Introducing Summer Institute Participants (Final Batch)

by Nicole VanKim

Guest Blogger, Reporting from the Summer Institute 2011

I have introduced Summer Institute participants last week and the week before.

This week, I present to you the rest of the Summer Institute participants:

Tristan Guarini is a doctoral candidate in Suffolk University’s Clinical Psychology program. Tristan’s current work examines transgender identity formation in female-to-male individuals and aspects of psychological functioning, identity satisfaction, and gender identity-related social support. Tristan is also interested in access to healthcare in trans populations and its impact on variables such as psychological functioning, overall health, and identity satisfaction.

Amee Schwitters is a PhD candidate in Medical Anthropology at the University of Montana. Amee earned her BA in Anthropology from Washington State University and MPH in Community Health Education from New Mexico State University. Her research interests are in sexuality, public anthropology, and HIV prevention. Her current research investigates the role of the sociocultural environment in influencing rural men’s decisions to remain closeted about having sex with other men and how that decision impacts emotional well-being and sexual risk communication.

Hale Thompson recently completed his second year at University of Minnesota’s PhD program in social epidemiology and is transitioning to University of Illinois Chicago’s Community Health PhD program. His research tends toward transgender health within a social ecological framework, methodology, and mobile technology as a health promotion tool. Here at the Institute he is analyzing the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s dataset from the TEACH study – Transgender Women Empowering and Advancing Community Health. You may recognize Hale as a guest blogger here on the Network for LGBT Health Equity blog. Read his posts during his time at NetRoots Nation 2011 here.

Mieke Thomeer is a doctoral student in sociology and a Population Research Center trainee at the University of Texas at Austin. Mieke studies how middle-aged and older adults in long-term intimate relationships experience physical and mental illness and how these experiences are shaped by gender and sexual identity. She also examines how nursing home risk is shaped by life course processes. Her research is both quantitative and qualitative, and most of her research uses couple-linked data.

Mark Williams earned his Master of Divinity Degree from Vanderbilt University and Master of Social Work from the University of Washington. He is currently a doctoral student in social welfare at the University of Washington. Mark is currently working on his dissertation, in which he analyzes a recently collected data set of LGBT older adults to examine associations between same-sex partnership status and health.

Michelle S. Williams earned a BS and MPH from Florida A&M University. Her academic and career interests are focused on eliminating cancer disparities with an emphasis on cancer prevention through the development and implementation of innovative health education and health promotion interventions. She is also interested in LGBT college student health and global health. Michelle has conducted research in Ghana, West Africa as a scholar in the National Institutes of Health Minority Health International Research Training program and as a Fulbright student scholar.

And there you have it folks, all of the amazing 2011 Summer Institute participants.