Howard Brown

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 the Journal 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.

Beau joined Howard Brown in 2003 as the Men's Health Manager, and was named the Director of HIV/STD Prevention in 2006. In this capacity, he oversees an array of testing and prevention programs targeting men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) in Chicago and the surrounding Cook County area. Beau is also the Project Director of a Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health grant that provides Technical Assistance and Capacity Development to agencies attempting to enhance their HIV prevention programs. He has presented at national and international conferences on Howard Brown programs, including syphilis elimination activities, hepatitis A/B vaccination, and the relationship between crystal meth use and STD infection. Prior to coming to Howard Brown, Beau served as a Fellow at the Chicago Department of Public Health in the Division of STD/HIV/AIDS while pursuing a Master's degree in Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

Hope has more than ten years of experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating social service programs. With her post-graduate degree in Public Health from New York University, Hope has served as evaluator for a variety of health programs, including a smoking cessation project, an examination of substance abuse among minority women, as well as HIV/AIDS programs that target African Americans. As the Director of Community Initiatives at Howard Brown, Hope is responsible for developing, implementing, and integrating program evaluation into various Howard Brown initiatives, and the development of new program opportunities in areas such as elder care and women's health.

Joe has been at Howard Brown for five years and was recently named the Director of the Broadway Youth Center which opened in October, 2004. He is responsible for the daily operations of Chicago's most comprehensive center for at-risk youth. 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 coming to 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.

Dr. John Phair, M.D. was the Chair of the Division of Infectious Disease and Director of the Samuel J. Sackett Laboratories at the Fineberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University from 1976 until 2000. His career spans four decades and includes epidemiologic investigations as well as evaluations of antibiotic and antiviral therapy and host defenses relevant to infections. As one of the leaders of the NIH-NIAID funded Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), now in its 23rd year, his work clarified the natural history and epidemiology of HIV infection. He established the NIAID funded Chicago Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Unit in 1987 and served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group during the period when therapy moved from its infancy to its current level of effectiveness. Dr. Phair also chaired the NIAID AIDS Research Advisory Committee from 2000 to 2002. Howard Brown is a key site in the MACS study. Dr. Phair serves as principal investigator.

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.

Travis has been at Howard Brown since 2004. Prior to his taking the role of Director, he was the store manager at the Halsted Street store, where he continuously exceeded projected sales. He has been instrumental in the training and development of the Brown Elephant staff at all locations, and has created a strong customer service team under his direction. Travis has more than 15 years of business management experience, and has been in the nonprofit sector for more than seven years. He holds a degree from Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii.

David joined Howard Brown in August, 2000 as the Finance Department's Accounting Manager, and was named the Controller in 2006. In this capacity, he oversees all aspects of the finance department including month end reporting, grants/contracts, and annual compliance reporting. Prior to coming to Howard Brown, David worked for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Illinois as the Manager in the Accounting Department at the Chicago office and also served as a volunteer Wish Grantor.

Alicia K. Matthews, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health, Mental Health, and Administrative Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her primary research interests are in cancer prevention and control, psychosocial adjustment to illness, and identifying sociocultural predictors of mental and physical health outcomes in African American and other underserved populations. She has conducted funded research studies examining information seeking and treatment decision-making among newly diagnosed African American cancer patients; factors associated with breast cancer quality of life in lesbian women; prevalence and predictors of anxiety among breast cancer survivors, and evaluation of a targeted breast and cervical cancer education program for African American lesbian and bisexual women. At Howard Brown, Dr. Matthews is expanding her work to include cancer screening for lesbians and gay men.

Arryn Hawthorne-Jader, AM, LCSW has nearly 15 years of experience in social services. Arryn has experience including crisis stabilization, clinical supervision, as well as brief and long-term psychotherapy with people across the spectrum of mental health status, culture, gender and sexual orientation. Her specialties include work with survivors of trauma and violence, LGBT-specific concerns, HIV, women's issues. Arryn is an EMDR Trained clinician.

Arryn Hawthorne-Jader, AM, LCSW has nearly 15 years of experience in social services. Arryn has experience including crisis stabilization, clinical supervision, as well as brief and long-term psychotherapy with people across the spectrum of mental health status, culture, gender and sexual orientation. Her specialties include work with survivors of trauma and violence, LGBT-specific concerns, HIV, women's issues. Arryn is an EMDR Trained clinician.

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Cathy Creticos, M.D. has been an HIV specialist at Howard Brown since 1995 and Associate Medical Director since 1998. Dr. Creticos graduated from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1981 and completed internships, residencies, and fellowships in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. Dr. Creticos is the Medical Director of MATEC (Midwest Aids Training & Education Center) and Chief of Infectious Disease at Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Dr. Creticos also practices medicine at University of Illinois-Chicago and Rush North Shore Medical Center. Dr. Creticos has been Principle Investigator on more than 15 research studies.

Dr. Young is a Clinical Psychologist with expertise and interest in treating trauma survivors and the various forms of trauma sequelae (PTSD, dissociative disorders, depression, eating disorders). Her career has focused on women's and LGBT issues as well. Dr. Young is also an EMDR trained clinician.

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Usha Menon, Ph.D., R.N., is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing. Her research interests include behavioral intervention research in the prevention/early detection of cancer, decision-making regarding cancer screening, provider-patient communication regarding cancer screening in the primary care setting, and the impact of culture and literacy on cancer screening behavior among special populations. Specifically, her research focus lies in developing tailored interventions to increase breast and colorectal cancer screening. Dr. Menon has both completed and on-going research studies on testing tailored intervention, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her collaboration with Howard Brown is focused on testing interventions to increase cancer screening among sexual minorities.

Ms. Ford is the program coordinator for Howard Brown Health Center's Recovering with Pride program, which offers outpatient counseling and IOP treatment for members of the LGBT community who are struggling with drug and alcohol abuse/addiction issues. As a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor (CADC), Ms. Ford's areas of expertise include psychotherapy; work with children, families and adults; outpatient substance abuse counseling; ACoA issues; coping with internalized homophobia and coming-out issues; and dual diagnosis treatment. Additional areas of specialty training include EMDR and domestic violence counseling. Ms. Ford has had extensive experience working with HIV infected and impacted individuals and families; Wards of the State; victims of trauma (such as rape or childhood physical or sexual abuse and neglect); adult children of alcoholics; the LGBT&Q community; mood disorders (such as depression and Bipolar), anxiety disorders (such as OCD, generalized anxiety, and PTSD), and clients struggling with drug addiction or alcoholism.