Faculty

Bio

Michael Ross, MD, PhD, MPH, MHPEd, MSt, is a professor at the University of Minnesota Institute for Sexual and Gender Health (ISGH) and was the Joycelyn Elders Chair in Sexual Health Education from 2014-2020. He holds 11 degrees, including a MedDr, a PhD in cross-cultural health psychology, and degrees in criminology and health education. Ross has studied sexuality and sexual and mental health for more than 30 years in several countries: India, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam. Ross has also published more than 500 publications and books. Additionally, he worked extensively in prison environments and wrote a book about prison physical and mental health. Ross has also practiced as a clinical psychologist and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society. 

Pronouns: he/him/his

Creative Activity Summary

Licences -- Australian and US Private Pilot, land/single, both current
Aircraft ratings -- Avions Pierre Robin 2160 Aerobin, Bellanca 8KCAB Super Decathlon; and Pitts S-2A Special (all with unrestricted aerobatic ratings)

Bio

Katie Spencer, PhD, LP is an assistant professor, licensed psychologist, and clinical training director at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health (ISGH). She is also the co-director of M Health Fairview Comprehensive Gender Care, Behavioral Health. Her primary clinical practice is working with transgender and gender non-conforming, adolescents, and adults, women's sexuality and sexual health, and LGBT sexuality and well-being. Dr. Spencer has written, presented and published scholarship on transgender sexuality, queer femininities, and gender affirmative approaches to transgender healthcare. She provides training and education of therapists and medical providers in sexual health and transgender health care competency. She is developing a curriculum of pleasure based sexuality for people on the transfeminine spectrum and working, with her colleagues, to revise existing measures of gendered experience to improve congruence with transaffirmative philosophies. She is the founder and chair of the Minnesota Transgender Health Insurance Taskforce and often provides consultation and advocacy on insurance and policy issues in transgender health. Dr. Spencer and her colleague, Dr. Dianne Berg are the authors of the Gender Affirmative Lifespan Approach (GALA™) of Psychotherapy and Education that is the theoretical framework for the clinical-research program of the Gender Health Services at ISGH. Dr. Spencer received her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and she was a postdoctoral fellow in human sexuality at ISGH. She is passionate about social justice and feminist approaches to academic scholarship and clinical practice. Pronouns: she/her/hers.

Clinical Summary

Transgender and gender non-conforming adolescents and adults, women’s sexuality and sexual health, LGBT sexuality and well-being