Jamal M. Edwards, Esq. 
President & Chief Executive Officer

Prior to becoming Howard Brown’s President & CEO on June 1, 2010, Jamal was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, an international law firm, where he was one of the firms few openly-gay partners, and the firm’s first in Chicago.  At Kirkland, Jamal served as Howard Brown’s primary outside counsel, and served as general counsel to the Board of Directors immediately prior to his appointment as CEO. In addition, Jamal also served as a co-chair of Howard Brown’s 2009 Gala, themed “Bertha’s Ball,” one of Howard Brown’s most successful galas to date.   Jamal has been active in the Chicago nonprofit and LGBT community since 2002, serving as a Graduate Legal Fellow at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago (“ALCC”), through the Public Interest Law Institute, after which he was appointed to the ALCC’s Board of Directors in 2004 and later elected as ALCC’s President from 2006 to 2008.  Jamal also served on the Board of Directors for Vital Bridges, which provides nutrition and housing for people with HIV/AIDS, where he was Vice Chair from 2008 to 2009.  Jamal earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with minors in accounting and religion from Morehouse College, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.

Beau Gratzer, MPP 
Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Beau has been with Howard Brown since 2003 and was named Chief Operating Officer in 2010.  Prior to becoming the COO, he served as the Director of Community Health and oversaw the adult health promotion and disease prevention programs at the agency.  He continues to serve as a Principal Investigator/Collaborator for CDC-affiliated behavioral research projects and is involved with several NIH-funded research studies. Beau has presented at numerous national and international conferences and has been an invited presenter and participant at several CDC consultations dealing with the health of the LGBT community.  He is currently a member of the American Public Health Association, the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association, and is an affiliate member of the National Coalition of STD Directors.  Beau holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and is currently completing his PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

Rob Garofalo, M.D., MPH
Vice President & Chief Research Officer

 
Dr. Garofalo is the Chief Research Officer at Howard Brown, the Medical Director of Adolescent HIV Services at Children’s Memorial Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Garofalo’s clinical and academic career has been devoted to the care of HIV infected adolescents and other at-risk teen populations. At Howard Brown and Children’s Memorial Hospital, Dr. Garofalo conducts federally funded clinical and prevention-based research with HIV+ and LGBT youth. Dr. Garofalo is currently the Board President of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). Since 2001, he has been actively involved in the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) where he is a member of their Adolescent Research Advisory Committee. In 2003, Dr. Garofalo received a 3 year NIH-supported Mentored Clinical Scientist Award to pursue behavioral research specific to HIV and HIV prevention in at-risk youth populations. Dr. Garofalo also received an individual NIH award to test the utility of a Social-Personal theoretical model in explaining HIV risk behaviors in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and is currently working with the NICHD-sponsored Adolescent Medicine Trials Network as the Principal Investigator on the Transgender Research Youth Project, a study examining coding and risk among man-to-female transgender youth.

James Tom Barrett, MD
Vice President & Chief Medical Officer (Interim)

Dr. Barrett has been a medical provider at Howard Brown since 2000, and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of many programs including the HIV/Hepatitis C co-infection treatment protocol, the transgender health program, and Institute for Healthcare Improvement initiatives in HIV and depression. In addition, Dr. Barrett is the sub-investigator on all clinical studies at Howard Brown, and primary investigator on several ongoing research studies, including Rapid HIV Testing sponsored by the CDC. Dr. Barrett is an Illinois Licensed Physician and Surgeon, and an HIV Specialist, certified by The American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM). Dr. Barrett has been published in theJournal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, and has received numerous awards including the Ravenswood Hospital Community Service Award and the Bristol-Meyers Squib Mead Johnson Award.

Joe Hollendoner, MSW
Vice President & Chief Program Officer

Joe was recently named Chief Program Officer for Howard Brown, after serving for five years as Director of Howard Brown's Broadway Youth Center.  Joe began his professional experience as HIV Prevention Coordinator at Aunt Martha’s Youth Service Center when he was 16 years old and worked as Program Manager for GLSEN prior to joining Howard Brown.  Joe received his Masters in Social Work in 2004 with a focus in community organizing, policy, and administration. He has been honored with About Face Youth Theatre’s Michael Leppen Community Leader Award in 2003 and was named one of “Chicago’s 30 Under 30” by Windy City Times, and is a 2010 recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader Award.

Kelly Ducheny, Psy.D.
Vice President & Chief Behavioral Health Officer

A licensed psychologist, Dr. Ducheny obtained a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from Wright State University, with an emphasis in multicultural psychology and working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients. Among numerous clinical and research interests, Dr. Ducheny has focused on cultural competence and multi-cultural psychology; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues; assessment; professional development; gender roles and race in Disney animation; qualitative research; and immigrant and refugee mental health. She has served as a member of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Commission on Accreditation (CoA), chaired the 2008 and 2007 Accreditation Assemblies of the CoA, served as Chair of the Illinois Psychological Association (IPA) Sexual Orientation Section and Academic Section, and held the office of Vice-Chair of the GLB Committee for the National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology (NCSPP).  She recently presented on Howard Brown's informed consent hormone protocol (THInC ) at the Trans Health Conference in Philadelphia.

