Guideline

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Apako Williams
Apako Willimas is the Founder and Executive Director of Tranz Network Uganda (TNU), a legally registered Company Limited by Guarantee, dedicated to advocating for the human rights of transgender and gender non-conforming persons in Uganda.With a background in Social Works and Social Sciences, Williams is a seasoned social worker.His expertise is underscored by a diploma in Project Planning and Management.Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Diplomacy and International Relations, he is part of a cohort of 14 Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) East Africa Alumni.
Williams is a recognized fellow of the Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship, and a trainer of trainers on Gender and Sexual Diversity, trained by USAID.He is also a community paralegal and LGBTI rights defender, bringing over 8 years of experience serving gender and sexual minorities in Uganda.His extensive involvement includes consulting on Gender and Sexual Diversity, as well as advocacy in public health and human rights directed at discriminatory laws that impact on health.
Williams holds roles in various committees and boards.Notably, he sits on the National Security Working Group, a national LGBTI security response committee, and contributes to the Technical Working Group of the Uganda AIDS Commission.In addition, he is a proud member of the Key and Priority Populations Programme (KPPP) Sub-Community Advisory Board of BAYLOR Uganda Centre of Excellence and the Amplify Change Grantee Reference Group.Previously, Williams was a board member of the Global Fund Uganda Country Coordinating Mechanism-UCCM.He is the Vice Chairperson of the Uganda Key Populations Consortium, Vice Chairperson HAKI Defenders Foundation, as well as a board member of the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF).

Ayouba El Hamri
Ayouba is a trans and feminist activist based in Morocco.In 2018, they co-initiated Nassawiyat, a Moroccan LBTQ women and nonbinary group.They are also Program Officer at Transat, the first ledtrans and trans-specific group in the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region.In 2019, Ayouba joined the African Trans Network as a Steering committee member representative of North Africa, and in 2022 joined the Queer Women Network as a Board of Directors member.Ayouba joined the philanthropy field in 2022.They joined FRIDA -the young feminist fund, as an Advisor representative of the SWANA region.In 2023, they joined the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) as a Country Focal Point responsible for monitoring the implementation of grants.

Chris McLachlan
Chris McLachlan is the chairperson of the Sexuality and Gender Division of the Psychological Society of South Africa and the Professional Association of Transgender Health, South Africa (PATHSA).Chris also serves as a board member of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), represents South Africa on the International Psychology Network (iPsyNet) and is an advisory board member of Wits Reproductive Health Institute's trans clinics.He has been involved in the sexually and gender diverse field since 1992 and is one of the first registered marriage officers in South Africa under the Civil Union Act.Furthermore, Chris is registered as a Clinical Psychologist and works at a rape crises centre in South Africa.He also runs a small private practice focusing primarily on members of the LGBTQI+ community, provides gender affirming healthcare and sees people that have been affected by conversion practices.Chris is a trainer/lecturer in the field of sexuality and gender diversity and has published extensively.
Chris was the co-chair of developing the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society gender-affirming healthcare guideline for South Africa and one of the authors of WPATH's Standards of Care 8. Chris was also part of the core team that developed PsySSA's guidelines and training manual on sexuality and gender diversity and contributed to the National Prosecutors Agency's Expert court witness in the field of SGBV guideline (inclusive of affirmation of diversity).
Chris is a PhD candidate at UNISA, thesis title: Que(e)ring healthcare: Transgender and gender diverse persons' lived experience within healthcare and the development of trans affirmative practice guidelines.Chris identifies as gender non-binary, trans masculine and lives in a beautiful village with his children in South Africa.He believes in 'Doing Hope' and to contribute to spaces where all Trans, gender diverse and non-binary people can be free and live their own truth.

Cianán Russell
Cianán Russell is a Senior Policy Officer at ILGA-Europe based in Brussels, Belgium, working on policy and advocacy relating to trans, intersex, health, conversion practice, data collection and the antigender movement in Europe and Central Asia.They started LGBTI activism in the USA in 1996 and have previously worked with the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance (USA), the Asia Pacific Transgender Network, and Transgender Europe.
Cianán is also the Director of Trans Survivors Network, an international NGO focused on research, advocacy, and awareness-raising related to the needs and care of trans and gender diverse people exposed to sexual violence, sexual assault, and rape.They are a member of the GATE Trans Men and HIV Working Group and are part of the Man.ishCave Team (Amsterdam).Elma is completing a PhD in Health Science Education with the topic "How can the process of professional identity formation of a gender-affirming practitioner inform medical curriculum change?"Elma has 21 years of lecturing experience in Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town and worked as a senior family physician at Mitchell's Plain District Hospital and Heideveld Community Day Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.Elma was appointed associate professor and MBChB Programme Coordinator at the new medical school at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, South Africa, in March 2022.

