Our Board

Dr. Joad is Professor and Associate Dean of Diversity and Faculty Development
Emeritus, University of California Davis, School of Medicine. She has 62 peer-
reviewed publications, was Vice Chair for Research for Pediatrics and was on the
FDA Pulmonary and Allergy Drug Advisory Committee. She served on various
committees in the Association of American Medical Colleges on LGBT issues and as a
faculty advisor and career consultant for the ELAM, a one-year leadership program
for women in academic medicine. In her board work at GLMA: Health Professionals
Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, she represented GLMA before the FDA, White House,
and NIH. She served as the GLMA board Vice President of Education, President, and
Chair of the Policy and Governmental Affairs Committee. She was awarded the
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine Distinguished
Alumnus Award for Achievement in 2015.

Nicholas Grant, PhD, ABPP is a clinical psychologist, licensed in Washington, DC, with a clinical background in health psychology/behavioral medicine, and a research background in sexual and gender minority health. He currently serves in the US Navy and resides in San Diego, CA. He obtained his PhD in 2015 from the Palo Alto University, where he worked as a research assistant with the Center for LGBT Evidence-based Applied Research (CLEAR). He is also an alumnus of the LGBT Health Policy & Practice Graduate Certificate Program at The George Washington University. Nick completed his pre-doctoral internship in Behavioral Medicine at Tulane University’s School of Medicine and a postdoctoral fellowship focused on LGBTQ Veterans Mental Health at the San Diego VA. Following his residency, Nick served as an American Psychological Association’s (APA) Congressional Fellow where was named an APA William A. Bailey Health and Behavior Fellow, a specialty designation awarded to him based on his extensive background in LGBTQ clinical practice, research and community engagement. He served in the Office of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) where he worked on the Senator’s Military/Veterans, Healthcare and LGBTQ legislative portfolios. Additionally, Nick is actively involved with the APA Health Equity Ambassador Program and APA’s Division 44, the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.

Jona Tanguay, MMSc, PA-C, AAHIVS [pronunciation yo - NAH  TANG - ghee] is a board-certified PA and HIV Specialist practicing in primary care at Whitman-Walker Health. They are the Medical Program Lead for Substance Use Disorders at Whitman-Walker, working to evolve and expand medical and harm reduction services provided to people who use drugs. Jona is a Clinical Instructor at Yale School of Medicine, and is a board member and current Vice President for Education at GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, the world's largest and oldest association of LGBTQ+ healthcare professionals. Jona is a graduate of the Physician Associate Program at Yale School of Medicine, where they sat on the Dean’s Advisory Council for LGBTQI+ affairs. Their research and educational advocacy focus on harm reduction and evidence-based therapies for people who participate in Chemsex. They are the founder of ChemsexHarmReduction.org, an educational resource for providers and people who participate in Chemsex. Jona has a passion for event planning as well as community advocacy and engagement. Previously, they shared their expertise with AIDS Project and the LBGT PA Caucus, and sat on the executive board of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital LGBT+ Employee Resource Group. 

Craig W. Johnson is a health equity advocate, particularly on behalf of racial, ethnic and sexual minorities. He is the group manager of the American Medical Association (AMA) Minority Affairs Section. He provides executive staffing to the constituency group’s Governing Council, comprised of ten Native American, Latinx and Black physician and medical student leaders whose priorities include health equity, diversity and equitable representation in medicine, minority health policy, and education. For several years, he concurrently managed the AMA Board of Trustees' Advisory Committee on LGBTQ+ Issues. Craig has held positions with Rush University Medical Center, American Bar Association, University of Chicago and George Washington University.

Past volunteer leadership roles include serving as two-term board chair, as well as Policy & Advocacy Commitee chair for the AIDS Foundation Chicago; a member of former of the Chicago Mayor’s Advisory Council on LGBTQ+ Issues; a member of the LGBTQ Community Advisory Council for Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center; and board chair of the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus. Craig has served on the Illinois HIV/AIDS Strategy Group and on the Chicago HIV Prevention Planning Group. He has been recognized as a Notable LGBTQ Executive by Crain’s Chicago Business, and he is a recipient of the PrideIndex.com Esteem Award for outstanding community service. Craig is an alum of Antioch College. He currently serves as treasurer on the college’s board of trustees, and he is a former vice president of the Alumni Board of Directors. Craig resides in southern California and has an adult daughter.

