Who we are
The Partnership for Male Youth (PMY), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 2013 by a group of physicians and other care providers who saw a need for greater awareness of, and programs to address, the risk factors young males face in a range of physical and mental health areas, broadly defined. PMY is the only US national organization whose sole focus is on the health and wellbeing of males ages 10 to 25, or adolescent and young adult (AYA) males. The Partnership is composed of national and international organizations that have an interest in AYA male issues.
Why We’re Here
After age 15, male adolescents' use of primary care services declines, while female adolescents' use increases. The increase for females is primarily due to an increase in use of OB/GYN services.
On the whole, with the exception of episodic school exams, sports physicals and visits to the ER, once adolescent and young adult (AYA) males leave the pediatrician’s office they are left outside of our health care system. Yet, according to the most recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AYA males, or those between the ages of 10 and 25, are at higher risk than their female contemporaries for the following.
Death by suicide
Homicide
Substance abuse
ADHD diagnosis
Risky behaviors
Accidental injury
Certain STIs
It’s not surprising, therefore, that males do not become reunited with our health care system until they suffer from an acute or chronic illness later in life. Ironically, some of those illnesses are caused by a lack of preventive care in the intervening years.
What we do
The Partnership for Male Youth works with and for adolescent and young adult males to optimize their health and help ensure that they thrive. This mission is accomplished through eight principal endeavors:
Identifying and addressing the unmet health needs of AYA males through evidence-based approaches.
Improving public awareness and advocacy for the health needs of AYA males.
Building on promising and successful models to address the needs of AYA males.
Engaging stakeholders and building partnerships in synergistic efforts to advance AYA male health.
Developing resources for stakeholders and individuals working with AYA males
Engaging AYA males in advancing their own health and well being.
Addressing the underlying social determinants of health for AYA males.
Promoting health equity for AYA males by building on their strengths.
Leadership
Dennis J. Barbour, Esq.
President and CEO
An attorney with over 40 years' experience in the non profit health field, Mr. Barbour has served as a CEO and advisor to national and international organizations composed of physicians and other health care providers, patients, researchers, academicians and caregivers in the fields of primary care, dermatology, reproductive health, preventive medicine, HIV/AIDS, addiction, geriatric and end of life care.
Among other appointments, he was the executive director of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and legislative counsel to the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American Occupational Medical Association and Meharry Medical College. In recent years he served as the president and CEO of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and interim CEO of the Alpha 1 Association, the Society for Credentialed Addiction Professionals and Americans for Better Care of the Dying, as well as strategic planning consultant to AIDS Action and the National Peace Foundation. He has been the author of legal briefs and numerous articles on health care issues. His most recent prior appointment was CEO of the Society for Investigative Dermatology. Barbour attended Georgetown University and the Washington College of Law, where he graduated with a JD. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Bar of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and the US Supreme Court Bar.
Susan J. Wysocki, NP, FAANP
Medical Director
Ms. Wysocki, a women’s health nurse practitioner, is a nationally recognized figure in the field of reproductive health.
She served as the first President and CEO of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH) for 25 years. She is the women’s health columnist for the Journal for Nurse Practitioners. She was the Editor in Chief of Women’s Health Care: A Practical Journal for Nurse Practitioners. She also serves on the editorial boards of American Nurse and Contraceptive Technology Update. She has authored numerous articles about issues in women’s health and has been a video blogger for Web MD. Among other awards, in 1999, Ms. Wysocki was selected by the Nurse Practitioner Journal for a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, she was chosen as a charter Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She has served as the chair of the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners and was the founding President of the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP). In 2003, she was presented ACNP’s Sharp Cutting Edge Award for her leadership and an award from the Nurse Practitioner Journal for political activism. In 2005, she was awarded the Alan Guttmacher Lectureship by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.
Our Board
Dr. Bell is Associate Dean of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Columbia University Medical College, Professor of Pediatrics and of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Medical College and clinician at
The Young Men's Clinic.
He is an adolescent medicine physician and, at the clinic, works primarily with ages 12-24. The Young Men's Clinic is a unique adjunct to the Center's Family Planning Clinic, a school-based clinic program consisting of three middle schools and two high schools in upper Manhattan. Dr. Bell is Past President of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. He has consulted for the federal Office of Family Planning, and assisted with trainings on male health with Federal OFP Regions I, II, IV and VI, as well as with Engender Health (formerly AVSC). He has appeared on MTV, BET, and CBS, promoting male health issues. Dr. Bell completed a three-year adolescent medicine specialty fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.
David L. Bell, MD, MPH
Board Chair and Co-Founder
Jason Rafferty, MD, MPH
Board Treasurer
Jason Rafferty, MD, MEd, MPH, is a board-certified child psychiatrist and pediatrician in the Vista program at Bradley Hospital and medical director of the Gender and Sexuality Program at Hasbro Children’s. He is also a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior and pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Dr. Rafferty graduated from Harvard Medical School and obtained post-graduate training through the Triple Board Residency at Brown University. The Triple Board is a combined program in pediatrics, general psychiatry, and child/adolescent psychiatry. He has additional degrees from Harvard University in public health, concentrating on maternal and child health, and education focused on adolescent development and psychology. He is involved with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as the chair of the Section on LGBTQ+ Health and Wellness, frequently reviewing policy and publications related to LGBTQ+ adolescent health. Dr. Rafferty was the lead author of the AAP’s 2018 policy statement, “Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents.”