Erika Castellanos
Erika Castellanos is a trans woman living with HIV from Belize who resides in the Netherlands.Erika's areas of expertise include health issues focusing on HIV, human rights, and gender.In 2015 Erika completed the certificate program on LGBTI Health research at the University of Pittsburgh.She founded the first network of people living with HIV in Belize in 2009 and later co-founded the first trans network in the country.
In 2017 Erika joined GATE as the Director of Programs and is currently the Executive Director of GATE, Global Action for Trans Equality, a global advocacy organization working on trans, gender diverse, and intersex issues.She leads GATE's work on movement building, health, and human rights.

Eszter Kismödi
Eszter Kismödi JD, LLM, is an international human rights lawyer specialised in sexual and reproductive health and human rights; human rights, legal and policy aspects of gender expression, gender and bodily diversity.She has also worked as Project Management Specialist in HIV Key Populations for the USA Agency for International Development and co-founded the Thai Transgender Alliance, Thailand's first transgender-owned human rights organisation.Rena received a master's degree in international development from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom and is currently doing her PhD at the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Saima Paracha
Dr. Saima Paracha is the Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS working in the National AIDS Control Program of Pakistan with a key focus on infectious diseases specifically HIV, and HIV co-infections (tuberculosis (TB)), viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections).She trained initially as a Pediatrician in Pakistan and worked her way up to leading the entire national program for HIV prevention and treatment.As a public health specialist, she has a decade-long association with the National AIDS Control Program, working previously as HIV Prevention Specialist.She is the pioneer of the national community-based HIV prevention model for key populations in the country.She is a core member of the National HIV Technical Working Group for the development of national policy and strategy documents, guidelines, standard operating procedures, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, data management and analysis tools, and grant proposals.She is technical lead for the national epidemic modelling team, and a certified infectious disease master trainer for HIV and TB.She has expertise in pediatrics and nutritional sciences.She is also involved in piloting HIV selftesting, TB LAMP and recent innovations in the country for improving HIV and co-infecting diagnostics.Yanyan finished her Bachelor's in Broadcast Communication at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and she is currently enrolled in a master's degree programme in Development Studies at Batangas State University, Philippines.Yanyan is also involved in the Philippine Professional Association of Transgender Health as the secretary and a member of Lakanbini Advocates Pilipinas Inc., the largest network of transgender organisations in the Philippines.

Zakaria Nasser
Zakaria has been involved in trans and queer feminist organising in Lebanon since 2007.He was a member of Meem, an underground LBTQ group, since (2007), coordinated the group's space between 2008 and 2011, and took on the coordination of the group between 2011 and 2013.He has since been part of various grassroots organisations and community spaces in Lebanon and regional and transregional networks working on bodily autonomy.
In 2016, Zakaria co-founded Qorras, a group producing queer feminist knowledge, where he leads finance and fundraising and is involved in various initiatives.Since 2017, Zakaria co-leads the Tajassod working group in Qorras, which focuses on trans leadership, practical information and networking for trans individuals in Lebanon.Through various forms of engagement, Zakaria is committed to trans connectedness and liberation and to implementing ethical structures and governance processes.*** They have a Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University (2008) and served on the Georgia Institute of Technology teaching faculty from 2008-2013.Elma de Vries Elma de Vries, MBChB, MFamMed, FCFP(SA), is a family physician passionate about the right to access healthcare for marginalised populations.Elma served as chairperson of the Rural Doctors Association of South Africa (RuDASA) from 2000-2004 and was the first President of the Board of Médecins Sans Frontières South Africa (MSF) from 2007-2009.Elma is a founding member and current secretary of the Professional Association for Transgender Health South Africa (PATHSA), and a co-author of the SAHCS Gender Affirming Guideline for South Africa.