Tracy Flynn, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, CNEcl is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and the Campus Associate Dean of Oregon Health & Science University's nursing program in Ashland, Oregon. Her clinical background is in public health and health equity, with a passion for public policy and social justice. She has been a nursing educator for over 25 years and has served as a street nurse and volunteered at free clinics for 20 years. Her ideal is that every nursing student will gain the cultural competence to treat every patient with the grace and dignity they deserve, making LGBTQ+ people feel welcome and ultimately leading to decreased disparities. Prior to becoming a nurse, Tracy was a Certified Public Accountant--which comes in surprisingly handy for someone who hated working as a CPA. She serves as Treasurer of GLMA and Chair of the Finance Committee, and welcomes all interested GLMA members to join the committee.

Chad Henson Martins is a primary care physician and medical educator located in Savannah, GA. He is certified in HIV medicine through the American Academy of HIV Medicine and also practices LGBT primary care. He obtained his medical degree in 2011 from Northeastern Ohio Medical University and subsequently completed his internal medicine residency at the Geoge Washington University, where he was both in the primary care track as well as the inaugural Underserved Medicine and Public Health concentration. Following his residency, Chad served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at George Washington University and Director of the Practice of Medicine Course. He currently is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine and serves as the clerkship director of internal medicine. As a new member to the board, Chad is excited to contribute to the organization's mission through education and advocacy.

Ricardo Correa, is the Program Director for Endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism fellowship and the health equity director at the cleveland clinic in Ohio and health equity fellowship director for Creighton School of Medicine Phoenix. He is an editor and peer reviewer of multiple journals in endocrine, research and medical education. He completed his Medical School and master’s in education at The University of Panama. He completed a research fellowship in Epidemiology and Tropical disease at I.C.G.E.S. in Panama City and his internal medicine residency at Jackson Memorial hospital-University of Miami (U.M.) program. In 2012, he was honored with the A.O.A. and GoldDOC Award from the U.M. Then, he pursued his clinical and research fellowship in endocrinology with a particular focus on neuroendocrinology and adrenals at the National Institute of Health. He is board-certified in Medical Quality. He is the author of the book title Case report: basics and publication. and senior Co-Editor of the book Endocrinology of Aging. His research focuses on neuroendocrinology, mainly on pituitary and adrenal tumor and health care disparities in diabetes in Latinx populations. In addition, he is very involved in research and clinical work on transgender population. He serves as medical director volunteer for an underserved clinic in Phoenix and is very involved in promoting URM in medicine. He is the founder of the health equity fellowship for Creighton School of Medicine.

Dr. Jorge Ramallo is a primary care physician board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics. He obtained his MD and MPH degrees from Yale University. He completed his med-peds residency at the University of Illinois-Chicago where he also served as chief resident. Dr. Ramallo joined the Inova health System in 2021 and helped establish the Inova Pride Clinic - the first LGBTQ+ primary care clinic in Northern Virginia - and now serves as its medical director. Prior to joining Inova, Dr. Ramallo worked as an internal medicine and pediatrics physician and the HIV Medical Director at Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers in Milwaukee, WI where he focused on high quality HIV primary care for marginalized populations. Dr. Ramallo was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia and grew up in Springfield, VA. His clinical interests include: LGBTQ+ healthcare, gender affirming care, obesity management, adolescent medicine, HIV primary care, and preventative health.

Dr. Carey Candrian is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She received her MA in Organizational Communication and PhD in Health Communication from the University of Colorado. She completed post-doctoral training in Health Literacy from the Institute of Communication and Health at the University of Lugano, Switzerland. Dr. Candrian’s research examines how communication affects outcomes in healthcare -- and specifically how it impacts older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) adults, and those who care for them. She has spent much of her career investigating how healthcare suffers when patients aren’t able to be open with medical professionals about who and what matters most to them. She is a community-based researcher working to create more inclusive settings and interactions for LGBTQ+ older adults. She has been an advocate for the routine collection of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data in hospice. Ultimately her goal is to effect change on an interaction and policy level so that older LGBTQ+ adults receive the support they and their loved ones want, when they need it most. Dr. Candrian’s work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Cambia Health Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, The Next50 Initiative and The Lesbian Health Fund. She has appeared on Colorado Public Radio, NPR’s Here and Now, PBS NewHour’s Brief But Spectacular and the American Medical Association (AMA) Moving Medicine Series for her work advancing health equity for LGBTQ+ older adults.

