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the team
Dr. Angie Wootton, PhD MSW - Principal Investigator
Angie Wootton is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Welfare, College of Integrated Health Sciences and Affiliated Faculty of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. Angie's research focuses on characterizing and seeking remedies to persistent mental health and behavioral health disparities in the LGBTQ+ community. This work takes a strengths, resilience, and trauma recovery focus to identify and promote pathways to holistic wellbeing for multiply marginalized LGBTQ+ people, especially uplifting forms of LGBTQ+ community support, peer mental health support, and mutual aid. Prior to working in academia, Angie had a career as a case manager, counselor, and social worker in settings such as homeless shelters, transitional and permanent supported housing, hospitals, a community-based mental health program, and a HIV/AIDS organization in California. Angie lives in Albany, NY with their wife, dog, and cat.
Linda Cahoon, MSW - Graduate Research Assistant
Linda Cahoon (she/her/they) is a PhD student in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany, SUNY. Linda’s research is devoted to advancing the understanding and support of LGBTQIA+ mental health and policy, with special emphasis on amplifying the voices and experiences of multiply marginalized sexual and gender minority individuals from high-demand, patriarchal, non-affirming religion. Linda is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Utah who specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ youth and adults, as well as women’s mental health. Linda takes a trauma-informed, holistic, and systems approach in her work. She has experience in community based mental health programs, residential treatment, and outpatient and private practice settings. Linda’s primary career goal is to help dismantle systems of oppression and increase the resources, support, and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ and marginalized individuals. In her personal life, Linda is an avid dog lover and introvert who loves nature and helping people reconnect with themselves.
Laurie DeJong Zuverink, MSW MDiv - Graduate Research Assistant
Laurie DeJong Zuverink MSW, MDiv (she/they) is a queer feminist speaker, researcher, writer, keeper of stories, and advocate for social change. For half a century Laurie grew up and lived in the conservative ethnic faith communities of West Michigan where with a passion to create systemic change and to develop youth leadership, she engaged the community as a faith leader and executive director of an urban after school center. In 2020 during the middle of COVID and after a season of discernment and “coming out,” Laurie took a bold step and moved to Albany, New York to pursue an MSW/PhD in Social Welfare at the University at Albany, SUNY. While in Albany and completing coursework, Laurie has worked in different capacities serving the LGBTQ+, the aging, and the cognitively impaired populations. Laurie has also served as one of the Interfaith Chaplains for the University at Albany. Currently, using the methods of narrative inquiry, Laurie is engaging in doctoral research exploring intersectional spiritual identity formation in the lives of sexual minority women who come out later in life. Laurie loves watching women’s sports, live music, traveling, and engaging in a good story.
Kyra Gerdes- LGBTQ+ Community Engagement Assistant
Kyra Gerdes (she/they) is an undergraduate student and research assistant in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany and recently transferred from Hudson Valley Community College. While getting her associates degree, Kyra had the privilege of interning at the Shelters of Saratoga and working with people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Kyra appreciates working from a holistic perspective using a strengths and person-centered approach in order to help foster connection and empowerment. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community who has struggled with their mental health, Kyra has a great interest in working with other marginalized people in order to bring access, interdependence, and compassion to those that have been systematically and heartlessly denied. In her free time, Kyra enjoys spending time with their cat, reading, making chain maille, and playing all manner of board games.
Lina Matos- LGBTQ+ Community Engagement Assistant
Lina Matos (she/her) is an undergraduate student and research assistant pursuing a double-major in Psychology and Philosophy, as well as a minor in LGBTQ+ Studies, at the University at Albany, SUNY. Lina is a proud, openly transgender woman whose personal mission is to make the world a better, safer, and more equitable place for other trans people like herself, and for the LGBTQ+ community in its entirety. Outside the classroom, you will most likely find Lina performing music as a singer-songwriter, and engaging in other various art and expression-based community events.
Forrest Vildor - Qualitative Research Assistant
Forrest Vildor (they/them) is a senior undergraduate student and research assistant at the College of Integrated Health Sciences at the University at Albany, majoring in Public Health with a minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. During their time at Albany, they have focused on understanding systems of oppression and its impact on marginalized communities, as well as researching non-Abrahamic religions. Forrest research interests include the mental health and culture of the LGBTQIA+ Afro-Diaspora community. After graduating, Forrest will pursue a master's in public health. Their primary career goal is to work as a physician, providing inclusive healthcare to underserved populations. In their personal life, Forrest enjoys crocheting, reading, watching anime, listening to music, and spending time with friends and their dog.
L. Elliot Tetreault, PhD MFA - LGBTQ+ History and Culture Specialist
L. Elliot Tetreault is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Affiliate Faculty in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. Across scholarly, pedagogical, and community contexts, Elliot is motivated by the concept of queer political imagination: how LGBTQ+ individuals and groups envision liberatory possibilities for the future and how they work, play, and create toward those futures in the here-and-now. Elliot also studies how oppressive discourses restrict imagination and prevent coalition-building. As a rhetorical critic, Elliot has used text- and interview-based research methods to explore these themes in U.S. political and social movement histories at the intersection of gender and racial justice. Their book, Truth Be Told: White Nostalgia and Antiracist Queer Resistance in "Post-Truth" America (The Ohio State University Press, 2025), analyzes and historicizes how contemporary antiracist, queer, and feminist activists use various forms of cultural production to work against disinformation and its circulation. Elliot lives in Albany with their wife and cat and enjoys spending time with friends, reading in all genres, and attending local art, music, and literary events.
Project Advisory Board
Want to help improve LGBTQ mental health and wellbeing in your local (upstate NY) community? Have ideas about what works and doesn't work for LGBTQ peer mental health support?
If so, please apply for the Project Advisory Board, which meets quarterly via Zoom. To apply, email Angie with a statement about your interest.