Tom Barrett, M.D., has been a primary care provider at Howard Brown since April of 2000. Dr. Barrett graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 1995. Dr. Barrett completed his residency and served as Co-Chief Resident at Ravenswood Family Practice in Chicago. Dr. Barrett is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and Illinois Academy of Family Physicians and practices as a certified HIV Medicine Specialist. Dr. Barrett serves as an investigator on several LGBT health-related research studies.

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.

Rob Garofalo, M.D., is the Deputy Director at Howard Brown, the Medical Director of Adolescent HIV Services at Children’s Memorial Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Garofalo’s clinical and academic career has been devoted to the care of HIV infected adolescents and other at-risk teen populations. At Howard Brown and Children’s Memorial Hospital, Dr. Garofalo conducts federally-funded clinical and prevention-based research with HIV+ and LGBT youth. Since 2001, he has been actively involved in the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) where he is a member of their Adolescent Research Advisory Committee. In 2003, Dr. Garofalo received a 3 year NIH-supported Mentored Clinical Scientist Award to pursue behavioral research specific to HIV and HIV prevention in at-risk youth populations. Dr. Garofalo also received an individual NIH award to test the utility of a Social-Personal theoretical model in explaining HIV risk behaviors in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and is currently working with the NICHD-sponsored Adolescent Medicine Trials Network as the Principal Investigator on the Transgender Research Youth Project, a study examining risk among transfeminine youth.

David McKirnan, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychology. Dr. McKirnan has conducted HIV behavioral research for 25 years, addressing prevention, HIV vaccines, and treatment. He has served as Principal Investigator at Howard Brown since 1984. Dr. McKirnan is currently the principal investigator of a behavioral intervention study at Howard Brown: Project ICARE  and has completed two recent intervention studies; Project MIX, with men who have sex with men who also use substances while engaging in high risk sexual behaviors; and the Treatment Advocate Program (TAP) Study  with HIV+ men reporting difficulties in coping, sexual safety, adherence, and substance abuse. Both studies are testing interventions designed to slow the spread of HIV; results will prove invaluable to the development of effective intervention programs.

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.

Brian Mustanski, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his doctorate in Psychology from Indiana University, where he trained extensively at the Kinsey Institute.  He has been the recipient of both National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation research and training awards. Dr. Mustanski’s research focuses on understanding the development of human sexuality (i.e. sexual orientation) and its related health problems from a bioecological perspective.  In 2005, he co-authored the first full genome scan of male sexual orientation, which received international attention. Dr. Mustanski is currently conducting one of the first representative and longitudinal studies of sexual minority adolescents in order to more fully understand the development of sexual orientation and identify factors that promote resilience. In addition, he conducts applied research on HIV prevention among young men who have sex with men (MSM). He is the PI of an NIH-funded study to develop and test an online HIV prevention program for young MSM. His clinical work focuses on the treatment of sexual and relationship problems.

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), 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.