Noelle Marie Javier, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine in New York City. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine Class of 2002. She finished her residency in Internal Medicine at both Long Island College Hospital New York and Jersey City Medical Center. She completed her two-year post-graduate fellowship training in both Geriatric Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in 2009. She then joined the faculty at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University in Rhode Island. In her current capacity as a clinician, educator, and scholar, much of her time is spent conducting inpatient consultative service for both subspecialties in addition to hospital medicine responsibilities. She has had opportunities to conduct research, publish, and present at local, regional, national, and international conferences such as the GLMA Annual Conference, American Geriatrics Society (AGS), the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), and the International Congress in Palliative Care (ICPC). Her areas of scholarly interest include wound care, pain management, medical education, palliative care in the nursing home, rehabilitation in palliative care, pediatric palliative care, and inclusive and affirming geriatric and palliative care for the LGBTQ+ population.

Frances Grimstad is a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist at Boston Children's Hospital. She currently serves as fellowship co-director for the Boston Children’s pediatric and adolescent gynecology fellowship and has an instructor appointment at Harvard Medical School. She is active on the board of Women in Medicine, and is active on numerous committees within the National Association for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. She engages in clinical and research work surrounding transgender and intersex reproductive health. She has been involved in trans health advocacy since her own adolescence, when she decided to pursue medicine to address disparities in care faced by these communities. Her interests center around optimizing reproductive health outcomes for both populations including hormonal and menstrual management, surgical care and family planning.

Alex Karydi currently serves as the Director of State and Community Initiatives at the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the only federally supported resource center devoted to advancing the implementation of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. She has a Ph.D. in Clinical Sexology and a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has worked in various systems, including school systems, the justice system, social services, and behavioral health, providing care as a therapist, grant writer, and program manager. In 2015, she was appointed the Program Director for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health – Office of Suicide Prevention. She was responsible for establishing the first state office for suicide prevention and developing the state school suicide prevention program. She has also worked as a Program Director for Project 2025 at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a nationwide initiative to reduce the U.S.'s annual rate of suicide by 20 percent by 2025, and at Callen-Lorde Community Center, a global leader in LGBTQ healthcare in New York. Alex's clinical interests include lesbian, bisexual, and queer women’s health; transgender youth; HIV care, addiction treatment, and suicide prevention. In addition, they are a proud parent with their wife of their Queer Deaf child and their four fur babies.

Beth Oller, MD, FAAFP is a board-certified family physician who practices full scope family medicine in a rural, underserved community in Kansas. She serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor for the Department of Family and Community Medicine for the University of Kansas School of Medicine and mentors medical students and residents in her practice, allowing them to experience the challenges and benefits of rural practice hands on. She incorporated Gender-Affirming Care into her practice during the COVID pandemic when patients were unable to access care and she recognized that there was no one providing this care for over half of the state. A passion of hers is to expand access to GAHT in rural areas and train providers to provide this service. She serves the American Academy of Family Physicians as a member of the Commission on Federal and State Policy as well as serving as a media ambassador. She is an instructor for Advanced Life Support for Obstetrics and Advanced Trauma Life Support. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and is active in advocacy and lobbying for access to reproductive healthcare and LGBTQIA+ care at the state and federal level. Her areas of expertise and practice focus include maternal healthcare, LGBTQIA+ health, mental healthcare, and expanding access for rural healthcare. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and her Medical Doctorate from the University of Kansas and completed her residency training at Wesley Family Medicine Residency in Wichita, KS.

Dannie Ceseña, is the first Two-Spirit, Native, Director of the CA LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network. Dannie has over 15 years of experience working with non-profits in program development and advocacy. He has extensive knowledge in creating TGI healthcare collaborations utilizing upstream interventions and addressing the root cause of lack of access to TGI affirming health care. His knowledge and leadership have assisted in the creation of two TGI community health care clinics, and a monthly TGI legal clinic in Orange County, CA. Dannie has become a trusted leader in LGBTQ health among partners within the California Department of Public Health. He is responsible for building We Breathe: Supporting Tobacco-Free LGBTQ Communities from the ground-up, and has established the program as a leader statewide, nationally, and even internationally. He has provided leadership and guidance for LGBTQ organizations who are new to working with the Department of Public Health, helping them navigate the complicated bureaucracy and ensuring LGBTQ project staff always have a place to turn with their questions and concerns. He is in high demand to present on LGBTQ health at trainings, meetings, and conferences throughout the country, and internationally.

