Our Team
Aidan Ablona - Biography
Aidan Ablona (he/him) is a first-generation Canadian of Filipino ancestry, currently settled on unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. He works as a data analyst with the Digital Sexual Health Initiative (DiSHI) team at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and is an affiliated researcher with the Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC). He is passionate about sexual health, community-based research, and health equity—particularly for racialized, Two-Spirit, queer and trans communities—and is committed to anti-racist public health practice.
Stephanie Arthur - Biography
Stephanie Arthur (she/her) was born and raised Winnipeg, Manitoba. Both her parents are originally from Ghana and immigrated to Canada in the late 1980s. She holds a BSc from the University of Winnipeg and a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto, with her main areas of study being biology, bioanthropology, and epidemiology. Since graduating she has worked for various organizations specializing in epidemiology and data analysis and has done projects related to STBBI, youth mental health, and youth sports (skiing and snowboarding). Currently she works with the Community-based Health Equity Research Group at the University of Victoria looking at health for various minoritized populations.
Zailee Beauchamp - Biography
Zailee Beauchamp (she/her, they/them) is Kanien’kehá:ka and a recent graduate from McMaster University with an Honours B.A. in Social Psychology. For Zailee, working with both Indigenous and settler communities has always been an aspiration, as she grew up in an area where political tension between these groups was high. Within the 2SDL, Zailee worked to identify appropriate methods and information that is useful for creating educational material regarding Two-Spirit research and the 2S/LGBTQI+ community in general.
Andrea Boyce - Biography
Andrea Boyce was born and raised in Tsqescen’ulecw (The Lands of the People of Broken Rock) which is in the unceded territory of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) people. In English, Tsqescen is known as The Canim Lake Indian Band and Andrea’s community is in the Interior of British Columbia which is in Northern Secwepemc territory. Andrea is the first generation after her parents attended Indian Day School, and a second generation after all of her grandparents were forcibly removed into the St Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School and she is the fourth generation since our people were able to be free from the Reserve system. Andrea is the oldest granddaughter in both her maternal and paternal lines which means that she was born into the seat of her family’s matriarchal role. Andrea works with the Chee Mamuk team as an Educator.
Chase Bryer - Biography
Chase Bryer (pronouns: he/him/his) is Chickasaw and a current doctoral student in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences at Brown University School of Public Health. His research focuses on historical trauma, culturally responsive mindfulness, and Indigenous queer and Two Spirit health with a particular emphasis on Two Spirit elder care. Prior to Brown, Chase received his MSW from Washington University in St. Louis where he was selected as a Kathryn M. Buder Scholar at the Buder Center for American Indian Studies.
Amanda Dawne Burton - Biography
Amanda Dawne Burton‘s spirit name is Paytahpun (Cree for “the coming dawn”). She lives on Treaty 1 land in Manitoba, the ancestral land of the Cree, Anishinaabe, Dene, Oji-Cree and Dakota peoples and the homeland of the Metis nation. She is Two-Spirit Metis woman, and a member of the 2S Michif Local and the acting co-chair of 2S People of Manitoba. Amanda has a master’s degree in social work and many years of experience in social services, curriculum development, and research. She’s a mom to two awesome teenagers – Cash and Sebastian, and has 5 dogs. She loves to read, play piano, write, box, and do yoga.
Cameron Carley - Biography
Cameron Carley (they/them) is a queer non-binary Japanese student studying a Master of Arts in educational research with a specialization in curriculum learning at the University of Calgary. Their research is rooted within masculinities studies, specifically queer masculinities, and they hope that their upcoming thesis will be focus on the multiplicities of interactions that queer men have had with heterosexual/cisgender men in their adolescence. Moving forward, Cameron hopes to contribute research that bolsters the perspectives and realities of queer people and ultimately work to destabilize hegemonic masculinity and promote a dominant masculinity that is predicated on inclusivity, consent, and respect. Previously, Cameron completed their bachelors at the University of Victoria graduating with honours in gender studies and biology/psychology.
