The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) has announced that Simone Koehlinger, Psy.D, has started as director of the department’s Office of LGBT Health. Koehlinger, according to a statement, has a decade of experience. She joins the department from Howard Brown Health Center, where she was research coordinator for EXPLORE, an HIV prevention study for men who have sex with men, and the Queer Tobacco Elimination Control Collaboration.
Before working at HBHC, Koehlinger provided psychological services to adults and teens. As part of her training for her doctorate, she conducted psychotherapy, psychological testing, and psycho-educational services at Illinois Masonic Hospital, Fantus Clinic at Cook County Hospital and the Counseling Center at Texas Woman’s University.
She received her bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University in Indiana and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology.
Koehlinger succeeds Lora Branch, who serves as director of the CDPH’S STD/HIV prevention and care programs department.