Walter Bockting, Ph.D., leading expert in LGBT health, joins CU School of Nursing and College of Physicians and Surgeons faculty
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Walter Bockting, Ph.D., one of the world’s leading experts on gender identity development and transgender health, has been nominated to a tenure track position as Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University School of Nursing and at Columbia University Physicians and Surgeons. He will also serve as Co-Director of the newly launched Initiative for LGBT Health, based in the Division of Gender, Sexuality, and Health at the Department of Psychiatry, in close collaboration with the Columbia University School of Nursing.
“The ability to care for members of the LGBT community has emerged as an important feature of a healthcare provider’s core competency,” commented Bobbie Berkowitz, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., Dean of the Columbia University School of Nursing. “Dr. Bockting’s experience teaching clinicians to work knowledgably with this population is of tremendous value which will benefit both nursing and medical students as they prepare for their careers as clinicians.”
“The health care of LGBT persons historically has received insufficient attention. Columbia Psychiatry’s initiative in LGBT health is an effort to address this health care disparity with a particular emphasis on mental health needs. The recruitment of Dr. Bockting, a pioneer in advancing research relating to transgenderism and the sexual health of various sexual and ethnic minority populations, represents a key step in this initiative,” said Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Director of New York State Psychiatric Institute. “Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Bockting was the first to assess and address the HIV prevention needs of the transgender community, to affirm a spectrum of gender diversity in the delivery of transgender care, and to conduct a national study of the U.S. transgender population.”
“Dr. Bockting has played an integral role in developing our new Initiative for LGBT Health,” added Anke A. Ehrhardt, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Gender, Sexuality, and Health, “We look forward to him taking a leading role at Columbia University in developing research, clinical care, education and public policy relating to the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.”
Dr. Bockting received his doctoral degree in psychology from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For the last 20 years, he has directed the transgender health services at the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Bockting’s research interests include gender identity development, transgender health, sexuality and the Internet, and HIV prevention. His work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and the Minnesota Department of Health.
Dr. Bockting is the author of many scientific articles and textbook chapters, and editor of five books, including Transgender Health and HIV Prevention (Haworth Press, 2005) and Guidelines for Transgender Care (The Haworth Press, 2006). He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Transgenderism, Associate Editor of Sexual and Relationship Therapy, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Homosexuality, the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the International Journal of Sexual Health. He is past president and fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, as well as immediate past president and a member of the board of directors of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. (WPATH). In 2010-2011, Dr. Bockting served on the National Academies' Institute of Medicine Committee on LGBT health issues, research gaps and opportunities.