Board of Directors
Listed in alphabetical order by last name. Please feel free to contact members of our board with questions about MaleSurvivor.
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Officers President:
Ann Boyer (New York) |
Past Presidents Ken Followell By-Laws Advisory Board of Directors |
Board of Directors
Jorge Ramirez, PhD, President (California)
Dr. Jorge C. G. Ramirez has over 25 years of research, development and leadership experience in software engineering, data mining and intelligent systems. He has led domestic and international development projects in academia and companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 500. Outside of his professional life, he has over 20 years of experience volunteering for and with non-profit and charitable organizations, including 6 years of Board level experience for two international organizations (not including MaleSurvivor).
Dr. Ramirez received his PhD from the University of Texas at Arlington, his MS in Computer Science from the University of Louisville, and his BS with honors in Information and Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has published numerous monographs, book chapters and professional papers, as well as having his private sector work reviewed in DM Review. He resides in Santa Cruz County, CA with his life partner of 6 years.
Kenneth Followell, Treasurer, Past President (Florida)
A graduate of Milligan college with a BA in Psychology and Bible, Mr. Followell has had several career paths from owning a produce company to real estate sales before returning to school to receive a AS in Computer Networking from Keiser College. Currently employed as an IT specialist with Bright House Networks, he supports the employees for the Manatee region. He has started and facilitates a peer support group for male survivors of sexual abuse. Mr. Followell is a volunteer with Manatee Glens Rape Crisis center, where he speaks publicly about male sexual abuse and has trained rape crisis counselors in dealing with male survivors. He is vice-president of the Manatee Victim Rights Council. Mr. Followell is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
Daniel Blausey, MA, LCAT, ATR-BC
Daniel, an Ohio native, is a motivated and dedicated New York City based non-profit/mental health administrator and clinician with over 16 years of diverse clinical and management experience. Career settings include community based organizations, AIDS service organization, and school based settings with urban clients in New York City, Miami, and Newark, NJ. Professional credentials include: MA- Art Therapy, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (2006), Board Certified (1998), Registered Art Therapist (1997). He has demonstrated a strong commitment to serving survivors of trauma, including sexual abuse and assault. Capacities include roles as director, supervisor, and art psychotherapist. Areas of specific interest and professional experience include reduction of sexual risk taking (HIV/AIDS prevention), sexual identity, and childhood sexual abuse/assault.
Throughout his healing journey from the impact of childhood sexual abuse/sexual assault, Daniel has gained strength, support, and wisdom from the survivor community and the art making process. As an art therapist, he is greatly aware of the healing strength of the creative arts. Additionally, as a gay, survivor/therapist he is intensely invested in destroying the myths, stigma, and helplessness associated with male sexual assault and abuse.
Dr. Ann Boyer
Dr. Boyer graduated from Columbia University's Medical School specializing in Ob/Gyn and focusing on underserved populations. In that capacity she saw a number of children and teens (boys and girls) who had been sexually abused. She became involved in validation interviews, individual therapeutic sessions with victims, groups of mothers, adolescents in recovery. She spent some time at The Door, an adolescent alternative center in NYC, where she encountered and worked with many young people with a history of sexual abuse. As time went on, she added a focus on HIV and on Substance Abuse, again in underserved populations. She was appalled to find that more than half the substance abusers she encountered had been sexually abused and virtually none had been treated. In addition, she found that for low income people there is extremely limited opportunity to get into appropriate therapy - they can't afford it and most therapists can't/won't accept Medicaid. She created an organization, BirdSong, which provides peer support for women survivors and has now joined the Board of Directors of Male Survivor. She is dedicated to spreading information, support and therapeutic interventions into all aspects of the community (schools, places of worship, youth organizations and detention homes, substance abuse programs, places of incarceration.