Dannie is currently serving a 3-year appointed term for the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity Advisory Committee, and serves on the Department of Managed Health Care’s (DMHC) Health Equity and Quality Committee and the Transgender Intersex and Gender Non-Conforming Work Group, Department of Health Care Access and Information Hospital Equity Measures Reporting Advisory Committee, Health and Human Services Behavioral Health Task Force, Department of Health Care Services Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, and the Department of Health Care Services Consumer Advisory Committee Technical Advisory Group.

Dr. Marra is a clinical assistant professor of Family Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). She is serving as the department head and Senior Medical Officer MCRD in San Diego, CA. Dr. Marra is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and has a certificate of added qualifications in sports medicine. She was awarded fellowship status in the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Medical Women’s Association. She has presented nationally on LGBTQ+ healthcare and published several articles on transgender topics in healthcare and other primary care topics.

Joel Trambley, MD, PhD is a Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician in Southern California. He earned his MD and PhD in Transplant Immunology at Emory University School of Medicine and completed his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. He has worked as both a Hospitalist and Primary Care Physician, focusing at different times on patients with liver disease, transplants, HIV, and Hepatitis B and C. In the outpatient setting, he has significant experience with caring for LGBTQ+ patients and healthcare Issues, including certification by the AAHIVM and gender affirming hormone therapy. Teaching medical students and residents has been a large part of his career, and he is the founding and current Internal Medicine Residency Program Director for the Southwest Healthcare MEC and a Clinical Assistant Professor at Western University of Health Sciences.

Dr. Trambley has extensive experience serving with LGBTQ+ focused advocacy and community groups, including the San Diego LGBT Center Board, the San Diego Human Rights Campaign Steering Committee, and City of San Diego Human Relations Commission. He is also active in LGBTQ+ sports as a player, coach, and recent Commissioner of America’s Finest City Softball League a committee chair for International Pride Softball, a referee for the San Diego American Flag Football League, and a commentator for Cloud Sports Network. He splits time between Temecula and San Diego with his husband and two Chihuahua-mix puppies.

Frank Dowling, MD is board certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine, graduated from Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook and completed their residency in Psychiatry at Stony Brook, where they have a faculty appointment as an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry. Their private practice focuses on the care of emergency responders and healthcare professionals with stress related problems. They have received several honors and professional recognitions such as the APA's Bruno Lima Award given for significant contributions to the care and understanding of victims of disaster and two awards from MSSNY for support, mentoring, and education of medical students in NY.

Dr. Dowling is an active member in various professional organizations at the state and national level including GLMA, APA (American Psychiatric Association), ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine), AMA, (American Medical Association) and recently completed 4 years serving on the AMA LGBTQ Advisory Committee. Over the last 10 years as a Delegate in the AMA and NY, they have collaborated with GLMA and others to advance several policies seeking equity for LGBTQ+ patients and professionals in medicine, medical education, and society. They are passionate about advocacy for patients and providers who face inequities and played an integral role in NY State passing laws to ban so-called conversion therapy and providing a safe haven for patients, families and professionals involved in gender affirming healthcare. They are also enthusiastic about mentoring and collaborating with students and early career professionals and are most grateful for what they have learned because of these relationships and interactions.

Dr. Jerry P. Abraham, MD MPH CMQ, is a renowned Physician and Public Health advocate who currently serves as the Director of Vaccine Programs at Kedren Community Health Center, a FQHC, Acute Psychiatric Hospital, and Historically Black Institution HBI in South Los Angeles. Dr. Abraham is also Assistant Professor of Family Medicine & Psychiatry at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science CDU, a Historically Black Medical School, and serves as the Co-Director of their joint-initiative the CDU-KEDREN Mobile Street Medicine Program. Dr. Abraham received his Medical Degree MD from the University of Texas School of Medicine and completed his Family Medicine Residency FMRP at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California USC KSOM. He also holds a Master of Public Health MPH degree from Emory University and completed an Injury Epidemiology Post-Graduate Fellowship at the Harvard Initiative for Global Health HIGH.

Dr. Abraham has been an active member of the American Medical Association AMA and the National Medical Association NMA, the nation’s Historically Black Medical Society, for many years and has been involved in healthcare policy and advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. He has served on numerous boards and committees, including President of the Los Angeles County Medical Association LACMA, Trustee of the California Medical Association CMA, Councilor of the American Medical Association AMA, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Charles R. Drew Medical Society CRDMS, the Historically Black Medical Society of Los Angeles County. In addition, he has been a vocal advocate for health equity and medical justice, particularly in underserved communities.

