Erica (she/her) is currently serving as Accord Alliance’s Executive Director. Most of her career, while working at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, was dedicated to research exploring the physiological and psychological aspects of chronic abdominal pain. She received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology where her educational and clinical focus was working with children and adolescents diagnosed with various medical and mental health conditions with a special emphasis on equine-facilitated psychotherapy. She also has a Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis. In 2014, upon moving to Phoenix, Arizona and starting employment at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Erica began working with patients and families affected by DSD as a psychology researcher, focusing on the psychosocial aspects of living with a DSD. She has a passion for patient-centered care and patient autonomy, providing more education tools for patients and families, expanding knowledge and disclosure in DSD care, improving sexual health, quality of life and psychosocial outcomes, and establishing a shared-decision making model in the care of individuals with a DSD.
More recently, Erica has become a sexual health counselor and educator in order to better serve the DSD/intersex community and currently is a board-certified Apprentice in Sexology. She is a member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors & Therapists; the International Society for Sexual Medicine; and the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. She is also a member of the Society of Counseling Psychology, Division 17; the Society for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, Division 44; and the Society of Pediatric Psychology, Division 54, of the American Psychological Association.
Erica and her partner are parents to a spunky 6-year-old, a newborn, and two fur-babies named Tobin & Violet. She enjoys reading, hiking, camping and relaxing with family in her spare time.