has worked as a psychotherapist and substance abuse counselor for the past 24 years in a correctional facility, a rural mental health clinic, an Acute Partial Hospital program and now in his practices in northeast PA and northwest NJ where abuse/trauma, battered persons, LGBT issues, men's issues and the use of body movement to access buried feelings are among his specialty areas. Dale is a member of MaleSurvivor and in 2001 was one of five original facilitators and co-creators of the Week-end of Recovery Program serving 7 years on the first 24 WORs until retiring in November 2008 as its first Facilitator Emeritus. Retirement allowed Dale to form and personally join a peer led MS support group in Easton, PA in January 2009. Dale also had the original vision for, and was the co-creator of, the MaleSurvivor quarterly e-Newsletter first published in October 2007 for which he now serves as Chairperson. Also in October 2007 at the MS International Conference, Dale founded the first survivor/therapist support group. Dale is a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, a member of SNAP and in 2005 was one of five filmed in a project to educate Roman Catholic clergy in Texas on the issue of the sexual abuse of adults by clergy. You can learn more about Dale's work by visiting his website at www.YouDeserveSupport.com
Marc Spindelman, Professor of Law at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, Spindelman clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and was an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York City. After leaving Wall Street, he was a Reginald F. Lewis Fellow for Law Teaching at Harvard Law School, taught as a Visiting Instructor at the University of Michigan Law School, and spent two years as a Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics and Health Policy at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University. While a Greenwall Fellow, Professor Spindelman was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, a Faculty Associate at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Research Fellow at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Since joining the faculty at the Moritz College of Law, Spindelman has also been a Visiting Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center (Spring '05), and at the University of Michigan Law School (AY '07-'08). His recent scholarship focuses on certain problems of inequality, chiefly in the context of sex and death. (Copies of his recent scholarly work, including his work on same-sex sexual violence and injury, are available online here: http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/bios.php?ID=47.) He regularly teaches courses on Family Law, Bioethics and Public Health Ethics, Health Law, and Sexual Violence.
KAREN J. TERRY, PH.D., is an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Deputy Executive Officer of the doctoral program in criminal justice, CUNY. She holds a doctorate in Criminology from Cambridge University and is a member of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration. Her research interests revolve around treatment, management and supervision of sex offenders, and she is currently the Principal Investigator of a study assessing the causes and context of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests. She teaches undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level classes on Sex Crimes. Among her publications is the book Sexual Offenses and Offenders: Theory, Practice and Policy and Registration and Community Notification: A "Megan's Law" Sourcebook.
Advisory Board of Directors
Dr. Christine A. Courtois is a Psychologist in independent practice (Christine A. Courtois, PhD & Associates, PLC) in Washington, DC. She is Co-Founder and past Clinical and Training Director of The CENTER: Posttraumatic Disorders Program at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington. She received her PhD from the University of Maryland in College Park, in 1979. Dr. Courtois has authored three books, Recollections of Sexual Abuse: Treatment Principles and Guidelines (1999), Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: A Workshop Model (1993), and Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (1988) and is currently co-editing a book on complex trauma treatment; she has also published numerous articles and chapters on related topics. Dr. Courtois has received the following professional awards: the 2007 University of Maryland College of Education Alumni Outstanding Professional Award; the 2007 Outstanding Contributions to Professional Practice Award from Division 56 (Psychological Trauma), American Psychological Association; the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, the 2005 Distinguished Contribution to the Psychology of Women Award from the Committee on the Psychology of Women, American Psychological Association; the 2003 Sarah Haley Award for Clinical Excellence, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; the 2001 Cornelia Wilbur Award, International Society for the Study of Dissociation; and the 1996 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology As A Professional Practice, American Psychological Association. She routinely conducts professional training locally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to traumatic stress. Currently, Dr. Courtois is Co-Director of the Maryland Psychological Association’s Post-Doctoral Institute on Psychological Trauma (2007-2008).
Howard Fradkin, Ph.D., LICDC has worked as a Psychologist in private practice in Columbus, OH, for the past 23 years, and has specialized in providing affirmative psychotherapy to male and female survivors during that time. Howard serves as the Chairperson of the MaleSurvivor Weekends of Recovery Program. He is on the Advisory Board of MaleSurvivor, and is a past President and Board Member of MaleSurvivor. Howard has provided supervision and training of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers and Counselors at many national conventions on providing psychotherapy for male survivors of sexual abuse. Howard loves to sing and prepare gourmet meals in his spare time.
Dr. Mic Hunter holds Minnesota licenses as a Psychologist, and Marriage and Family Therapist. He has been sought out by the print and broadcast media for interviews over 100 times including Oprah, CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He has presented throughout North America to professional audiences and the general public over 200 times. He has presented at the meetings of the American Association Of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, the American Psychological Association, and at all of the national conferences on male sexual abuse survivors, including giving two keynote addresses. He has served as a reviewer for The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, The Journal of Men's Studies, The Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Violence Against Women. He is a recipient of the Fay Honey Knopp Memorial Award, given by the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization, "For recognition of his contributions to the field of male sexual victimization treatment and knowledge." In 2007 the Board of Directors of Male Survivor announced the creation of The Mic Hunter Award For Research Advances. Dr. Hunter, for whom the award was named, became the first recipient. It was given to him for his “ceaseless pursuit of knowledge about male sexual abuse in all its occurrences, of the eloquent dissemination of new knowledge in this area, and of the stimulation for further study and concern about revealing, treating and preventing male sexual abuse.” In addition to articles, Mic is the author, co-author, or editor of eight books including Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse, The Sexually Abused Male Volumes I & II, Child Victims & Perpetrators Of Sexual Abuse, Adult Survivors Of Sexual Abuse: Treatment Innovations, Honor Betrayed: Sexual Abuse In America’s Military, The Ethical Use of Touch in Psychotherapy, and The American Barbershop: A Closer Look At A Disappearing Place.
Eli Zal has been providing psychotherapy and couples counseling in my office in Greenwich Village since 1993. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (New York State License R047079). Mr. Zal received a Masters in Social Work from New York University (1993) and certification in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy (1997). During his graduate training, he worked for a year each at the Alcoholism Counsel of New York and Southbeach Psychiatric Center. He is also certified in EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (2001), which can be helpful in working with traumatic memories.
In addition to his psychotherapy practice, he also supervise therapists in training at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis. He provides group supervision on sexual abuse issues to the therapy staff at the Callen-Lourde Community Health Center. He is also on the faculty of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.
Currently, Mr. Zal is on the Board of Directors of the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis. Additionally, he is a former Board member of SAGE: Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders.
Richard Gartner
Richard Gartner, Ph. D., is a Training and Supervising Analyst and faculty member at the William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Institute in New York City, where he was Founding Director of the Sexual Abuse Service for eleven years and Director of the Institute's Center for the Study of Psychological Trauma for six years. The White Institute honored Dr. Gartner with its 2004 Director’s Award for his contributions to the psychoanalytic understanding of trauma. He is also Supervisor and Consultant at the Trauma Treatment Center of the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis; supervised in the clinical psychology program at Columbia University for twenty years; and serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, and the American Journal of Psychoanalysis.
Dr. Gartner has been treating sexually abused men individually and in groups since the 1980s. He has written and spoken widely about the sexual abuse of boys and the treatment of sexually abused men. He has presented papers about sexually abused men at, among other venues, the Divisions of Psychoanalysis and Men and Masculinity of the American Psychological Association; the American Psychiatric Association; the Sandor Ferenczi Society in Budapest; the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS); the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD); Harvard, Columbia, Adelphi, and New York Universities and the University of Wisconsin; and numerous clinics, hospitals, trauma treatment services, and rape intervention programs in the U.S. and Canada.
Dr. Gartner is the author of Beyond Betrayal: Taking Charge of Your Life after Boyhood Sexual Abuse (2005), a book for the general public, and Betrayed as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men (1999), which was runner up for the Gradiva Award, given by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis for Best Book on a Clinical Subject. He also wrote and edited Memories of Sexual Betrayal: Truth, Fantasy, Repression, and Dissociation (1997).
A member of the original Columbus congress that formally established the organization in 1994, Dr. Gartner is a Past President of MaleSurvivor and served on its Board of Directors for seven years. He was Program Chair for its 2001 conference and served on the Program Committee for the 2007 conference as well. In 2007, MaleSurvivor established an award in his honor, and he was the first recipient of the Richard Gartner Award for Clinical Contribution.
Currently Dr, Gartner chairs MaleSurvivor’s Advisory Board and is its media spokesman. In that role, he has been featured in such media outlets as the New York Times; Associated Press; Los Angeles Times; Washington Post; New York Newsday; USA Today; The Nation; Baltimore Sun; O! (Oprah’s Magazine); Cosmopolitan; NBC News Channel; MSNBC Cable; and ABC.com. He has also been interviewed on Paula Zahn Now on CNN; The Early Show on CBS; and Geraldo at Large on Fox News, as well as on radio stations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. He was featured in the 2004 Emmy-nominated WABC-TV documentary “Protect Our Children: Teenage Boys and the Wall of Silence”; was an invited speaker at the FBI Symposium on Online Sexual Victimization of Children; testified at a Judicial Subcommittee meeting of the New Jersey State Senate; and has been the subject of a full-length interview in the Science Times section of the New York Times. For further information, visit his web site at www.richardgartner.com.
Larry A. Morris, Ph.D. is a psychologist with a private clinical and forensic consulting practice in Tucson. He has over 30 years of experience evaluating and treating female, male, adolescent, and adult victims and/or perpetrators of interpersonal violence. He has performed hundreds of forensic evaluations and testified as an expert witness in state, federal, or military court in cases of murder, rape, assault, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse. He has served as director, consultant, or trainer on several research, demonstration, and training projects funded by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; National Institute of Mental Health; National Center for Child Advocacy; Office of Education; National Institute of Justice; Office for Victims of Crimes; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Dr. Morris is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and one of the founding members and a past president of the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization (Male Survivor). He also served as president of Arizona Psychological Association and Southern Arizona Psychological Association.
Dr. Morris is author or co-author of numerous articles, reports, and book chapters. His books include: Teach Me, Baby Wants to Learn: Birth to 14 Months; Males at Risk: The Other Side of Child Sexual Abuse (with Bolton and MacEachron); The Male Heterosexual: Lust in His Loins, Sin in His Soul?; Dangerous Women: Why Mothers, Daughters, and Sisters Become Stalkers, Molesters, and Murderers; and Hiking the Grand Canyon and Havasupai. He serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse and as a consulting editor for the American Psychological Association’s journal, Psychology of Men and Masculinity. He is a Professional Member of the Society of Southwestern Authors.
Over the years, Dr. Morris has organized and been invited to participate in numerous symposia, presentations, and workshops at national and international conferences on interpersonal violence and gender issues. He has received numerous awards for outstanding contributions to the field of psychology.
Scott M. Pitts is an energetic leader with 15 years as a marketing and business executive. Scott has worked on six different continents and in 48 countries. He has a proven ability to manage multiple large-scale projects cost effectively, whilst identifying critical issues and implementing effective solutions. Scott is an industry-recognised figure for possessing excellent communication skills, being a result orientated negotiator and a key staff motivator.
Since Graduating at Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, Scott has worked for many high profile companies including The Coca-Cola Company and Sony Pictures Entertainment in Global Marketing.
Scott has created, developed and managed campaigns for The Coca Cola Company (Olympic Pin Trading), Samsung (Olympic Torch Relay) and the Ford Motor Company. This work with Ford saw Scott win the ‘US Experiential Marketing of the Year Award 2006" from Advertising Age Magazine and he was also named one of the Top 30 under 30 in Licensing by License Magazine in 1998.
Scott also worked at an Lead Advance Manager for The White House in 1996, planning the President and First Lady's trips outside of the West Wing.