Teddy Consolacion - Biography
Teddy Consolacion (she/they used most regularly, but doesn’t correct anyone who uses he/him) is an epidemiologist at BCCDC in HIV. With a PhD in Social Psychology, they have worked in different public health agencies in the US and Canada for over ten years. Their interests include research on the intersectionality of identities and downstream health outcomes.
Jessy Dame - Biography
Jessy Dame (he/him, they/them) is Métis and a proud Two-Spirit, certified registered nurse. His family is from Treaty 1 and Treaty 2 territories, which are known today as Winnipeg and Ste. Rose du Lac. Jessy has worked within neonatal/postnatal health and currently works casually within a queer sexual health clinic in downtown Vancouver. Jessy is also the Two-Spirit Program Manager at the CBRC, and with this position he is able to work with and for the Two-Spirit community to create resources and advocate for services.
Lark Doolan - Biography
Lark Doolan (he/him) is white settler with ancestors indigenous to Ireland (paternal), and Italy (maternal). Raised on the ancestral Land of the Muwekma Ohlone, Lark migrated to unceded Wiyot territory in the year 2000, following a dream calling him North. As the Executive Director of Queer Humboldt, he works with a vibrant team of community partners to bridge supports and services so that 2S/LGBTQIA+ people have what’s needed to thrive locally and beyond. In addition to being a practicing marriage and family therapist, Northern California Policy Fellow for GLSEN, and a professional trainer, he holds both educational specialist and school administrative credentials in the State of California.
Matthew Fleury - Biography
Mathew Fleury (Gimewan Niimi/Rain Dancer), PhD(c), MPH, BSW, BA
Manager, Research and Knowledge Exchange, First Nations Health Authority (FNHA)
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Mathew Fleury is nēhiyawak (Plains Cree) and, as a proud member of one of the founding families of the Métis Nation, he has deep roots in the Red River Valley of Manitoba. He draws from his lived, academic, and professional experiences to apply grassroots research and policy approaches to issues impacting Indigenous peoples, including harm reduction, mental health, and accessibility. As an Indigenous Social Worker, community-based researcher, data scientist, writer, and public health professional with lived and living experiences as a neurodivergent, queer, and Two-Spirited individual, Mathew recognizes the need to promote the inclusion of those who have been faced with marginalization. His passion for human rights and culture have earned him a new name, proffered by Elders in his community: Gimewan Niimi (Rain Dancer). Following studies in psychology at Queen’s University, Mathew graduated from Laurentian University’s Indigenous social work program and completed studies in molecular, genetic and population health sciences at the University of Edinburgh. In 2021, he was promoted from the role of Indigenous Harm Reduction Community Coordinator to Manager, Research and Knowledge Exchange at the FNHA where he is responsible for managing the overall approach, design, and implementation of medium to large-scale research initiatives. Mathew is also a Research Associate at the BC Centre for Disease Control as well as an Adjunct Professor and PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.
Caroline Foster-Boucher - Biography
Caroline Foster-Boucher is an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton Alberta. She has been a nurse for over 30 years, and currently teaches and engages in research and service at MacEwan University. Her research focuses on bias, racism, healthy equity and reconciliation. She is of Dene, Norwegian and Celtic descent and is a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation.
Jae Ford - Biography
Jae Ford (they/them, nekm; mixed Mi’kmaq and British settler) is a non-binary, Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer resident physician from Ktaqmkuk (the island of Newfoundland) completing their specialty training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine (including Family Medicine) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and completing their Master of Public Health (MPH) through UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. They completed their undergraduate training (B.Sc) in Applied Mathematics and Physics and medical school at Memorial University in St. John’s, NL. Their interests and experiences are focused on structural and systemic inequities and their impacts on access to safe and affirming care for marginalized communities including Two-Spirit, Indigenous, and queer/trans communities. Jae recently completed their MPH practicum project as a needs assessment of safe and affirming care for Two-Spirit people in BC in collaboration with MindMapBC.