She is the Chief Executive of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM), which promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights globally through its multidisciplinary, open-access, peer-reviewed journal.She also works as an independent human rights lawyer.Over the past ten years, she has been working with several UN Agencies, International Organizations and NGOs, including UNAIDS, UNHCR, UNDP Asia Pacific Hub, OHCHR, WHO, the World Association for Sexual Health and CREA.Between 2002-2012 she worked as a human rights adviser at WHO, Department of Reproductive Health and Research.Her work includes extensive policy development and multi-country research on the reclassification of gender identity and expression at the WHO ICD11 classification of diseases; she has led the development of the WHO's Statement on Elimination of forced sterilisation and cocoordinated a legal and policy research and multi-country collaboration in legal gender recognition in nine Asia-Pacific Countries for UNDP Bangkok Regional hub.She was a board member of GATE, Global Action for Trans Equality, between 2014-2021 and has been a member of other UN and international committees.She is the Co-Chair of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights and Executive Committee member of the World Association of Sexual Health (WAS), and Chair of WAS Sexual Rights Committee.She has been a visiting fellow at the Global Health Justice Partnership of the Yale Law School and Yale School of Public Health since 2016.She is a regular guest lecturer at various universities, and she has published extensively in international journals and contributed to several WHO and other UN publications.She is Hungarian, based in Geneva, Switzerland.Felisbela Maria de Oliveira GasparMs.Felisbela de Oliveira Gaspar works as the gender adviser for the Minister of Health of Mozambique since 2019, where she is also responsible for training health workers on gender and human rights nationwide.Felisbela is the vice president of the national Human Rights Commission and a member of several national task forces related to infectious diseases control.From 2019 to 2019, Felisbela was the National Director of Traditional Medicine Institute of the Ministry of Health of Mozambique and prior she was the Head of the National Programme for Sexually Transmitted Infections.Since 2016, she has provided advice to WHO Geneva on the development of Strategies for Better Interventions in Traditional and Alternative Medicine.Felisbela also lecturers Public Health and African Studies for Master students at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo.Felisbela holds a certificate of medical technician, a bachelor's degree in biology from the University Eduardo Mondlane and a Master of International Health from the University of Copenhagen.She has also worked as a national and international consultant, published extensively, and participated in many research projects in the areas of traditional medicine, home-based care, infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria, among others.Florence Ashley Florence Ashley is a transfeminine jurist and bioethicist whose work focuses on trans issues in the legal and healthcare systems.Florence is an assistant professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law in Canada.They have obtained a doctorate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Joint Centre for Bioethics.They hold law degrees and a master's from the McGill University Faculty of Law and served as the first openly transfeminine law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada.They are widely published, with over 30 refereed publications in law, bioethics, healthcare, and social sciences.Florence is the author of Banning Transgender Conversion Practices: A Legal and Policy Analysis (UBC Press, 2022).To learn more about their work, see: www.florenceashley.com/about.htmlGail Knudson Gail Knudson MD, MEd, FRCPC, is a Clinical Professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and a Consultant Psychiatrist at Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, Canada.Dr. Knudson has participated in many guideline developments, international panels, and consensus committees on transgender and gender diverse health.She is a co-author of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care Versions 7 and 8.In addition, she serves as Co-Chair of WPATH's Global Education Institute and is a former President of WPATH and the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health (CPATH).Dr. Knudson is a member of the Steering Committee of the WHO Implementing Best Practice (IBP) Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and a member of the International Medical Advisory Panel (IMAP) of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).Additionally, she has held leadership positions with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH).Phan Thi Thu Huong Associate Professor Phan Thi Thu Huong, MD.Ph.D. and Director General of Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control has been working in the Viet Nam HIV/AIDS response for more than 28 years.Her expertise consists in management, harm reduction, HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral treatment, laboratory quality management, health system strengthening, HIV surveillance, monitoring & evaluation, and co-infection treatment of HIV and hepatitis C and of HIV and tuberculosis.Dr. Phan Thi Thu Huong has been a leader and focal point for piloting and implementing innovative HIV prevention models nationwide, notably on HIV lay-provider testing, self-testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis.Additionally, she is a member of the Board of editors in developing Gender Law, and HIV/AIDS Law; a member of the Board of editors of the Vietnam Journal of Preventive Medicine, the Vietnam Journal of Infectious Diseases, and the Vietnam Journal of Practical Medicine.Since April 2017, she has been appointed the Vietnam Coordinator of the French Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS|MIE -Emerging Infectious Diseases).She is also a standing committee member and Vice President of the Vietnam Infectious Diseases Association, and a member of the consultation board of the Vietnam Implementation Science Advancement Training Program.She obtained her Ph.D. Degree in 2013 and became an Associate Professor in Health in 2017.She is currently a visiting lecturer at the Hanoi Medical University, the Hanoi University of Public Health, and the Nam Dinh Nursing University.She has also been the mentor of 20 masters' and two Ph.D. students.She also participated in more than 130 research publications, among which over 40 are published in international journals.She is also on the Board of editors & Editor in chief of 16 published books/guidelines in related fields.Rena Janamnuaysook Rena Janamnuaysook works as a Program Manager for Implementation Science at the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) in Bangkok, Thailand, where she established the Tangerine Community Health Clinic as the first transgender-led health clinic in the region.She manages and provides technical guidance for the development and implementation of HIV research and programs for transgender people and other key populations in Thailand and in Asia.Rena is one of the NIH CHIMERA D43 program fellows, part of the IeDEA network program, to learn to conduct HIV and mental health implementation research.
