The Threat to Trans Rights and the Public’s Health

Alejandra Caraballo is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic. Prior to joining the clinic, Alejandra was a staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and a Staff Attorney at the LGBTQ Law Project at New York Legal Assistance Group. Alejandra’s professional focus has been on advancing the civil rights of LGBTQ people in a variety of civil legal contexts such as healthcare access, immigration, and family law. Alejandra received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School where she concentrated in IP and Media Law. She received her B.A. in Government and World Affairs with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Tampa. Alejandra previously served as the Secretary of the LGBTQ Rights Committee of the New York City Bar Association and was appointed as the first openly trans community board member in Brooklyn. Alejandra’s areas of interests include the intersection of technology and disability rights, sex worker advocacy, and the implications of quantum computing on encryption. In her spare time, she can be found playing guitar, building computers, creating electronic music, and brewing beer.

Dallas Ducar is the Chief Executive Officer of Transhealth Northampton. Dallas is on faculty at Northeastern University, University of Virginia School of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Nursing, Columbia University, and the MGH Institute for Health Professions. She serves as the Co-Chair of the Primary Care Alliance, is on the LGBTQI Federal Policy Roundtable, and advocates for gender-affirming care nationally. She serves on the Board of Directors for GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), Healing Our Community Collaborative (HOCC), the University of Virginia Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access (IDEA) Fund, and on the Health Advisory Council for Western Governors University. As a public servant, she also serves on the Northampton Board of Health. She has advised international research groups on best practices and has carried out community-based participatory action research programs. Dallas seeks to revolutionize healthcare, building novel systems to provide holistic, empowering, gender-affirming care.

Passions:

Dallas finds meaning and passion in her life by spending time hiking with her dogs, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with her loving family and friends. She is actively working to demedicalize healthcare by empowering patients, creating more ethical systems, and restoring a community focus back to clinical care.

Caroline Medina (they/she) is the director of LGBTQI+ Policy at American Progress. In this role, Caroline engages in strategic advocacy, coalition-building, and impactful research in order to advance progressive policies that improve the wellbeing of LGBTQI+ communities. Caroline’s work focuses on developing policy solutions that positively impact LGBTQI+ people by expanding access to health care and health insurance, improving economic security, and enhancing data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Before joining American Progress, Caroline worked as a consultant for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where they conducted research and analysis for a report on the extent to which laws and policies in OECD countries ensure equal treatment of LGBTI people. Prior to this role, Caroline worked for the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a chief of staff and legislative director where they managed a portfolio of legislation related to LGBTQI+ rights, criminal legal system reform, public health, and health care.

Medina holds a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and a master’s degree in public administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science specializing in economic policy.

Ames Simmons is a queer white transgender man who holds a senior fellowship at Duke University School of Law. His work is grounded in community-based anti-racism, anti-violence, and anti-poverty efforts to achieve justice for transgender people and collective liberation.

His previous roles include policy director at National Center for Transgender Equality, policy director at Equality North Carolina, and seventeen years as assistant general counsel at a healthcare company assisting uninsured patients with Medicaid. Ames attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, and Emory University Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the North Carolina State Bar, the National Trans Bar Association, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the U.S. Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the Duke School of Medicine Sexual and Gender Diversity Advisory Council.

Ames was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court’s Commission on Fairness and Equity and the National Advisory Councils of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index and Long-Term Care Equality Index. He served on the policy committee of the Biden campaign and has guest-taught at Morehouse School of Medicine Satcher Health Policy Institute, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law and School of Social Work, Duke University School of Medicine, Duke Sexual and Gender Minority Health Program, and Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. He has been recognized for outstanding contributions to trans health advocacy from the Southern Trans Health and Wellness Conference and as Advocate of the Year from the North Carolina AIDS Action Network.

Tre’Andre Carmel Valentine is an immigrant of mixed ancestry from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. They have over 10 years of experience in the anti-violence movement and DEI work specializing in LGBTQ+ inclusion through an anti-oppression framework. He serves on the board of Trans Resistance and the Y2Y Network.

Kam Burns is a Senior Audience Producer at National Geographic, working on strategy across social platforms and developing campaigns for editorial projects. He previously worked in audience roles at Politico and Wired, with a focus on enterprise projects and emerging platforms.

Kam is a co-founder and board member of the Trans Journalists Association. He is a co-author of the TJA style guide and he currently contributes to media relations and consulting for the organization.