Yesenia Aguirre
Health Worker

Yesenia is a Chicana / Mission District native who has been an activist and HIV and STD counselor working with youth, Latina/o, & queer communities for over 13 years.  She began her work as a volunteer at Instituto Familiar de La Raza, RAP, and eventually ended up at the SF Department of Public Health’s Youth Peer Education Program.  From there she went on to work at various other agencies including Health Initiatives for Youth where she coordinated the young women’s health program leading to the creation of Kickin’ Back with the Girls, A Young Woman’s Survival Guide.  She is now working at the Castro-Mission Health Center and Dimensions Clinic as a Community Health Worker. Yesenia is also currently a student at City College and likes to walk her dog Chichi whom she loves very much.

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Debbie Brown
Medical Doctor

Debbie Brown is a family doctor and has been working at the Castro-Mission Health Center for 18 years, with about 9 of those years also being the medical director of Dimensions Clinic. She went to medical school at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, and did her residency at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY. Dr. Brown's off-hours interests include cycling, reading science fiction, taking her son to visit model railways, and worrying about the Greenland ice sheet.

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Vittorio D’Angeli
Dimensions Clinic Collaborative Coordinator

Vitorrio is originally from Italy and has worked in the non-profit Public Health field for nearly 20 years, starting in the mid 1980’s at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. There he worked with L.A. CARES, one of the first government funded HIV education and risk reduction campaigns targeting gay and bisexual men.  At the Center Vittorio went on to hold positions as Health Educator, STD Counselor, and HIV triage case manager. In 1992 he moved to San Francisco where he began his work with Special Programs for Youth/S.F. Department of Public Health. In 1999 Vittorio began working with Dimensions as a case manager, eventually moving into the position of Dimensions Collaborative Coordinator through Health Initiatives for Youth and under Michael Baxter.  As a person living with AIDS and a long-time activist with such groups as ACT UP L.A. and Queer Nation, he uses both his personal and professional experience as his guides. To contact Vittorio you can email him or stop by during clinic hours. 

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Greg Foley
Nurse Practitioner

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Marisela Guzman
Eligibility Worker

Marisela "Spider" Guzman- Marisela is an eligibility worker at Dimensions Clinic and Larkin Street Youth Clinic. She is originally El Paso, Texas and has called the bay area her home for 13 years. Since her arrival in the bay area, Marisela has worked as a volunteer interpreter and health educator at San Francisco General Hospital, Planned Parenthood, Cole street Youth Clinic & UCSF. Marisela is loved by many youth all over the city who affectionately refer to her as 'Spider' or 'La Loca Guzman.'

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Ruben Martinez
Eligibility Worker

As an Eligibility Worker, Ruben ensures that our Dimensions patients have appropriate medical coverage and assists them in enrolling in the myriad of state and county programs potentially available to cover medical costs. Ruben is originally from Los Angeles. He relocated to northern California in order to attend University of California, Santa Cruz, where he received a bachelor's degree in Literature. When not busy working as a fabulous Eligibility Worker, Ruben enjoys sipping champagne by his fireplace, go-go dancing, long walks on the beach, looking at himself in the mirror and listening to 80's Monster Ballads.

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Elijah Nella, MFTI

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Amy Peterson, MFT

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Luanna Rodgers
Therapist

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Esteban Rodriguez
Outreach & Health Worker

Esteban is the outreach guy and a health worker at Dimensions. Before coming to Dimensions he worked with homeless residents in the Tenderloin, Latino Immigrants in the Mission, and many people with substance abuse issues both young & old. He is from the south Texas / northern Mexico frontera and has called the bay area home for 4 years. He is invested in promoting empowerment, self-sufficiency, and health & wellness among young queer and transgender people. He spends his free time running (from Jessie) and dreaming about owning a dog named Chichi.

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Heather Weisbrod
Therapist

Heather works as a therapist at Castro Mission Health Center and has been working with queer youth, adults and families for the past 10 years. Prior to coming to Castro Mission
and Dimensions she worked with youth-serving agencies including Larkin Street Youth Services and Huckleberry Youth Programs. Heather's areas of focus include gender and sexuality, HIV and harm reduction.

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Dafna Wu
Registered Nurse

Dafna is a trilingual, Jewish, Chinese, Brazilian, lesbian, mother who knits and surfs but never at the same time. She graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz in English Literature with a minor in Biology and completed her graduate studies in Nursing from San Francisco State University.  Since 1994 she has served as staff nurse at the Castro-Mission Health Center, where she works with a substantial number of queer & transgender youth, and was on the founding team of Dimensions Queer Youth Health Clinic. Her ongoing advocacy work is dedicated to providing a nurturing and safe spaces where LGBTQ youth can seek and receive quality primary care.

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Sherilyn Adams, LCSW
Executive Director, Larkin Street Youth Services

Sherilyn is a licensed social worker with more than fifteen years of experience developing and managing programs addressing substance abuse, mental health, HIV/AIDS, and child abuse and family violence issues. Previously the Division Director for Supportive Housing and Case Management Services at Baker Places, Sherilyn developed and administered six housing and case management programs targeting dually- and triply-diagnosed adults. This included supervision of the agency’s Intake and Placement Team, and clinical oversight for all programs in a variety of housing and treatment settings. She has also managed residential treatment and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment programs.

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Michael Baxter
Primary Care Administrator for Youth Programs,
San Francisco Department of Public Health

Michael Baxter, MSW has worked in the field of adolescent health for the past twenty years. He is currently employed by the San Francisco Department of Public Health as the Primary Care Administrator for Youth Programs and until recently was the Director of Community Health Programs for Youth, a consortium of DPH-funded clinics providing services to youth 12-24 years of age. Michael has implemented health education programs for incarcerated youth, was instrumental in ensuring a continuum of HIV services for young people that continues to date, and has worked to increase school-based health services in San Francisco. He is also a co-founder and current chair of the Collaborative Board for the Dimensions Clinic, a public-private collaboration that offers comprehensive health services specifically for queer youth in San Francisco.

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Toby Eastman, MSW
Director of Clinical and Community Services Larkin Street Youth Services

Toby manages and directs community based housing services, outreach services, as well as providing oversight to mental health and substance abuse services throughout the agency. She has over 15 years experience in social services including program management of mental health and case management programs, supervision of clinicians, case managers, as well as administrative staff, as well as direct service experience as a case manager, counselor, therapist and clinical consultant. The bulk of her experience has focused on child and youth issues, including work with homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and youth in the foster care system. Ms. Eastman holds a Masters Degree in Social Work.

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Jodi Schwartz
Executive Director, Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center

Jodi had the honor of becoming LYRIC’s Executive Director on October 1, 2005, bringing over 20 years of experience of nonprofit work and an ardent commitment to social justice. Before joining LYRIC, Jodi was the Managing Director of Resource Development Associates (RDA), and the Executive Director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ). Throughout her career, Jodi has worked with youth and their families in their struggle to disengage from the juvenile justice system, has teamed with youth in need of support in and out of school, and has supported youth in serving their peers and the broader community through civic activism and youth philanthropy. Jodi began working for social justice as a teenager, during which time she was fortunate to have mentors of all ages. These relationships solidified her belief that every generation’s contribution to social justice is crucial for its survival. Stemming from her life experience and personal values, Jodi believes that sustained achievement of positive social change must be built as a collective community effort, where everyone shares in leadership and visionary roles and is supported in their fulfillment of those roles. She works to ensure that youth, in particular, are afforded opportunities to give voice to their stories and are supported in their role as community leaders, now and in the future. More information about LYRIC can be found at www.lyric.org.

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