Pune, he is the first Consultant Administration of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), India.He received training in Pediatrics from Army Hospital R&R, Delhi and completed his Masters in Management Studies from Osmania University.Sanjay Sharma commanded two Air Force Hospitals and represented the AFMS in international fora.He coordinated National and International Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief operations.He was awarded "Commendation by the Chief of Air Staff" in 2013.He is the Founding Director and CEO of the "Association for Transgender Health in India (ATHI)".As a member advisory committee of the Transgender Empowerment Board of Delhi, he contributed to formulating the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Act 2019 and Rules 2020.He petitioned the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), Government of NCT of Delhi, to pass an Order to prevent sex assignment surgeries on intersex children.He was instrumental in the formulation of the first "Indian Standards of Care" for the delivery of Transgender Healthcare-ISOC1, and two online certificate courses on Gender Education, namely the Introductory course for Medical, Paramedical, Nursing and Ancillary staff of Healthcare Facilities under the" Gender Friendly Healthcare Facility Initiative (GFHFI)" and the Introductory course for Teachers, Educationists, Parents and Students under the "Gender Friendly Educational Institute Initiative (GFEII)".He was appointed as a member of the Technical Working Group for the Transgender specific Integrated Service Delivery package in NACP (National AIDS Control Programme); and developed a White Paper on Comprehensive Health-related Services for Transgender Persons.He is also a member of the Technical Resource Group (TRG) for interventions among Transgenders/Hijra persons under NACP phase V, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.He was elected as Board Member-at-large of World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in January 2020, he is the Co-chair of the WPATH Book Club.He is the proud recipient of the WPATH 2022 Harry Benjamin Distinguished Education Award.Sanjay Sharma is a proud parent of a transgender woman and an active member of "Sweekar: The Rainbow Parents", a parent support group for LGBTQAI+ persons, and lives in India.Shobini RajanDrShobini Rajan, MBBS, MD, is the Deputy Director General at National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.She completed her MBBS in 1994 and was awarded MD in Pathology in 1998 from Delhi University.She joined the Central Health Services in 1998 and is working in the field of HIV & STI under the National AIDS & STD Control Programme for more than two decades.She currently heads the divisions for HIV Prevention, HIV Counselling & Testing Services, Elimination of Vertical Transmission of HIV and Syphilis and STI/RTI Prevention & Control at NACO.Dr Rajan has extensively worked with key and other at-risk populations and has played an instrumental role in the revamping of targeted interventions along with setting up of structured community systems for strengthening of community engagement in the national programme.She led the implementation of Link Workers Scheme for provisioning services to the marginalized sections in the rural parts of the country.Her evidence-based approach supported various community-led research and mapping and population size estimations for key populations and led to the development of community-led monitoring systems.Her recent initiatives involve implementation of community-based systems for delivery for HIV & STI services and; conceptualization & implementation of the Sampoorna Suraksha Strategy for provisioning single-window services to at-risk HIV negative population.Dr Rajan has always kept the community at the centre of all the interventions.She spearheaded the agenda of Transgender Health in India beyond HIV/AIDS in collaboration with various stakeholders and key line Ministries including development of a "White Paper on Comprehensive Health related Services for Transgender Health" in January 2023.She also participated in the Thematic Segment on priority and key population especially Transgender persons and the path to 2025 targets during the 52nd meeting of UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board in June 2023.Teddy Cook Teddy Cook has over 15 years of experience in community health and non-government sectors.Teddy is ACON's Director of LGBTQ+ Community Health, overseeing client services and LGBTQ+ health, equity, and harm reduction programs.Teddy specialises in community development, health promotion and program delivery.He led the development of TransHub and established ACON's Trans Health Equity program.Teddy is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Kirby Institute UNSW in Australia and a queer man of trans experience.Teddy Cook works across a diverse range of policy, education, health promotion, research and advocacy projects aimed at improving health and rights for trans people of all genders.Teddy Cook led the creation of TransHub, ACON's digital information and resource platform for trans people, allies and clinicians.Teddy Cook currently sits on a number of steering and advisory groups, including the Expert Advisory Group and Gender Advisory Board for Private Lives 3 (Australia's largest LGBTIQ health and wellbeing survey) at the Australian Research Center in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), La Trobe University, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Sex, Gender