Dr. Abraham's expertise and leadership have been critical in the fight against COVID-19, particularly in communities of color that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. He has been a strong advocate for Vaccine Equity, working tirelessly to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to the COVID-19 vaccines, including the LGBTQ community - particularly ensuring trans individuals could safely access COVID resources. As Director of Kedren Vaccines, he has overseen the administration of over 400,000 doses of the vaccine to the residents of Los Angeles County.

Dr. Abraham served as the President of Emory Pride, founder of Safe Space – a LGBTQ support group for medical students and health professionals in Texas, member of: Trikone – the South Asian LGBTQ organization of Atlanta, Desi Rainbow, among others. Currently, Dr. Abraham serves on the LA County Ending the HIV Epidemic EHE Steering Committee, California Ending the Epidemics Campaign, the California Department of Public Health CDPH HIV Molecular Surveillance HIV Advisory Board, and serves on the LA City Civil and Human Rights Department CHRD. Dr. Abraham also runs the HIV (testing, counseling, PrEP, treatment, HIV services) clinic for the Commercial Sex Venues CSV of Los Angeles County and the Transgender & Gender Affirming Clinic of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles St. John’s Cathedral Transgender Clinic. Dr. Abraham serves on the Board of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles GMCLA, and The Urban Voices Project, a chorus and home for people experiencing housing insecurity including people who identify as sexual and gender minorities.

Throughout his career, Dr. Abraham has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to Public Health and Healthcare. He has received numerous awards and honors, including The Voice Award from the Gay Men’s Chorus, Hero of Family Medicine Award, the CMA Compassionate Service Award, the AMA Excellence in Medicine Award, the KJLH 102.3FM Proven Achievers Award, and the Los Angeles Business Journal's Healthcare Leadership Award. In addition, he has been featured in numerous media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and the Los Angeles Times and is a regular contributor on Spectrum and CBS.

Dr. Jerry P. Abraham is a dedicated and prolific Physician, Public Health advocate, and community leader who has made a significant impact on the health and well-being of countless individuals and communities especially in the arena of health equity, and medical and racial justice.

Elizabeth Grace Wong is a fifth year PhD candidate in Utah State University's Combined Clinical/Counselling Psychology Program, supervised by Dr. Renee Galliher. She is interested in identity development and multicultural psychology, and particularly, the protective factors, healing strategies, and cultural wisdoms that come from LGBTQ+ BIPOC individuals. Her dissertation is on everyday food practices among LGBTQ+ BIPOC as a source of healing and knowledge, which is funded by Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is one of the founding members of the Graduate Students of Colour Association and a former fellow for the Center for Intersectional Gender Studies & Research at USU. She is interested in clinical interventions that promote racial healing (e.g. groups for processing microaggressions and building microintervention skills). Elizabeth earned her HBSc in Psychology and MA in Women & Gender Studies at the University of Toronto. She is 1.5 generation Chinese-Canadian, and has lived in Vancouver, Hong Kong, Basel, Toronto, and Logan. Resilience, healing, embodiedness, and love are very core to what she cares about.

Laurel Hiatt is an M.D./Ph.D. student at the University of Utah working toward a Ph.D. in Human Genetics. As a University of Georgia undergrad, Laurel designed and taught LGBT-inclusive health through the Augusta/UGA Medical Partnership and lectured in the Health Promotion and Behavior department. Laurel was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 2018 in recognition of their efforts in organizing gender-inclusive campus housing and equitable bathroom access. In addition to education and advocacy, Laurel conducts trans-centered research; they have presented their research on trans student health outcomes in university settings at the local, state, and national levels. They have published best practices in transgender health data collection following their work at Vanderbilt Health's Program for LGBTQ Health and continue to investigate research best practices for gender-diverse cohorts. Additionally, Laurel is leading the first state-level analysis of health disparities in transgender patients using EHR data, which they hope will inform specialized training across healthcare professions. Laurel has been involved in GLMA since 2021, serving and later chairing the GLMA Health Professionals in Training Curricular Reform Committee. As a GLMA Board Member and Health Professionals in Training (HPiT) Committee Co-Chair, Laurel supervises the GLMA Fellows and hopes to empower trainees to educate and advocate on behalf of the queer community throughout their training and career.