Joseph Derrick Nelson, Ph.D.
Dr Nelson Is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Swarthmore College, and affiliated faculty with the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.
He is also the Research Director of the School Participatory Action Research Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania—a partnership organization that facilitates youth-led research to address race and gender equity within K-12 schools. He is a sociologist of education, and his research to date has examined race, boyhood, and education within learning environments that largely serve Black students from neighborhoods with concentrated poverty. His forthcoming book with Harvard Education Press is entitled, (Re)Imagining Black Boyhood: Portraits of Academic Success during the Middle School Years. He also co-edited the Routledge Handbook on Boyhood in the United States—with over thirty contributors. In public media, his research has been featured in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and on National Public Radio.
Gabriela Vargas, MD, MPH
Dr. Vargas is an Adolescent Medicine Physician at Boston Children’s Hospital. She also has a Master of Public Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She has specific clinical and research interests in adolescent and young adult male health. She is the Director of the Young Men’s Health Site, which is an international online platform aimed at addressing the unique health needs of adolescent and young men. She has written several research articles on young men’s health, including use of protein supplements, pregnancy prevention, and dating violence. She has spoken locally and nationally about young men’s health to clinicians and community leaders.
Judith Siegel, MSW, LICSW,
Co-Founder
Ms. Siegel was a licensed clinical social worker at theDivision of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston.
She was the Director of Mental Health Services within the division and the Director of Social Work Training for the Boston LEAH (Leadership Education in AdolescentHealth) grant.
She was a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She has had a longstanding interest in provider/patient communicationwith young men and has recently produced a training module, "EffectiveClinical Interviewing for Adolescent Boys and Young Men," available on Pedicases.
She coordinated a health website for adolescent boys, and chaired the Young Men’s Health Initiative in Adolescent Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. Over the years, she has worked with adolescents and adults in a variety of settings, including residential and inpatient programs, community clinics, college counseling centers and private practice.
J.Terry Parker, PhD, CHES, ATC, FASHA
Dr. Parker is a native Texan where he worked in public schools as classroom teacher, school counselor and held other leadership roles.
He also spent 19 years in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health where he worked with urban school districts across the country in the areas of Health/Sexual Health Education, Services and Related Programs including sexual and gender minority youth. His work also included programs and services pertaining to adolescent mental health. His related publications appear in the Journal of School Health, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of School Nursing, the American Journal of Sexuality Education and others. Terry is active in the American School Health Association where he has served on the Board of Directors and chaired both the Councils on Health Behavior, and Sexuality Education and Reproductive Health. He currently serves as a peer reviewer for the Journal of School Health. Terry is also active in the Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine and is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Noah Weatherton, DNP-PMHNP
Dr. Weatherton is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner in the Seattle metro area. He is a 2019 Fellow in the University of Washington LEAH (Leadership Education in Adolescent Health) program, focusing on understanding the negative mental health effects of "traditional masculinity" on cisgender adolescent boys and young men. His healthcare career began in 2010 as a "street medic," volunteering to provide emergent care on the front lines of political protests and long-term encampments.
Dr. Weatherton has presented locally and nationally on research interests of creating pathways for communities (parents, teachers, coaches, healthcare providers) to better engage young men on the subject of healthy masculinity development. Recently, he has begun teaching on these topics at University of Washington and Seattle University, in both undergrad and graduate nursing programs. As a Psychiatric NP, Dr. Weatherton practices in community mental health clinics, and advocates for more socially just health promotion programs and policies at state, local and federal levels.
Ahmed Raihane
Youth Representative
Ahmed "Sami" Raihane is currently a first-year medical student at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, with an interest in pursuing plastic surgery, specifically in reconstructive burn surgery. Sami recently graduated from Stanford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Health Policy. At Stanford, his studies explored the intersection of social determinants of health and the biomedical sciences, with the aim to address social inequalities. Sami's focus on applying his academic studies to practical action intensified when he led an initiative -- in collaboration with peers, physicians, and a pro bono attorney -- to make Naloxone fentanyl test strips accessible free of charge in San Francisco, California, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sami is committed to tackling addiction in his community and is working with Team Advocating Combating Overdose at the University of Southern California to expand this program to undergraduate and medical schools nationwide and directly address the opioid epidemic. He is also collaborating with the Native Health Initiative at the University of New Mexico to enhance substance use literacy.
Thomas Beall, MHSA
Mr. Beall currently serves as a social marketing and health communications consultant. For more than 25 years, he worked for Ogilvy Public Relations where he served as founding Global Managing Director of the agency’s industry-leading social marketing practice. He also co-chaired the agency’s Global Health Practice. He directed many of the agency’s largest public health and public education accounts, working over decades in support of such clients as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as major companies including Merck and Pfizer.
His work focused on health promotion and disease prevention across the ages, with a recurring focus on sexual and reproductive health. This included leading Ogilvy’s award-winning support for CDC’s landmark America Responds to AIDS campaign, as well as related work for such clients as the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and GlaxoSmithKline targeted primarily to adolescents and young adults. He served as Chair of Board of the American Sexual Health Association and was instrumental in the establishment of the National Coalition for Sexual Health, where he now serves as Co-Chair of the Coalition’s communications working group. He also serves as member and chaired the Board of the American Forest Foundation, reflective of his interest in the intersection of public and environmental health. He earned both his B.A. and MHSA. (Health Services Administration) from The George Washington University.
