The Fellows Committee is honored to celebrate Division 44 members and their significant contributions to sexual orientation and gender diversity in psychology and to 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Big congratulations and welcome to the Division 44 Fellows inducted in 2023: Franco Dispenza, PhD, Phillip Hammack, PhD, Michele Schlehofer, PhD, Kim Skerven, PhD, ABPP, Matthew Skinta, PhD, ABPP, and Laurel Watson, PhD. Please read a little about each Fellow below:
Franco Dispenza’s (he/him) groundbreaking scholarship has been at the vanguard of vocational concerns for sexual and gender minority persons living with chronic illnesses and disabilities (CID). His expert use of diverse methodologies and descriptive and applied perspectives has created vital knowledge for the field and made rehabilitation and psychology professionals’ clinical practice with sexual and gender minority persons living with CID more culturally responsive and effective. Dispenza’s extraordinary leadership including in Division 44, APA, and the American Counseling Association includes co-chairing the APA Taskforce responsible for developing the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Sexual Minority Persons. Translated into several languages, these guidelines have significant global reach. His leadership has keenly applied and amplified much needed research for sexual and gender minority communities. His impressive scholarship and leadership have shaped policy, guidelines, and best practices for LGBTQ+ people. Dispenza has had an extensive effect on the field, and especially on the social justice-related vocational concerns of LGBTQ+ persons living with CID.
Phillip Hammack (he/him) was first inducted into the APA Fellows through Division 5 for his leadership in promoting qualitative methods in the discipline. His innovative scholarship has deeply impacted the psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity and LGBTQ+ individuals. Hammack’s research on sexual and gender diversity has proposed new paradigms, including a “queer paradigm of relationship diversity,” developed important understandings of LGBTQ+ generations, placed LGBTQ+ health in social contexts of societal shifts in stigma and oppression, and destigmatized intimate diversity including kink and asexuality. In addition to generating knowledge that has shaped the field, he engages in leadership and service that extends the impact of his work. His editorship of the Oxford University Press book series on Sexuality, Identity, and Society illustrates one of the ways Hammack cultivates creative scholarship. His contributions have advanced the field and provided new ground on which to advance scholarship that integrates social context and lived experiences of individuals with minoritized sexual and gender identities.
Michele Schlehofer's (she/her) extraordinary advocacy shines the light of sexual orientation and gender diversity science on public policy. As seen in Division 44, APA, and other organizational leadership roles, she has mobilized local, state, and national levers of power to advance LGBTQ+ equity and well-being. The list of public policy issues addressed by her position statements, webinars, community organizing, and program evaluations includes LGBTQ+ students’ safety, non-discrimination, housing for trans individuals in the carceral system, Title IX protections for gender diverse youth, gender-affirming care protections, military service personnel, and too many more to include here. Her work infuses psychological science into every level of social action and grounds it all in the lived experiences of those most impacted. A thought-leader and scholar in “LGBTQ+ and Community Psychology,” as the American Psychologist special issue she co-edited was titled, Schlehofer embodies the praxis of “public psychology.” Her work has strengthened affirming and evidence-based narratives, shaping national policy and the field, and protecting the well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Kim Skerven’s (she/her) tenacious advocacy and clinical leadership has shaped positive legislation and led the way to more inclusive and effective Dialectical and Behavior Therapy (DBT) for LGBTQ+ clients. Her national advocacy is rooted in translational science, making advocacy connections to address anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, conversion therapy, and legislative attacks on transgender and non-binary youth, to name a few examples. Skerven has been a driving force in collaborative groups including her state psychological association and the Division 44 Public Policy Committee to create vital resources including an APA policy statement, briefing sheets, website resources, webinars, and practice bulletins. Her extraordinary contributions in DBT have also broken new ground for LGBTQ+ clients through her research and theory building, creating training materials, and service leadership. Her role as Editor of the Clinicians’ Digest for the journal, Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, also reflects her dedication to LGBTQ+ well-being. Skerven’s contributions have shaped a more positive policy landscape as a way of health promotion and created psychotherapy structures to heal the harms from invalidating, anti-LGBTQ+ environments.
Matthew Skinta’s (he/him) transformational teaching and scholarship on Contextual Behavior Therapy (CBT) with sexual and gender minority (SGM) clients has impacted the field and SGM individuals and communities in the U.S. and internationally. Among his large catalog of publications, Skinta wrote an important guidebook on tailoring CBT for SGM clients, Contextual Behavior Therapy for Sexual and Gender Minority Clients: A Practical Guide to Treatment. He created models of CBT training and has taught them to clinicians around the world including in Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Sweden, and U.K. His trainings, invited dozens of times, target not only evidence-based intervention strategies for SGM specific stressors but also targets vulnerabilities in the social context, countering systematic and dangerous misinformation about SGM people. His research on SOGIE concerns in Poland, in the midst of anti-LGBTQ legislation and widespread negative public attitudes, is groundbreaking. Skinta’s work has national and international impact, creating transformational, evidence-based practice and promoting well-being for SGM communities around the world.
Laurel Watson (she/her) is an extraordinary scholar and leader in the study of embodied multiple marginalization. Among the first to research bisexual experiences with sexual assault and objectification, Watson’s research created a bridge between related experiences that occupied separate research areas. Her research also developed the Trans Discrimination Scale, which has reached across the U.S. and internationally, including Turkey, England, Lithuania, and Holland. Her intersectional scholarship makes important connections among objectification, microaggressions, minority stress, trauma, and other topics with scientific rigor and theoretical soundness. Watson’s impact is broad both in its scholarly and societal reach. Her research appears in the popular press media as well as in practice guidelines. Through her editorial leadership at three leading journals, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychology of Women Quarterly, and Sex Roles, Watson further strengthens scholarship and advances research. With her scholarship, leadership, and mentorship, her contributions have forged new pathways in gender and sexual orientation diversity and for the larger community of scholars.