Q: What are your current research interests?
A: In a general sense, promoting the well-being of children, adolescents, and adults with vulnerabilities to trauma, stigma, marginalization, and even negation; more specifically, and currently, research designed to support the well-being and beneficial clinical care practices for youth and young adults who identify as Intersex and/or have been diagnosed with a sex trait variation (also referred to as a difference of sex development [DSD]) and their families; research designed to support the well-being of trans/gender diverse children, adolescents, young adults, and their families. I am honored to be a clinical researcher in these areas—and profoundly grateful to NIH for providing funding to me and others for SGM clinical research that is so deeply necessary. Debates and political discourses are raging and can have potentially profound detrimental effects on SGM communities. In my opinion, well-designed and rigorous research efforts are key for helping to resolve controversies in these fields based on sound science rather than assumptions and opinion. I must express particular gratitude to the SGM Office. Over the years, I’ve called from time to time to discuss research priorities and approaches, and the Office staff has been consistently available and responsive. I am thrilled—truly—by the NIH support for a relatively new line of research funded through the SGM Office and NIMHD, to develop a self-advocacy tool designed to benefit clinical care for youth across the broad spectrum of sex trait variations (also known as Intersex or DSD). This research is informed by past mixed-methods NIH-funded research on care experiences and predictors of well-being in youth and young adults in the Intersex and sex trait variation communities (with myself and Canice Crerand as MPIs) and grounded in community collaboration. It would be simply impossible without the contributions of all involved, including my investigator colleagues, Canice Crerand and John Strang, and many other community stakeholders who have contributed their time and wisdom to ensure that the new measure (The VISTA: The Variations in Sex Trait Advocacy Tool) is a true reflection of community needs. The VISTA is designed to be disseminated as a tool to transform clinical care in a clinical practice area that has been permeated by insensitive and even harmful clinical practices.