Milo Ira - Biography
Milo Ira (they/them) is a Métis Msc. student at Simon Fraser University. They are striving to serve the communities who became their family during their former career as an illustrator, and has specific interest in health determinants where Indigenous, queer, and neurodiverse identities intersect.
Jordy Ironstar - Biography
Jordy Ironstar (He/They) is winkté oyadé and a member of Céga Kįnna Nakoda Nation (Treaty 4, Saskatchewan). They are the National Facilitator for 2 Spirits in Motion Society and a co-founder of 2 Spirit Alliance of Saskatchewan (2SAS). Jordy sits on several committees to ensure their relatives voices are heard. Some of these initiatives include; the Saskatchewan representative on the MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Committee (and research sub-committee), Two Spirit Ambassador for Fierté Canada Pride, and member of the Indigenous Technical Advisory Committee for the City of Saskatoon.
Rayka Kumru - Biography
Rayka Kumru (she/they) is a sexual health professional with mixed ancestry, born and raised Istanbul, and grateful to be living on the traditional, ancestral and unceeded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and sel̓íl̓witulh Nations as an uninvited guest. Rayka holds a B.A in Sociology and Critical Studies in Sexuality from UBC, Master’s Degrees in Sexology and Marketing Communications, and has training in sexual health education, knowledge translation, plain language and visual communication design. Rayka currently works with two teams at UBC as the Communications and Design Coordinator for Men’s Health Research and the Knowledge Exchange Lead for digital and sexual health initiatives based out of CDC. Rayka is also an independent digital content creator.
Nathan Lachowsky - Biography
Nathan Lachowsky (he/him) is a settler of Ukrainian and British heritage living and researching on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. He is a gay and queer man who has conducted community-based HIV and sexual health research across Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand for over a decade. He is an associate professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria and Research Director of the CBRC.
Omar Martinez - Biography
Omar Martinez completed a dual degree program, simultaneously gaining his master’s degree in public health and juris doctorate at Indiana University-Bloomington. He also completed a master’s degree in clinical research methods at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Professor Martinez completed an NIH T32 postdoctoral research fellowship in behavioral science research in HIV prevention at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. Professor Martinez’s research expertise includes the correlates, prevalence, and prevention of substance use, mental illness, and HIV among underserved and vulnerable populations. His work has contributed to a better understanding of the impact of syndemic factors, including both individual-level factors (e.g. substance use and mental health problems) and the larger social context (e.g. immigration policies, stigma, discrimination, structural racism, violence, and cultural imperialism) that affects the overall health outcomes among systematically and structurally excluded populations. His experiences also include developing and implementing programs and interventions to address health disparities and inequities, including Connecting Latinos en Parejas, a couple-based HIV prevention and treatment intervention for Latino men who have sex with men; Trans Equity Research Project, a homegrown, peer-led, group-level HIV prevention and care intervention, in English and Spanish, for men and women of trans experience; and Juntas Contra el Virus del Papiloma Humano, an HPV self-sampling intervention for under-screened Latinas. He is currently leading an NIH study to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the Organizational Partnerships for Healthy Living, an innovative, multilevel intervention package intended for health care organizations serving people living with HIV(PLWH).
Elder Glida Morgan - Biography
Elder Glida Morgan, from Tla’amin First Nation, provides spiritual and cultural teachings to guide the work of the Lab and provides support to its member. Elder Glida has years of experience working as a front-line working on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in areas of family violence, women’s health, and mental wellness. She advocates for ways that culture can be better integrated into the healthcare plans and places for Indigenous peoples. She often performs songs as medicine for those in palliative care across the lower mainland. Glida’s singing and drumming of traditional songs grounds and inspires the work of the 2SDL. She has written the Labs very first song, Rainbow Love Together.
