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We are
Charlotte
Trans Health

Our mission is to increase trans-specialized provider clinical competency and best practice interdisciplinary collaboration among affirming providers in the greater Charlotte area.

about-dr-griffin

Our Purpose

Because our organization is driven by providers dedicated to providing quality care while facing systemic barriers, we have inevitably been led at times to engage in advocacy centering on improving quality of trans lives and to collaborate and support the advocacy efforts of partner organizations serving the LGBTQIA+ community.

Growing as an Integrative Care Collaborative

At Charlotte Trans Health we value patient access to clear information regarding the training and experience of healthcare providers as a part of informed consent for care. Therefore, we support transparency of information on who we are as a collective and how we define our organization’s policies and standards of care expectations for providers choosing to participate in our integrative care collaborative. For more information visit Membership!

Learn More

The Origin Story

Charlotte Tran Health (CTH) is a passionate collective of providers from several local counties, formed in January of 2012. At the time, Dr. Lisa Griffin, a psychologist who had been caring for gender diverse patients in the Charlotte area for over 15 years, was anticipating moving out of the area and wanted to make sure there would be a robust community to care for these gender diverse individuals.

The group started with 5 hormone prescribing providers, 7 mental health professionals, and a surgeon as founding members committed to collaborating with the intent to discuss best practices in transgender healthcare, transmit/relay new information, and discuss complex cases.

As of 2020, the Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group formally filed and was designated a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Our board pledges to support the founding mission to provide a forum for the provision of specialized education and interdisciplinary consultation for LGBTQIA+ affirming healthcare professionals. Further, our mission is to serve as a resource and increase access for the transgender community to identify healthcare professionals who provide culturally competent care and specialized medical services to transgender and gender diverse individuals and their families.

Community Engagement & Recognition

2017 Freedom Center for Social Justice Community Award
“...for our work in building a caring community.”
2020 C.W. Williams Community Health Center Community Service Award
“We consider CTHCG to be a trailblazer, both in the healthcare field and in our community.”
2022 QNotes Organization of the Year
“It’s more than just physical health. It’s also about education and advocacy.”
2022 Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce Non-Profit Organization of the Year
“Visibility is key to creating a more inclusive and equitable community.”
2024 EQUALibrium Award for Established Leader in Health Care awarded to Executive Director, Holly Savoy, PhD.
“For outstanding contributions in advancing issues of equity and economic mobility within the community.”
2024 GLMA Local Community Leader Achievement Award
“For outstanding work to advance LGBTQ+ health equity.”
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Formalizing as a Non-Profit

Founding Members

Eli Branscome, PhD, LCMHC-S, LCAS (he)
Rhett Brown, MD (he)
Eric Emerson, MD (he)
Jim Green, MDiv, LCMHC (he)
Lisa Griffin, PhD (she)
Carl Hughes, MD (he)
Laura Levin, MD (she)
Billie Maitland, PhD (she)
Thomas Marlowe, MD (he)
Beverly Moss, LCMHC (she)
Holly Savoy, PhD (she)
Becky Stamler, LCMHC, LCAS (she)
Richard Wynn, MD (he)

Staff

Executive Director – Holly Savoy (She/Her)
Administrative & Community Education Coordinator – Casey Mesaeh (They/Them)

Executive Board

President – Marguerita Blaker, LPA (She/Her)
Vice President – Hayden Nielsen, LCSWA (He/Him)
Past President – Annada Hypes, PhD (She/Her)
Treasurer – Aliya Saulson, LCSW (She/Her)
Secretary – Karen Muehl, PhD (She/Her) 

Committees

Community Engagement Chair – TBD
Development / T.H.E. Night Planning Chair – Dorie Charnin, LCSW (She/Her)
Governance Committee Co-Chairs – Jennifer Ratajczak, LCMHC (She/Her), Katherine Campbell, LCSW, PhD (She/Her), Leia Charnin, PhD (She/Her), and Doug Meardon, MD (He/Him) 
Membership Co-Chairs – Earl Martin, LCSW (He/Him) and Elizabeth Ponds, LCSWA (They/Them)
Trans Provider Committee Chair – Noah Granade, LCSW (He/Him)

Trans Provider Committee Statement of Purpose:

The Trans Provider Committee (TPC) is a cis-free branch of Charlotte Trans Health (CTH) that ensures transgender and gender diverse (TGD) members of CTH have agency in the involvement of leadership. TPC is comprised of active members of the organization. The TPC aims to:

  • Provide mutual peer-support to providers of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) lived experience navigating the intersection of being a TGD provider and serving the community in a professional capacity;
  • Ensure that TGD members of CTH are involved in organizational decision-making processes;
  • Provide feedback to the Board to ensure the needs of TGD individuals are being heard and respected and without repercussion from the Board; and
  • Assist the Board in addressing community feedback and concerns received about CTH members by TGD clients served.

Annual & Financial Reports

Explore our Annual and Financial Reports to discover the impact we’ve made!