The Research Team
Who is involved with this study?
Learn more about the researchers and advisory board leading this project.
Charlotte J. Patterson, PhD
Lead Researcher
University of Virginia
The Lead Investigator, Charlotte Patterson, PhD has worked with populations of sexual minority adolescents, couples, and families over the past three decades in the capacity as a researcher and professor at the University of Virginia in the Department of Psychology. Her research focuses on the psychology of sexual orientation, with an emphasis on sexual orientation, human development, and family lives.
She is best known for her studies of child development in the context of lesbian- and gay-parented families. Publications on topics related to lesbian motherhood, same-sex parenting, child development of children with same-sex parents, and parenting intentions of sexual minority adults in the United States have appeared in Child Development, Journal of Family Psychology, Sex Roles, Developmental Psychology, along with numerous book chapters and books.
Emma C. Potter, PhD
Co-investigator, Interviewer
University of Virginia
The Co-Investigator of this study, Emma Potter, PhD has worked with a variety of communities on research over the past decade. Emma has worked on and produced research on LGBQ+ sleep and health, rural, Appalachian families dealing with gynecological cancer, African American families dealing with a loved one’s memory loss, Black sexual minority adults and their relationships with family, gay fathers health insurance experiences, and women seeking out a diagnosis for unexplained symptoms.
Dr. Potter has published articles and chapters in the SAGE Encyclopedia on LGBT-Parenting (Ed. A. E. Goldberg), Research on Aging: Special Issue on Minority Health, Journal of LGBT Family Studies, LGBT Health, and the 2nd Edition of the LGBT-Parenting (Ed. Goldberg & Allen).
The project has been created with input from our community advisory board members.
Jenny Mead, BA
Community Advisory Board Member
Jenny Mead, BA, is a member of our community advisory board. Mead is a native of Charlottesville and currently serves as the Secretary and Sponsorship Chair for the Charlottesville Pride Community Network (a resource for connecting members of the LGBTQ community in central Virginia to one another). She brings meaningful connections to the LGBTQ community and expertise in ethics as a Senior Researcher at Olsson Center for Applied Ethics at the Darden Business School.
Karen Waters-Wicks, BA
Community Advisory Board Member
Karen Waters-Wicks, BA, is a member of our community advisory board. Waters-Wicks works as the Community Education Coordinator for Albemarle County Public Schools and PVCC. She brings expertise in enhancing community equity in Charlottesville. She currently serves as a board member on the Public Housing Association of Residents in Charlottesville, the UVA President’s Commission on Slavery, and the UVA Equity Center’s national advisory board.
James Schlitt, PhD
Community Advisory Board Member
James Schlitt, PhD, is a member of our community advisory board. Schlitt works as a researcher and was formerly a postdoctoral researcher at the Biocomplexity Institute at UVA. He brings expertise in modeling to assess outbreak risk (including work on COVID-19), intervention effectiveness, and disease forecasting. With a background in public health, James is interested in working with epidemiologists and local communities towards social and health equality.
The project also includes input from undergraduate research assistants.
Sade Pierre
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sade Pierre is an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia that has been working on the project since Spring 2021. She is currently a third-year student majoring in Global Public Health at UVA. In her future career, Sade hopes to conduct research around health disparities racial and gender minorities face. This research exposes her to public health methods used in research dealing with minority populations, which is what she needs for her future career goals.
Ames Gersten
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ames Gersten is an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia working on the project this summer. Ames is a fourth-year majoring in psychology and government, with a focus on racial injustice, the systems that enforce it, and how to treat the resulting traumas. They plan on pursuing a Psy.D after graduation and they currently hope to work as a trauma therapist. Their work in this study will help them understand what barriers exist for Black people in healthcare spaces and how structural factors shape health behaviors
The project is funded through the Global Infectious Disease Institute at UVA as part of their efforts to support research examining health equality and equity during COVID-19.
GIDI
Funder
For more information on the project and the funder visit:
