Meet the Team
We are:
an internationally based group of (very) queer individuals with experience in queer healthcare, and activism-fuelled hearts.
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President, Co-founder
[They/Them]
Maddalena Giacomozzi is a medical doctor and a feminist queer activist. They work as an endometriosis doctor at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, where they also conduct research about endometriosis among transgender and gender diverse people. With a background in international medicine and global health, they have dedicated their career to sexual and reproductive health justice for marginalized groups. Their work challenges normativity within the biomedical paradigm through cross-disciplinary research streaming from intersectionality and embodiment theories.
Their research has been published in several academic journals, including BJOG, and it has been presented at numerous festivals and conferences across Europe engaging a wide audience, from academic researchers to queer community groups. Their press coverage includes interviews with Medisch Contact and TRANS Magazine.
Since 2017 they have been coordinating community-based initiatives such as LadyFest Maastricht, Do It Your Health and the Queer Health Youth Exchange.
Their favorite color is red.
Photo: Harmen De Jong
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Treasurer, Co-founder
[They/Them]
Flori Sintenie is a graduate in Medicine at the University of Amsterdam, where they conducted research on the epidemiology of HIV in relation with the local HIV testing practices by general practitioners. They were previously employed in Addiction Medicine building experience regarding substance-use, addiction and (acute) psychiatry. Currently, they are working in Emergency Medicine.
As Flori has a background of gender dysphoria and medical transition themself, these themes are well known to them from both a medical and personal perspective. Besides their studies, they have been engaged in feminist and queer activism, having organized several festivals and workshops in the Amsterdam area. Flori’s mission is to make the healthcare system more accessible and culturally adequate, in particular for those who otherwise often experience stigmatization.
In their free time they like to play football, to draw and paint, and to go snowboarding when possible.
flori.sintenie@treatitqueer.org
Photo: Harmen De Jong
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Graphic designer
[They/Them]
Elia is a transmasc non-binary, neuroatypical graphic designer and illustrator with disability from Trento, Italy. They have an extensive background as graphic designer and accessibility consultant. Since 2012, they have worked with many cultural events, academic projects and NGO’s, in Italy and abroad.
Their work focuses on the creation of inclusive contents by re-centering marginalized and disabled people, and on the translation of complex concepts into accessible visual forms. They employ a mixed approach to thematic research in their works, through the lenses of qualitative sociology, design thinking, queer and crip studies.
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Education officer
[She/Her]
Franziska Gartner graduated from Maastricht University with a Master of Science in Global Health. During the program, she specialized in Global Health Equity at McMaster University. Before, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in business administration-health care management. Currently, she is working in the psychiatry department of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Health in Germany. Franziska is passionate about working toward gender equality and health equity. In her free time, she likes to spend time outside, going for a hike or bouldering.
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Communications officer, Co-founder
[He/They]
Stéphane is a graduate of McMaster University’s Master of Science in Global Health program, and previously obtained an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with specializations in Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology from the University of Ottawa. It was this interest in infectious disease epidemiology, combined with his time spent volunteering at the university’s Pride Centre and interacting with the broader 2SLGBTQIA+ community that led him to Global Health research and health policy. Now, Stéphane works as a Standards Associate with Ottawa’s Health Standards Organization, and is interested in policies surrounding immigration and refugee access to healthcare (whether in camps or once relocated in a host country), with a focus on queer refugees and their wellbeing.
In his spare time, Stéphane is constantly doing something creative, whether drawing, sewing, leatherworking, or playing the piano and cello.
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Research intern
[They/Them]
Khushi is a Sociology graduate from the University of Amsterdam, whose research interests are primarily based around the intersection of healthcare and sociology (‘health sociology’) with a large focus on intersectionality and positionality. Their thesis was titled ‘To speak as the Other: Linguistic racism in the Dutch healthcare system as experienced by students of colour’, in which they studied the interactions between people of colour and the Dutch healthcare system, as well as the role language and knowledge of Dutch played in the perception of the Other.
They are a research intern at Treat It Queer, currently studying endometriosis among transgender and gender diverse individuals. In the near future, they wish to pursue a Masters in Global Health.
They are intrigued by internet & pop culture, all kinds of literature, music & nature.
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Communications team volunteer
[They/Them]
I am a non-binary activist, designer, and DE&I consultant from Italy. I firmly believe in the power of giving forward to our communities, and only recently I earned the privilege of contributing to it everyday.
My practice as a designer and consultant celebrates trans existence and trans euphoria, and my work is informed by my lived experience as a non-binary trans human being who lives in a very binary world. My aim is to foster change for my fellow trans and gender-diverse siblings by creating physical and digital safer spaces where we can feel at home.
I also drink lots of tea every day, recently bought my first yoga mat to pretend to exercise 🤪, and spend too much on travels.
Nice to e-meet you!
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Management and coordination officer
[They/Them]
Noa is a queer feminist activist currently training to become a psychologist. They are excited about finding ways to decolonize and queer up therapy, and caring for their community.
Noa has been involved for over a decade in labour rights activism in the garment industry, working in the Clean Clothes Campaign network. They’re constantly learning about social and health justice, intersectional feminism, and antiracism.
Noa finds energy and inspiration in re-imagining worlds, reading sci-fi, and running in the dunes. And resting.
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Researcher and educator
[They/Them]
Jip Bouwens is a researcher and educator at Treat it Queer. They are currently conducting research about endometriosis among transgender and gender diverse people. Their research is trans-centered, community-based, and cross-disciplinary. They have been involved with Treat it Queer since 2022, specifically in the Queer Health Youth Exchange project and within the Education Team. They are invested in educating medical students and healthcare professionals about gender and sexual diversity.
Jip is currently a Master’s student in Medicine at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). Their goal is to become an inclusive MD working specifically with the queer community.
On good days, Jip can be found at the queer gym. They also enjoy other queer hobbies ranging from skateboarding to embroidery.
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Research intern
[They/Them]
Jaz is a student researcher who recently joined the team. They are currently following a Master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience at Radboud University but are most interested in interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches. Jaz is assisting with research into the experiences of transgender and gender diverse individuals with endometriosis; as a non-binary person with endometriosis, they contribute their own perspective and emotional investment into the research. Outside of academia, they teach workshops on consent and kink, take long forest walks, and continuously (re)learn about the potentials of community and care.
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Co-founder & Former board member
[They/Them]
Aafke Uilhoorn is a Medicine graduate from Maastricht University, where they combined medical courses with courses in Health Humanities and Global Health. Aafke wrote their master’s thesis on gender binarism in Dutch transgender care. Bridging the fields of medicine and humanities on topics surrounding queer health is what they are keen on doing professionally. Currently, they are a junior researcher at the Platform Diversity in Sex and Gender of Radboud University & the Radboud UMC within a research project on the changing demands of transgender care in the Netherlands. For this project, Aafke organized and conducted focus groups with gender-diverse people and healthcare professionals working with gender-diverse people. The first reports on the “My gender, whose care?” research was published in early 2023. For more information, visit www.mijngenderwienszorg.nl (English option is available).
Aafke has left Treat it Queer to pursue a position as a Board member of Transgender Netwerk Nederland, where they will help influence trans healthcare policy directly.
Aafke is also a photographer and enjoys reading and birding in their free time.