Lagemann (she/her) is a writer and researcher in the caregiving and long-term care space, with over seven years of experience in senior care in all different layers (family caregiver, family member of care recipient, administrator/care manager). She is a content creator and digital marketing expert, with a pro-aging philosophy that carries throughout all of her work.

Le’Andra LeSeur is a multidisciplinary artist whose work encompasses a range of media including video, installation, photography, painting, and performance. LeSeur’s body of work, a celebration of Blackness, queerness, and femininity, seeks to dismantle systems of power and achieve transcendence and liberation through perseverance. She is also the co-founder of The Flower Fund, a nonprofit aimed at breaking down barriers to accessing mental health care for Black women and non-binary individuals. Awards include Leslie-Lohman Museum Artists Fellowship (2019), the Time-Based Medium Prize as well as the Juried Grand Prize at Artprize 10 (2018).

Kay Nikiforova, MA (they/them) is the Head of Clinical at Violet and developed Violet's proprietary cultural competence benchmarking algorithm and education framework. Their research and clinical experience is focused on LGBTQ+ and TGNC identities, cultural competence and trauma exposure, and they’re currently pursuing their PhD in Clinical Psychology. Kay is passionate about leveraging technology and advocacy to advance identity-centered healthcare and create a more equitable healthcare system.

Founded in 2020, Just Health Collective is a health care consulting and digital engagement platform serving professionals and organizations interested in accelerating belonging in health (the intersection of health equity + diversity + inclusion). They were founded to help build a just health care system that is fair, impartial and representative of its community - giving employees a sense of inclusiveness, consumers a sense of trust and everyone the opportunity to achieve good health.