Our Team
Executive Director
Billy Caceres, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAHA
- Associate Professor of Nursing
Research Areas of Focus: Psychosocial stressors; Cardiovascular and sleep health across the lifespan
Co-Director
Walter Bockting, PhD, LP
- Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry and Nursing)
Research Areas of Focus: identity development across the lifespan, transgender health, SGM aging
Core Columbia Nursing Faculty
Jean-Marie Bruzzese, PhD
- Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology (in Nursing)
Research Areas of Focus: understanding and reducing health disparities in children and adolescents
Maureen George, PhD, AE-C, RN, FAAN
- Professor of Nursing at CUMC
Research Areas of Focus: community-based participatory research, health inequities, health beliefs, behavioral interventions
![Profile Headshot]( "Maureen George, PhD, AE-C, RN, FAAN")
Mary T Hickey, EdD, WHNP-BC, FNP-BC, RNC
- Professor of Nursing at CUMC
Research Areas of Focus: nursing education and curriculum innovation, competency-based education and assessment, artificial intelligence and technology-enhanced learning, simulation and interprofessional education
Kasey B. Jackman, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC, FAAN
- Associate Professor of Nursing at CUMC
Research Areas of Focus: Prevention and Treatment of Mental Health Disparities Among SGM People
Corina Lelutiu-Weinberger, PhD, MPhil, BA
- Associate Professor of Health Sciences Research (in Nursing)
Research Areas of Focus: racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minority health equity; stigma and discrimination; mental health; substance and alcohol use; HIV/AIDS continuum of prevention and care; global health; multi-level intervention research; mobile health technologies; implementation science
![Profile Headshot]( "Corina Lelutiu-Weinberger, PhD, MPhil, BA")
Natalya Pasklinsky, DNP, ACNP-BC, CHSE-A, FNYAM
- Associate Professor of Nursing at CUMC
Research Areas of Focus: interprofessional education; AI-driven simulation; standardized patient methodology; conflict de-escalation training; ambient AI documentation
Meghan Reading Turchioe, PhD, MPH, RN, FAHA
- Assistant Professor of Nursing
Research Area of Focus: digital Health and AI; cardiovascular disease; human-centered design; natural language processing/LLMs
![Profile Headshot]( "Meghan Reading Turchioe, PhD, MPH, RN, FAHA")
Core Columbia Affiliates
Alissa Davis, PhD
- Associate Professor of Social Work
Research Areas of Focus: citizen science approaches to improving access to and retention in HIV/STI, substance use, and mental health care for marginalized populations, digital interventions, and stigma reduction.
Jessie Ford, PhD
- Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
Research Areas of Focus: influences of expectations and inequalities around gender and sexuality on sexual health, violence, and pleasure
Patrick J. Lao, PhD
- Assistant Professor of Neurological Sciences (in Neurology and in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center)
Research Areas of Focus: neuroimaging and biofluid biomarkers, ontextual factors that capture relevant mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease in underrepresented and underserved groups
Sarah McKetta, MD, PhD
- Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Research Areas of Focus: structural stigma, behavioral health (including alcohol use, sexual health, and mental health), lifecourse approach, measurement, policy impacts and health dispartities
Founding Director
Tonda L. Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN
Research Areas of Focus: Sexual minority women's health; alcohol and substance use epidemiology; mental health outcomes
Fellows
Tyler Gaedecke, PhD, RN
- Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Access to care and healthcare teams for transgender and gender-diverse individuals, care delivery after gender-affirming surgery, mixed-methods research, social network analysis
Ann Godzwon, BSN, BA, MBA, RN
- Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: substance use disorders, pain management, psychiatric/mental health nursing and use of AI in balancing efficiency and humanistic care
Sophia Kalomeris, BSN, RN
- PhD Student
- Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Sexual minority women, improving sexual health outcomes by mitigating barriers to care, STD/STI status
Susan Maloney, BSN, RN
- PhD Candidate
- Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Transgender and gender diverse adolescent sexual health as it relates to policy at the school-, district-, and state-levels; gender diverse populations, pediatrics, sexuality and gender, and an intersectional approach to public policy
Nelson Omweno, MHA, BSN, RN
- Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: trustworthy and equitable artificial intelligence in health care; AI-enabled cardiovascular and mental health interventions; sexual and gender minority health; cardiovascular health; mixed-methods research.
Ana Vasquez, DNP, MPhil, RN, PMHNP-BC
- PhD Candidate
- Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Policy and mental health; immigrant and Latinx mental health; minority stress; culturally responsive, community-based interventions to advance mental health equity among SGM and other minoritized communities
Center Staff
Melis Baltaci
- Research Associate
Research Areas of Focus: cognitive processes, mental health outcomes and health disparities, neurological conditions
Bailey Middleton
- Research Coordinator
Lisa Pardee, MPH
- Research Program Manager
Research Areas of Focus: adverse childhood experiences, trauma-informed care, immigrant and asylee health, women’s health, sexual and gender-based violence, health disparities
Kassidy Wade, MPH
- Research Coordinator
Research Areas of Focus: sexual and reproductive health, sexual and gender minority health, community-based participatory research, health disparities, global health
Former Pre and Postdoctoral Fellows
April Ancheta, PhD, MSHP, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: SGM adolescent health, bullying and obesity-related health disparities
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Clinician Scholars Program at Penn and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute
Joseph Belloir, PhD, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: SGM mental health, relationship between traumatic/adverse experiences and sleep disturbances in transgender and nonbinary individuals
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Columbia University School of Nursing
Lauren Bochicchio, PhD, LCSW
- Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: mechanisms linking childhood sexual abuse and hazardous drinking among sexual minority women
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Social Work, College of Staten Island, City University of New York
Tyler Gaedecke, PhD, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Area of Focus: Access to care and healthcare teams for transgender and gender-diverse individuals, care delivery after gender-affirming surgery, mixed-methods research, social network analysis
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Psychiatric Epidemiology Training (PET) Program, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Jeremy D. Kidd, MD, MPH
- Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: clinical research, culturally adapted psychosocial interventions, alcohol use, opioid use, transgender health, medical education
Current position: Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Program Director, Mount Sinai Morningside/West Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship; Medical Director, Outpatient Treatment, The Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai West Hospital
Sarah Leonard, PhD, MSN, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Area of Focus: Intersectional discrimination as an underlying cause of SGM mental health disparities
Current position: T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Population Health Science Scholars Program, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
David Lopez Veneros, PhD, MA, BSN, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Mindfulness and mind-body connection, stress management, physical activity, cardiovascular health, and health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Yashika Sharma, PhD, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Impact of minority stress on substance use and mental health of SGM people
Current position: Assistant Professor, Elisabeth DeLuca School of Nursing, University of Connecticut
Kodiak Soled, PhD, MPhil, MSN, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Social support experiences among SGM+ childbearing individuals
Current position: Senior Evaluator, Seattle / King County Department Of Public Health
Cindy Veldhuis, PhD
- Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Role of intimate relationships in sexual minority women's alcohol use
Current position: Assistant Professor of Medical Social Sciences, Impact Institute, Northwestern University
Sarah Zollweg, PhD, RN
- Former Predoctoral Fellow
Research Areas of Focus: Structural influences on sexual minority women’s substance use and mental health
Current Position: Assistant Nurse Manager, Stanford Health
