Ethan Cicero, PhD, RN is a tenure track assistant professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. He is also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar a National Institute on Aging Butler-Williams Scholar. Dr Cicero’s research is focused on evaluating the interrelationship between social inequities and the effects of adverse and affirming social conditions on the health and well-being of transgender, non-binary, and other gender diverse adults, with a particular interest in promoting healthy aging and reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Their scholarly work has contextualized the healthcare experiences of transgender adults, holistically examined their health, and filled methodological gaps in transgender health research. Dr Cicero was among the first researchers to delineate health differences and document health disparities among transgender subgroups (transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary adults), and is a widely recognized expert in transgender adult health. Their work, which has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Alzheimer’s Association has led to national and international attention with media outlets like CBS News, Huffington Post, and Hospitals & Health Networks. Cicero’s research has also been used as scientific evidence in multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases, shaped the position statements of several professional nursing organizations, and was featured by the NIH’s Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office.
Dr. Cicero received his bachelor of science in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his doctor of philsopy from the Duke University School of Nursing and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the Biobehavioral Research Training in Symptom Science Program at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing.