Main Research Areas:
Lifepath Disparities in the Trans* and Non-binary Populations populations, wisdom development and spirituality/religiosity
Biography:
Tarynn M. Witten, PhD, MSW, FGSA, is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and holder of the Inaugural Nathan W. Award for her work on the use of supercomputing algorithms to study the effects of sample size estimation on mortality patterns in different animal species. She is currently Emeritus Professor of Computer Science and Adjunct Professor of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University. In the past, Dr. Witten has served as one of the consortium members of the Biomarkers of Aging Project located at the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging. Dr. Witten was a member of the consulting consortium of the Healthy People 2010 Project and formerly served on the founding Board of Directors of the National AIDS and HIV over Fifty Association (NAHOF). She has served on the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force on Aging and as a member of the Virginia Commission on Aging. Along with her colleague Dr. A. Evan Eyler, she published the first refereed scientific research publication on violence and abuse in the transgender community, bringing to light the public health issues of violence against the trans-community. She has published over 60 research papers, books and book chapters related to gender-identity challenges in the elderly. She is the author of the UC Santa Barbara Center report on “Transgender & Intersex in the Military”, the first comprehensive report on the subject matter. Her book, “The Tao of Gender,” is a Taoist view of the transgender experience. Her most recent book is, “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Aging: Challenges in Research, Practice and Policy. She is the 2009 winner of VCU’s Burnside-Watstein award for her services to the GLBT community. She is an outspoken advocate for the rights of the trans*/non-binary and intersex-identified elderly populations.
Selected Works:
Witten, T.M. (2016). Health and well-being of transgender elders. (in). Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics – LGBT. (Eds.) Hash, K. & Rogers, A. New York, N.Y.: Springer Publishing.
Witten, T.M. (2016). Intersectional challenges of aging and of being a gender noncomforming adult. Generations, 40 (2): 63 – 70.
Porter, K., Brennan-Ing, M., Chang, D., dickey, l., Singh, A., Bower, B. & Witten, T.M. (2016). Providing competent and affirming services for transgender and gender non-conforming older adults. Clinical Gerontologist. DOI: 10.1080/07317115.206.1203383