Charlotte Moores - Biography
Charlotte Moores is a settler of European ancestry, raised on the unceded territory of the Secwepemc people. She currently lives as an uninvited guest on the traditional territory of the Salish and Kalispel people (Western Montana). Charlotte holds a Masters of Public Health Degree from Simon Fraser University, where she focused on health equity and community-led public health strategy. Charlotte has a background in various areas of public health research supporting Indigenous communities, including in program planning, evaluation, and implementation, all with a strong focus on equitable and meaningful community engagement. Charlotte currently works as a research assistant for the Kloshe Tillicum research team.
Martin Morberg - Biography
Martin Morberg (he/him) is a Two-Spirit Northern Tutchone and Tlingit man from the Yukon Territory. It is Martin’s goal to empower the lives and voices of Two-Spirit and Indigenous people affected by HIV and addictions while contributing to the visibility of these communities. Much of Martin’s work and activism is rooted in community and grassroots initiatives. Martin acknowledges that many Indigenous leaders and community members have guided and supported him in growing into the activist he is today. It is Martin’s goal to pay this knowledge and support forward to Indigenous communities and Two-Spirit people.
Elder Roberta Price - Biography
For close to four decades, Elder Roberta Price has actively shared her leadership, wisdom, and teachings throughout the Lower Mainland to assist both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members to achieve improved outcomes in healthcare. Elder Price has been instrumental in helping to create shared spaces for both Indigenous and Western approaches to healing and health. With Elder Price joining the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, she will continue her ongoing involvement and leadership in research projects that have been key to the continued work of decolonizing health care and creating cultural safety and equity for Indigenous patients.
Dr. Jeffrey Proulx - Biography
Dr. Jeffrey Proulx (he, him his; Haudenosaunee) is the Associate Director of Diversity and Inclusion at the Mindfulness Center @ Brown University and an assistant professor in the departments of Public Health, Psychiatry, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Contemplative Studies at Brown University. Dr. Proulx’s work focuses on developing wellness programs for underserved populations primarily using aspects of mindfulness as the foundation for the program. More importantly, Dr. Proulx’s lab and community collaborators emphasize the importance of cultural practice as the vehicle for healing in these programs.
Harlan Pruden - Biography
Harlan Pruden (anything said mindfully and respectfully) is Nehiyô/First Nations Cree and works with and for the Two-Spirit community locally, nationally, and internationally. He is a co-founder of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab and Indigenous Knowledge Translation Lead at Chee Mamuk, an Indigenous health program at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. Harlan is also the managing editor of TwoSpiritJournal.com and an advisory member for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Gender and Health. Before relocating to Vancouver in 2015, Harlan was co-founder and a Director of the NYC community-based organization NorthEast Two-Spirit Society. Harlan was also a President Obama appointee to the US Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), providing advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health & Human Services and the White House. (In December 2018, Harlan was happily fired/dismissed from PACHA by Mr. Trump via Fedex.)
Jordan Ramnarine - Biography
Jordan Ramnarine (he/him) is a queer Indo-Caribbean-Canadian settler scholar living on the Traditional Territory of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron Peoples. He is currently completing an Honours Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMSc) degree in One Health and Gender Studies at Western University in London, Ontario. His undergraduate research is focused on Two-Spirit and Indigi-queer approaches to planetary health. Jordan’s other interests include community engagement, environmental/climate justice, health equity, and structural determinants of health. Looking to the future, he plans to pursue graduate studies in public health and human rights in the coming years.
Travis Salway - Biography
Travis Salway (he/him) is a white settler and queer man from Ohio (Shawnee, Myaamia/Miami, Kaskaskia, and Kiikaapoi territories), and currently an uninvited guest on unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. Since 2019, he is an assistant professor of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, where he leads research to understand pathways to health equity for Two-Spirit, trans, and queer people. Travis is also a co-founder of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, and he is grateful for the opportunity to learn from the strengths and knowledge of Two-Spirit and Indigenous co-researchers who lead this work.
Ryan Stillwagon - Biography
Ryan Stillwagon (he/him, they/them) is a white settler and PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, located on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. His current research explores the relationships between sexualities, health, food security and sovereignty, and cities.