Editha Paras, MBA
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer 

Editha joined Howard Brown in 2010 as the organization’s Chief Financial Officer.  Editha has more than 20 years of experience in banking and financial management, with a proven record of developing long-term strategic relationships, streamlining operations, maximizing profitability and minimizing risks. She has led teams through periods of both growth and transition.  Not only has she served with distinction at major financial institutions like Mellon Investor Services and Société Générale, planning and organizing various business development activities worth millions of dollars, but she has also been a successful entrepreneur in the retail sector.  In addition, Editha serves on the Board of Directors for the Bodhi Spiritual Center, a trans-denominational spiritual community, volunteering her services as Treasurer as well as leading various community development and outreach efforts. Editha received her MBA in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of California in Berkeley.  Editha’s stellar academic and professional credentials make her an invaluable asset to the Howard Brown team.

Will Raj
Vice President & Chief Information and Compliance Officer 

Will has over 15 years of experience in the areas of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and joined Howard Brown in 1999. Prior to Howard Brown, he was the Systems Administrator and Project Manager for Market AD, a private data warehouse company transitioning into the dot-com sector. His other positions included Network Administrator for Standard Parking and Assistant Technical Support Manager for Wright College. He holds degrees in Information Systems from Wright College and a Bachelors of Computer Science from Northeastern Illinois University.

Senior Leadership Team

Jason Bird was named Administrative Director of the Department of Research in July 2009. A member of the Department since 2000, he most recently served as Manager of Research Compliance (2007-2009). Jason received his MSW in 1999 from the University of Washington and completed his Ph.D. at University of Chicago in 2009.  His research on HIV-related communication utilizes grounded theory to examine the meanings and beliefs attributed to HIV seropositivity. 

 
Kert has more than ten years of clinical and management experience in health care. He held positions as chaplain, business director, and human resources director in hospital, hospice, and long term care settings. His background also includes post-secondary teaching in the humanities and psychology. He has written articles and presented training on contemplative and community based approaches to end of life care. Kert's present interests lie in asking the question, "How can therapeutic approaches to patient care inform the healthy functioning and development of health care organizations?" He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and graduate degrees from The University of Arizona and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Lisa Katona, LCSW
Director, Lesbian Community Care Project (LCCP)

Lisa has worked in women’s health for ten years.  She joined Howard Brown in 2006, after earning her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan, and became a staff member of the Lesbian Community Care Project in 2008.  Lisa received her LCSW in 2008 and was the program manager of the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program and a psychotherapist on Howard Brown’s behavioral health services team.  As Director of LCCP, Lisa oversees women’s programming at Howard Brown, which includes outreach and education, direct services in the medical clinic, and other service areas such as LCCP support groups, and women’s programming at the Broadway Youth Center.  Lisa continues to provide individual therapy with a focus on women’s wellness and is currently working on her AASECT Sex Therapy Certification through the University of Michigan Sexual Health Certificate Program. 

Kristin Keglovitz Baker
Clinic Director 

Kristin Keglovitz Baker is Howard Brown’s Clinic Director.  She has been a medical provider for the past five years at Howard Brown and is dedicated to providing excellent care for the LGBT community.  Kristin is an HIV specialist and is AAHIVM certified.  She plays an instrumental role in clinical research and has been investigator and sub-investigator on various clinical trials on topics such as HIV, Hepatitis, and STI health initiatives.  Kristin has presented at the local and national level at various conferences on lesbian and bisexual health and HIV.  She is currently in process of a fellowship through the University of Kansas on Community Health Center Leadership and Development. 

Lisa M. Kuhns, PhD, MPH
Associate Director, Department of Research

Lisa M. Kuhns, PhD, MPH is Associate Director of Research at Howard Brown Health Center and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Her research focuses on the role of social marginalization on the health and health behavior of sexual and gender minorities. Additional research interests include research methods, particularly sampling of hidden and stigmatized populations.  At Howard Brown, Dr. Kuhns serves as a co-investigator or research associate on several federally-funded social and behavioral studies, works with collaborating investigators to develop new studies, and provides administrative support within the research department. Prior to coming to Howard Brown, she worked for ten years in research and research administration at the UIC, first in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and then at the Institute for Health Research and Policy (IHRP). Her most recent work at IHRP included serving as Project Director for the 2Comunidades Project, a five-year NIH-funded study of Latino gay and bisexual men in Chicago and San Francisco (PI: Dr. Jesus Ramirez-Valles), and a follow-up project to produce and test a documentary film to address stigmatization in the larger Latino community, Tal Como Somos (Just the Way We Are). Prior to her academic career, Dr. Kuhns worked for several years at Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights as a supervisor of housing and human services for HIV-positive adults.

Michael McFadden, LCSW
Director of Social Services

A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Michael received his Masters degree in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago, with a concentration in Mental Health.  With over ten years experience working within the Social Services, Michael started at Howard Brown in 2005 within the RW/DRS Case Management Team.  He later transitioned to the PATH HIV+ Youth Case Management Program in 2006.  As Director of Social Services, Michael coordinates ongoing program development and evaluation for the multitude of client services available at Howard Brown.   In addition, Michael provides clinical support to the case managers and direct service staff throughout the agency.