About Our Team
Research by our community, for our community
Trans community voices are represented in the design and implementation of TOGETHR study, with trans researchers working in various roles on the team, including staff and three of the study investigators.
The TOGETHR study also has a Community Advisory Board (CAB) of transmasculine community members who use their lived experience to provide ongoing guidance and feedback to the project.
Sari Reisner, ScD
He/him
Primary Investigator
Dr. Sari Reisner is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Epidemiology at University of Michigan School of Public Health. Trained as a social and psychiatric epidemiologist, his research seeks to identify and mitigate health inequities for transgender and gender diverse populations, particularly in HIV prevention, mental health, and healthcare access and quality.
Dr. Reisner’s research utilizes a participatory population perspective to work “with” not “on” communities. Toward that end, he directs transgender and gender diverse research at The Fenway Institute using an academic-community partnership model focused on advancing health equity.
Dr. Reisner has led numerous funded research investigations in the US and Latin America, has contributed to more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, is a founding Research Associate Editor of the PubMed-indexed journal Transgender Health, and serves as an elected Board Member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).
Alek Meyer
He/him
Study Coordinator
Aleksander Meyer is a Research Assistant in the Epidemiology Team at The Fenway Institute. He is passionate about reproductive justice and transgender healthcare. He is currently working on the TOGETHR Study, an HIV prevention project for transgender men and transmasculine people. Aleksander has a BA in Public Health and Medical Anthropology from Hampshire College.
Nathan Dorcey Holstine-Johnson
He/they
Former Study Coordinator
Nathan Dorcey Holstine-Johnson is a Black, autistic, queer, trans person from Houston, TX. He is a Study Coordinator in the Department of Epidemiology at The Fenway Institute where he coordinates the TOGETHR study, an NIH funded RCT focusing on HIV prevention, PrEP uptake, and community connectedness for transmasculine folks.
They are new to TFI, joining the team after having been the Lead Research Coordinator for the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network (ATN) at a local site housed within a Ryan White Part D funded Retrovirology clinic. A highlight of their time there includes doubling the expected enrollment of Transgender and Gender Expansive (TGE) youth into a four-arm RCT, exclusively through online recruitment methods, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nathan also brings his experience in transgender health research along with experience in community organizing and programming within the trans community.
Passionate about the intersectionality of expansive gender identities and neurodiversity, trans affirming sexual health, and intergenerational community connectedness, they are excited to bring their experience and passions to the TOGETHR study. Outside of work Nathan enjoys thrifting and spending time with their new wife and fur babies.
Kevin Smith
He/him
Clinical Research Operations Manager
Kevin Smith is the Research Operations Manager at The Fenway Institute. His current and past research focuses on sexual health promotion for stigmatized communities including women of color, sex workers, members of the kink/BDSM community, and LGBTQIA+ folks. He has worked on numerous behavioral and biomedical studies in the US as well as Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, and the UK.
Aisha Ghorashian
She/they
Research Assistant
Aisha Ghorashian is a Research Assistant contributing to the TOGETHR study, dedicated to HIV prevention for transgender and transmasculine individuals. With a background in sexual health programming and promotion, they champion the integration of community-health models in public health initiatives. Currently pursuing a Master's in Public Health at Boston University, they are committed to bridging the realms of policy, programming, research, and community organization to advance health equity for BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities.
About Fenway Health
Learn more about Fenway Health’s services and missionLearn more about Fenway Health historySince 1971, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhood, the LGBTQIA+ community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population. Fenway was founded in 1971 as part of the free clinic movement by students who believed that “health care should be a right, not a privilege.”
In its early days, Fenway was a drop-in clinic providing free blood pressure checks and STD screenings. Over the years, Fenway obtained permanent space and incorporated as a freestanding health center with a staff of one volunteer doctor, one nurse and one intake worker. Today, Fenway Health has a budget of more than $131 million, a staff of more than 700 and a patient population of nearly 40,000.
Fenway Health advocates for and delivers innovative, equitable, accessible health care, supportive services, and transformative research and education. We center LGBTQIA+ people, BIPOC individuals, and other underserved communities to enable our local, national, and global neighbors to flourish.
Fenway Health is a Federally Qualified Community Health Center.
About The Fenway Institute
Learn more about The Fenway Institute’s work in research, policy, and educationLearn more about The Fenway Institute’s mission and historyThe mission of The Fenway Institute is to optimize health and well-being for sexual and gender minorities (SGM) and those affected by HIV.
Our key commitment is to address the specific health needs of sexual and gender minorities (SGM) and people affected by HIV. To that end, we engage and foster collaborations with diverse community and professional stakeholders; conduct and disseminate research; design and deliver education, training, and technical assistance; develop and promote empirically-supported public policies; and work to cultivate and nurture a multidisciplinary and diverse community of faculty and staff. Honoring the intersectionality of identities and lived experience, and taking action to advance racial equity and social justice are central components of this commitment.