Goldie Swanson - Biography
Goldie Swanson (she/her), a proud member of the Haida Nation’s Raven Clan, is a mother, auntie, sister, niece, daughter, cousin, and adopted grandmother to a few. Goldie lives on her traditional territory of G̱aw (Old Massett) on the magical island of Haida Gwaii. As an ally, Goldie is one of the community leads for the Two-Spirit Dry Lab in G̱aw. For almost 30 years, Goldie has served her community as a health advocate, direct service provider, and trainer within her position at Haida Health Centre. Currently, Goldie is the Community Health Representative at Haida Health Centre/Niislaa Naay, which translates to Healing House Society in X̱aad kíl (Old Massett Haida dialect). Rooted in her Haida ways of seeing, knowing, being and doing, Goldie is deeply committed to addressing the toxic drug supply in G̱aw. Finally, Goldie is also one of her Nation’s recognized master cedar weavers and has taught countless people how to harvest, process, and weave cedar and, in this way, her Haida people and culture flourish another day through and with her.
Lydia Toorenburgh - Biography
Lydia Toorenburgh (they/them) is a tastawiyiniw (two-spirit) otipemisiwak (Bungi-Metis) person with mixed white settler ancestry. They are a PhD student on Lekwungen territory at the University of Victoria studying anthropology and Indigenous nationhood. They have their BA (honours) and MA in anthropology from UVic as well. They are planning to research Two-Spirit Metis joy and resurgence with community-engaged and arts-based methods. They are also a drag king, beadworker, and singer-songwriter.
Sarah Watt - Biography
Sarah Watt (she/her) is a settler currently living on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. She has a background in sexual health education and promotion and completed a Master of Public Health Degree at Simon Fraser University (SFU). She currently works as a Research Coordinator with the REAFFIRM Collaborative, based out of SFU and the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity.
Jannie Wing-Sea Leung - Biography
Jannie Wing-Sea Leung (she/her) grew up on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Kwikwetlem peoples, and her ancestors are from China. She has an MSc in Community Health and Epidemiology and has worked as an epidemiologist in different public health organizations for the past eight years, focusing on health equity, public health surveillance, and communicable diseases.
Barbara Karlen - Biography
Barb Karlen (she/her) is a mixed settler with roots in Iceland and the Saulteaux First Nation of Manitoba. She currently lives and works on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Kwikwetlem (kʷikʷəƛ̓əm) Nations. Barb comes to the 2SDL from years working as a Research Coordinator on a variety of occupational and environmental studies; most recently on a study of COPD prevalence in First Nations communities in BC’s northern region. She enjoys a diversity of work in public health as she is interested in a holistic approach to health by understanding the environments we live and work in and how these intersect and influence our overall wellbeing. Her work for the 2SDL supports Finance and Administration.
Andrew Caldwell - Biography
Andrew Caldwell (he/they), whose Anishinaabe name is Wa-Wa-Ti-In-In-Ne, meaning “Northern Lights Man,” is Nijodoyiye (Two-Spirit in Algonquin). He is a registered band member of the Algonquin (Anishinaabe) First Nations from the Kitigan Zibi (“River Desert”) Anishinabeg (Peoples) in Maniwaki, Quebec, and also has European settler ancestry.
He is a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU), focusing his research on justice-impacted Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer peoples in Canada. His studies involve collaboration with the Indigenous Studies program, the School of Criminology, and the Faculty of Health Sciences. In 2019, they earned a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of the Fraser Valley, graduating with distinction. Additionally, he received a Bachelor of General Studies in Arts, with a minor in Sociology, from SFU in 2006.
Andrew has worked in the federal public service for fifteen years. He is currently employed as an Indigenous policy officer at Employment and Social Development Canada. Before this role, he spent ten years as an Indigenous correctional program officer with the Correctional Service of Canada, where he gained experience in maximum, medium, and minimum-security levels and community corrections.