TRUE is a science-community partnership whose mission is to generate knowledge, and eliminate health disparities in trans and nonbinary communities around the globe.
“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” - Marsha P. Johnson
—
Erin Wilson, Dr.P.H.
Director, TRUE
Erin Wilson,
Dr.P.H.
(she/her/hers)
Erin is the Director of TRUE, Senior Research Scientist at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and Associate Professor at the University of California San Francisco in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is one of a small number of researchers whose expertise is research with the trans community, spanning two decades. Current studies include implementation science projects geared toward stigma reduction to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes among trans women in the U.S., Nepal and Brazil. Apart from her scientific contributions, she dedicates a significant portion of her time to mentoring the next generation of scholars from communities affected by HIV. She is the President of the Board of Directors for TAJA’s coalition, whose mission is to stop the genocide of trans women of color.
Sean
Arayasirikul,
Ph.D.
(they/them/theirs)
Sean is a Senior Research Scientist at TRUE and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He is also an Assitant Professor at the University of California San Francisco in the Department of Pediatrics. As a medical sociologist, they use intersectionality and mixed method research to: 1) investigate the impacts of oppression, discrimination and violence on health; (2) develop mobile health interventions to make health care and public health systems more responsive and caring; and 3) optimize biomedical HIV prevention by centering community engagement, social context, and the power of the lived experiences of sexual and gender minorities of color, and particularly youth. A proud member of the house and ballroom community, Sean is the West Coast Father of the International Kiki House of Angels, and was formerly San Francisco Father of the Iconic House of Infiniti.
Willi
McFarland,
M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
(he/him/his)
Willi is the Founding Director of the Center for Public Health Research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health where TRUE is housed. He is a Professor at the University of California San Francisco in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Over the last 30 years, Willi has has worked to end the HIV epidemic in California and globally. His projects range from sex workers in Afghanistan to beer drinkers in Zimbabwe; from teaching in Vietnam to size estimation in Suriname. An area of particular interest is the development of new methods to gather strategic information to inform epidemiology, public health surveillance, and prevention intervention research. When he is not calculating odds ratios, he is surfing.
Victory
Le-Szarapka,
M.A., Psy.D. Candidate
(she/her/hers)
Victory Le is a Research Associate and Clinical Psychologist. She self-identifies as transgender/gender-expansive, queer, and a person of color. Victory earned her B.A. in Psychology at the San Francisco State University. She earned her M.A. and is pursuing her Doctorate in Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. For her dissertation, Victory is developing a mindfulness intervention to reduce psychological distress among trans and gender expansive people. In 2019, Victory was awarded the Crystal LaBeija Organizing Fellowship by the Keeping Ballroom Community Alive Network (KBCAN), a national organization house and ballroom advocacy organization.
Sofia
Lynn,
B.A.
(she/her/hers)
Sofia Lynn has been settled in the beautiful Bay Area since graduating from UC Berkeley with her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology, and Psychology. She has spent the years since advocating on behalf of trans people and providing trans communities with support and information. She has been affiliated with UCSF, Samuel Merritt University, and SFSU before making her way to the San Francisco Department of Public Health where she is a Research Associate. She loves cycling, singing, learning and pizza!
Dillon
Trujillo,
M.P.H.
(he/him/his)
Dillon was born and raised in New Mexico. He studied public health at New Mexico State University where he honed his skills in community-engaged, health equity research and his physical and mental prowess as a cheerleader. After graduating in 2014 with a B.A. in Public Health, he moved to San Francisco. Since then, he has engaged in various public health projects at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He served as Project Coordinator and Digital HIV Care Navigator of Health eNavigation (Health eNav), an evidence-based digital HIV care navigation intervention for young people living with HIV in San Francisco. He went on to deepen his commitment to public health and earned his M.P.H. from UC Berkeley in Health and Social Behavior. Today, Dillon is a skilled Project Coordinator that leading multiple research studies at TRUE, including the Patners Study and the National HIV Behavoral Surveillance Study - Trans Women Cycle.
Caitlin
Turner,
M.P.H., Doctoral Student
(she/her/hers)
Caitlin is a social epidemiologist and uses quantitative analytic methods to shed light on social and policy impacts on health for trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary communities. She joined TRUE in 2017 after completing a Master’s degree in Epidemiology/Biostatistics at UC Berkeley, and is completing a Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the University of Califoria San Francisco. She aims to leverage rigorous epidemiological methodologies to amplify the voices of the community members we serve and the social justice movements that they lead, with the intention of translating research findings to positive, structural impact.
Paul
Wesson,
Ph.D.
(he/him/his)
Paul is an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Francisco in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. As an epidemiologist, he focuses on quantifying the health burdens and disparities related to socially marginalized populations, particularly in the context of infectious diseases. His research expertise includes developing and using data driven methods for sampling hard-to-reach and “hidden” populations, population size estimation methods, and using advanced epidemiologic and statistical techniques to study social determinants of health. He is particularly interested in the social determinants of infectious disease risk. To this end, Paul incorporates theories and principles from social epidemiology to inform and guide study design and analysis (e.g. intersectionality, minority stress theory).
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