Ken Singer is executive director of NJ ATSA (Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers), and past president of MaleSurvivor - the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization (NOMSV). He has specialized in treating male survivors and juvenile and adult sex abusers since 1978. He developed the first sexual abuse treatment program in a child protective services agency (DYFS) in New Jersey that year. In 1984 Ken was asked to set up the state's first juvenile sex abuser treatment program at the Pinelands Residential Group Treatment Center.
He has been an appointed member and co-author of the National Task Force on Juvenile Sexual Offending from 1996 to 1992, and a member and co-author of the National Offense-Specific Residential Standards Task Force from 1997 to 1999. He is on the advisory board of Child Assault Prevention (CAP) of NJ and the board of directors of Stop It Now!, an international organization working to prevent potential abusers from committing sexual offenses.
He has a private practice in Lambertville, NJ working primarily with male survivors and adult and juvenile sexual abusers in individual and group treatment. His first book, Evicting the Perpetrator: A Male Survivor’s Guide for Recovery from Child Sexual Abuse, is in press with a 2009 publication date.
Victor Vieth graduated magna cum laude from Winona State University and earned his Juris Doctor from Hamline University School of Law. During law school, Mr. Vieth served as editor-in-chief of the law review and received the American Jurisprudence award for achievement in the study of Constitutional law. From 1988-1997, Mr. Vieth worked as a prosecutor in rural Minnesota where he gained national recognition for his work to address child abuse in small communities. He is a recipient of Distinguished Alumni Awards from both Hamline University School of Law and Winona State University. He has been named to the President's Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. The Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association named him one of "21 Young Lawyers Leading us Into the 21st Century." Mr. Vieth is the author of numerous articles pertaining to issues of child abuse and domestic violence. He is also the author of Unto the Third Generation, a bold initiative that has as its goal the elimination of child abuse in the United States over the course of a century.
In 1997, Mr. Vieth joined the staff of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse. From 1997-1999, Mr. Vieth worked as a Senior Attorney with the National Center, providing technical assistance and training to prosecutors around the country. In 1998, Mr. Vieth launched Finding Words: Interviewing Children and Preparing for Court in Savannah, Georgia which taught the copyrighted RATAC protocol (developed by CornerHouse in Minneapolia, Minnesota). Over 400 applications for the 40 spaces for the course. As a result, Mr. Vieth created Half-A-Nation by 2010 where individual states could bring the Finding Words program to their state, learn to teach the program under the guidance of APRI and CornerHouse, and then continue to teach the program locally to better reach more child protection professionals and more children. As of 2005, nine states have been certified in the Finding Words program, two states are in the process of being certified, and three states have been accepted to the course for 2006. The program is on course for having half the nation certified in Finding Words by the end of the decade.
In 1999, Mr. Vieth became Director of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse. In August 2003, APRI appointed Mr. Vieth to serve as the first director of the National Child Protection Training Center and the doors to NCPTC were opened on the campus of Winona State University. NCPTC handles training and technical assistance involving dependency, neglect and termination of parental rights matters involving child abuse, as well as development of curriculums to teach college students on how to investigate and handle child abuse cases. In 2004, APRI appointed Mr. Vieth to serve as the Director of Child Abuse Programs and oversee both Centers. In 2005, NCPTC launched two civil child protection national conferences: ChildProtect is a 5-day trial advocacy course for civil child protection attorneys and will take 30 students through an intensive termination of parental rights trial; and When Child Abuse Hits Home is a multidisciplinary training for investigating and prosecuting dependency and termination matters.
Mr. Vieth has trained professionals from all 50 states, two U.S. Territories, and 17 countries on numerous topics involving child abuse investigations, prosecutions, trial strategies, and prevention methods. Mr. Vieth has further given the keynote address on "Unto The Third Generation: A Call to End Child Abuse in the United States within 120 Years." This revolutionary scholarly work has been delivered to over 10,000 child protection professionals in all 50 states and is scheduled to be published in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma in 2005. Mr. Vieth has published countless articles related to the investigation, prosecution and prevention of child abuse and neglect.
