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Comings & Goings
O’Neill to practice in Portland; Skinner heads to Rome
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Daniel O’Neill
Congratulations to Dr. Daniel O’Neill, who will be practicing General Internal Medicine at the Neighborhood Health Center in Portland, Ore.
O’Neill is a primary care physician specializing in HIV and LGBT Health, who recently completed his residency training in internal medicine at both Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle and the George Washington University Hospital, in D.C. After a month of intensive medical-Spanish immersion in Guatemala this summer, he will begin practice and will serve as the anchoring internal medicine physician for the new clinic site for Portland’s underserved populations.
“Although my life has taken an unanticipated detour for now, my long-term plan remains practicing HIV medicine in the D.C. metropolitan area,” he said. “My time as a volunteer at Whitman-Walker Health and the influence of my dear friend, Peter Fox, were instrumental in the decision to pursue HIV medicine and LGBT health.”
O’Neill attended the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences after working for the Institute of Medicine. While in medical school and residency he trained under Drs. Douglas Ward, Ray Martins, both in D.C., and William Owen of San Francisco, all notable HIV primary care physicians.
While in D.C., Dan helped to co-found the HIV Working Group of the DC Center and the FUK!T condom distribution campaign with Dr. Terry Gerace. He was both a 2011 Point Foundation Scholar and National Health Service Corps Scholar (NHSC).
He added, “After completing my NHSC service obligation, I may return to D.C. to continue work in one of the local community health centers or move into private practice.”
Congratulations are also due to long-time Washingtonian Bill Skinner who recently moved with his husband Murray Jolivette from their home in Brookland to Rome. Skinner has taken the position of chief of the governing bodies office at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations first established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. IFAD is one of the three Rome-based agencies of the United Nations, with a special focus on eradicating poverty and food insecurity in remote rural areas around the world. Seventy-five percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods.
Skinner and his team are responsible for the operations of IFAD’s executive board and governing council, in close coordination with management. Most recently he ran his own D.C.-based translation and interpretation company following his graduation from Georgetown University’s school of interpretation and translation. For the past 14 years, Skinner worked at the International Monetary Fund, most recently as chief of the English Section.
Bill Skinner
Finally, congratulations are also due to Jay Vilar who recently founded Nourish, LLC (www.nourishingdc.com). Vilar grew up attempting a variety of diets informed with misguided nutritional information, fluctuating weight and a constant lack of sustained energy. As he began to immerse himself in the science behind nutrition and the human body, rather than abiding by contradictory media messages, his life forever changed. He then created a vision for his life, to help others heal their bodies with food. He studied to become a Nutritional Therapist Practitioner and created his company Nourish, LLC. Vilar said, “I work with my clients to identify which nutrients are missing in their body then develop customized nutritional plans specific to their health goals.”
Jay Vilar
Virginia
Gay Va. couple hopeful voters will enshrine marriage equality in state constitution
Early voting has already begun in the state
A referendum on whether to enshrine marriage equality in Virginia’s constitutional amendment is on the ballot this year.
If voters approve Question 2, it will codify the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling in 2015 that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country — gays and lesbians have been able to legally marry in Virginia since Oct. 6, 2014.
Rob Bookbinder and James Fisher are a married couple who live in Arlington.
They have been together for 38 years — Bookbinder and Fisher married in 2014.
“We think this is a critical vote to remove this discriminatory language from the constitution and to ensure that going forward, no matter what happens, the state of Virginia will ensure marriage equality,” Fisher told the Washington Blade. “It is it is really difficult and upsetting to think that our current state constitution would prohibit same-sex marriage, even though the federal government overrides that now. There’s no saying what may happen in the future.”
Bookbinder said it was important for him and Fisher to get married “to gain social equality.”
“I was surprised how good it felt, how important it was to begin to say, ‘my husband rather than my partner,'” Bookbinder said.
Bookbinder then explained why it feels good to be married.
“Is it a legal partner, a business partner, a tennis partner, you know, or a romantic partner? But when you say my husband James, everyone knows exactly what you mean and confers an equal status with everyone else who’s married, and we were both surprised at how good it felt and how equal it felt to suddenly be married and be able to state that you were married and discuss your husband rather than your partner, and I would hate to lose that,” he said.
Bookbinder and Fisher said they are hopeful that voters will approve the amendment, noting Virginia has become more progressive over the years.
“I think people have, with the Supreme Court decision, people have seen that a same-sex marriage is just a marriage,” stated Fisher. “It’s just two people who love each other, and I think more and more people have attended a same-sex marriage, someone in their family or a friend, and the experience of what this is, firsthand experience, is so important in shaping people’s opinions, and I think the period of time that we’ve had since the Obergefell decision has given a lot of voters that experience, which I think is really important and powerful.”
The couple also said the push to enshrine marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution is in response to the Trump-Vance administration.
“And I think due to President Trump doing all the horrible things he’s done to so many groups, including LGBTQ, especially trans people, that Virginians are kind of pushed to be even more progressive to protect those who need protection, which would include the LGBTQ community in terms of marriage equality, so I’m confident it will pass,” said Fisher.
Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, sent the Blade a statement about early voting on Question 2 that has already begun.
“With early voting now underway, our focus is making sure every Virginian knows Question 2 is on their ballot,” said Rahaman. “The outdated ban on same-sex marriage still in Virginia’s state constitution leaves a gap in protections for the thousands of same-sex couples that call this state home, but after 20 years we have the chance to fix it.”
Log onto www.mobilize.us/vaformarriage to find out more about the campaign in support of Question 2.
By JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | Those legendary heavy-handed pours, spirited karaoke and trivia nights, and groan-worthy wall-to-wall patrons on packed nights are back!
Leon’s will live to see another day.
Baltimore’s oldest gay bar, which opened in the 1950s, closed in July following the death of its owner, Ron Singer.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Leigh Miles Jackson, Ph.D., named executive director of The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker, and Angel Earle, Ph.D. named as chief operating officer, Whitman-Walker Health System.
Upon her appointment Dr. Jackson said, “Under my leadership, I would love for The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker to be known as a trusted, forward-looking research organization that shapes policies, strengthens practices and creates measurable change for the community.” Dr. Jackson spent 12 years with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, leading national initiatives on minority-serving institutions and economic evidence for investments in children, youth and families. Dr. Jackson holds an extensive educational background, including postdoctoral fellowships in developmental Psychology and Neurogenomics from Vanderbilt University, a Ph.D. in molecular and systems pharmacology from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wake Forest University.
Upon her appointment Dr. Earle said, “When we talk about parity and inequities and research, it’s never just about the dollars that are out there. It’s about making sure that we’re cultivating a change that embraces equity at the heart of everything that it does. As the COO for Whitman-Walker Health System I will be working closely to support The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker and the Whitman-Walker Foundation to drive advancement in research and support the strategic goals of all of the Whitman-Walker Heath System entities.”
Dr. Earle is a genetic epidemiologist and senior executive. She brings a background from the London School of Economics and the University of South Carolina, with expertise in global health, corporate strategy and socioeconomic policy. She has co-authored peer-reviewed research on cancer genetics, nephrology biomarkers and reproductive genomes.
Dr. Heather Aaron, CEO of Whitman-Walker Health System said, “both leaders bring research-driven expertise and operational strength to the organization as it continues expanding research, health care access, and health outcomes for residents across the Washington, D.C., region, including the LGBTQ+ community, people living with and at risk for HIV, and communities experiencing persistent health disparities.”
The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker is also expanding its research agenda beyond HIV to address the complex health conditions affecting people living with and at risk for HIV, as well as the broader communities The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker serves.
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