and Sexuality Standard Reference Group, the Facebook Combatting Hate Speech Advisory Council, the National LGBTI Health Alliance Trans Advisory Group, the NSW Criminal Justice System Trans Advisory Council, the Positive Life NSW Trans Advisory Group.He has been an advisor to the NSW Ministry of Health in developing its first LGBTI Health Strategy.Teddy Cook is also a member of the Trans Health Research Group and is Associate Investigator on TRANSform, an Australian longitudinal gender health study.Additionally, Mr Cook led ACON's work developing A Blueprint for Improving the Health and Wellbeing of the Trans & Gender Diverse Community in NSW (2019).Walter Bockting Walter Bockting is Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry and Nursing) at Columbia University and Director of the Program for the Study of LGBTQ+ Health at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the USA.He is also a Research Scientist with the New York State Psychiatric Institute, leading the Area of Gender, Sexuality, and Health.His research interests include identity development across the lifespan, transgender health, LGBTQ+ ageing, and the neuroscience of gender.His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the New York Community Trust, and a number of other private foundations.He is currently the Principal Investigator of three large NIH-funded studies: Project AFFIRM, a longitudinal, multi-site study of the development of trans and nonbinary identities, the behavioural risk for cardiovascular disease, and resilience across the lifespan; Convoy Q, examining the role of social networks in cognitive ageing of LGBTQ+ adults and their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts; and an examination of the quality of life of trans and nonbinary individuals following gender-affirming surgery.Dr Bockting is an internationally known expert in gender-affirming healthcare as well as in the mental health and psychosocial adjustment of transgender, gender non-binary and gender-diverse children, adolescents, adults, and their families.He is the Editor of six volumes on gender and sexual health and has published more than one hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals.Dr Bockting is a past president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and a past president and Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.In 2010-11, Dr Bockting served on the Institute of Medicine Committee of the National Academies, whose work culminated in the IOM Report on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.Today, Dr Bockting's work combines research, clinical practice, education and training, and policy development to promote the health of LGBTQI+ individuals and their communities and advance scientific knowledge on gender and sexuality more broadly.Walter Bouman Dr Walter Pierre Bouman, MD MA MSc UKCPreg PhD, works as a trans health specialist at the Nottingham Centre of Transgender Health in Nottingham, United Kingdom since 2007.His clinical practice involves prescribing, dosing and monitoring of gender affirming hormone treatment, providing referrals for gender affirming surgeries and other gender affirming medical interventions (hair removal, speech and language therapy) and providing psychological support for trans people.In terms of his education, Walter qualified as a medical doctor in 1990 and completed his training as a general adult psychiatrist in the Netherlands in 1996 after which he trained as a psychiatrist for older people at the Department for Healthcare of The Elderly at Nottingham, UK under Professor Tom Arie and Professor Robert Jones until 1998.He subsequently trained as a sexologist and sexual medicine specialist (2002-2005) at the Porterbrook Clinic/Hallam University in Sheffield under Professor Kevan Wylie, and further obtained a degree in Master of Art (MA) in Medical Ethics and Law under Professor Alex Sharpe at Keele University.Finally, Walter obtained a PhD in trans health care from the University of Barcelona, Spain under Professor Fernando Fernandez-Aranda and Professor Jon Arcelus in 2017.During his Presidency (2022-2022) of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) the Standards of Care version 8 (SOC8) was released.Currently, Walter is working with more than 25 "translation collectives" consisting of community associations and content specialists globally to translate the SOC8 in order to enhance global dissemination of the SOC8.Walter is now the immediate Past President of WPATH.He is founding member of the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH) and the British Association of Gender Identity Specialists (BAGIS).Walter is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Transgender Health.Yanyan Araña Yanyan Araña is an empowered transgender woman working in advocacy since 2015 and continuously pushing for the inclusivity and accessibility of sexual, reproductive, and transgender health care for the Transgender community in the Philippines.She is the Program Manager of Transcend by LoveYourself, the arm of LoveYourself Inc. that provides sexual health and gender-affirming services, research, events, and other interventions to the Transgender community.She's also one of the catalysts in establishing Victoria by LoveYourself and Lily by LoveYourself, the first two community center in the Philippines focused on the needs of transgender and gender-diverse people.She also worked with ISEAN-HIVOS Program in 2016 and the Islands of Southeast Asia Network on Male and Transgender Sexual Health (ISEAN) in 2017.