Team
Paul Garcia-Ryan
President
Paul earned his Master of Social Work from Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work and completed advanced graduate training in LGBT behavioral health at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. Paul has spoken and lectured both nationally and internationally on developmental approaches to youth gender dysphoria. He maintains a private practice, trains clinicians, and provides supervision in this specialized area of clinical care. Paul also holds a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and has worked extensively in the visual arts, including as former Registrar for Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York City. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Lisa Marchiano
BOARD chair
Lisa is a certified Jungian analyst, an award-winning author, and a co-host of the popular depth psychology podcast This Jungian Life. She holds a bachelor’s from Brown University, a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University, and a social work degree from New York University. She trained in Jungian psychoanalysis with the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts and is on the faculty of the Philadelphia Jung Institute. Lisa has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters on gender-related distress, maintains a private practice, and lectures and teaches widely.
Jane Wheeler
secretary
Jane is Co-Founder and past President of Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics (ReIME), a nonprofit education and research organization dedicated to promoting ethical care for gender non-conforming children and youth. She is now retired, having previously served as a Limited Partner at the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery in California, where she practiced regulatory healthcare law with a focus on licensing, standards of care, and informed consent. She previously served as a board member of Lawyers for Human Rights (now the Los Angeles LGBT Bar Association) and on GLAAD/LA’s Women’s Committee. She has also worked as a consultant for nonprofits on funding initiatives for health and education related programs, particularly those aimed at improving care in nursing homes. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her sons.
Sasha Ayad
board Member
Sasha Ayad is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 13 years of experience working with adolescents and young adults. Her work focuses on gender dysphoria, gender identity, and identity development in youth. Since 2016, she has worked with hundreds of gender-diverse young people and their families and has worked to raise awareness around the need for a developmentally informed, least-invasive-first therapeutic approach to youth gender distress. She has presented at various conferences, including the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, has contributed to the academic literature, and produces The Metaphor of Gender, a video series exploring gender as metaphor.
Kristen Farrell-Turner
Board Member
Kristen is a licensed psychologist who completed her clinical psychology training at University of Miami in 2011. Throughout and since graduate school, much of her clinical and research experience has fallen in the broad scope of health psychology, always focused on the relationship between mental and physical health. Her work settings have included hospitals, outpatient clinics, interdisciplinary wellness centers, community mental health centers, and academia. She provides therapy to gender dysphoric adolescents and adults in her private practice.
Stefan de Villiers
Board Member
Stefan is a mental health practitioner and holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Calgary, Canada. A trans man himself who transitioned nearly 20 years ago, Stefan has a particular interest in gender and sexuality issues. He is especially driven to support clients who feel they were harmed by gender medicalization. He has post-graduate training in traumatic stress, family violence, and grief education. Since 2018, Stefan has worked in community mental health, as well as running a small private practice alongside his artist wife. Together, they offer coaching, counseling, and group workshops on harnessing creativity as a tool for positive change.
Kathryn Hilton
Board Member
Kat is a licensed professional counselor who takes a balanced approach to psychotherapy, integrating mind and body perspectives to treat the whole person. She uses dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to help clients explore a variety of mental health challenges, including anxiety, mood disorders, and borderline personality disorder. She has experience working with LGBTQ youth and adults. In addition to therapy, she teaches yoga and mindfulness workshops. She lives in Philadelphia, PA with her wife and two dogs.
Anna Hutchinson
Board Member
Anna is a clinical psychologist with 25 years of frontline experience, specializing in adolescent mental and physical health. From 2013 to 2017, Anna was a senior clinician at the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which had become the world’s largest pediatric gender clinic prior to its closure in 2023. In recent years, her work has focused on education and training addressing the complex needs of young people experiencing gender-related distress, including co-leading the induction training for the NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Service in collaboration with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. She has presented internationally on psychotherapy for gender distressed youth, including at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting, and her publications include Cass-Informed Psychotherapy for Gender-Distressed Youth in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology.