Walter Bockting, PhD

Overview
Dr. Bockting is a Clinical Psychologist and Co-Director of the Initiative for LGBT Health at the New York State Psychiatric Institute / Columbia University Psychiatry with the Columbia School of Nursing. His research interests are in LGBT health, sexual and gender identity development, Internet research methods, HIV prevention, and the promotion of sexual health. His research has been funded by the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Bockting is an internationally known expert in the assessment and treatment of gender dysphoria as well as in general mental health and psychosocial adjustment of transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming children, adolescents, adults, and their families. He is widely published and is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Transgenderism. Dr. Bockting is past president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and a past president and Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. In 2010-2011, Dr. Bockting served on the Institute of Medicine Committee of the National Academies whose work culminated in the IOM Report on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding. Dr. Bockting's work at CUMC focuses on combining research, clinical practice, education, and public policy to promote LGBT health locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Areas of Expertise / Conditions Treated
- Gay/Lesbian Counseling
- Gender Identity
- Hysteroscopy
- Identity Disorders
- Leukemia
- LGBT Mental Health
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Sexual Behavior Disorder
- Sexual Development
- Sexual Dysfunctions Counseling
- Sexual Orientation Issues
Academic Appointments
- Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry and Nursing)
Administrative Titles
- Co-Director, LGBT Health Initiative Division of Gender, Sexuality
Hospital Affiliations
- NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Gender
- Male
Schedule an Appointment
Phone Appointments
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Location(s)
Insurance Accepted
Aetna
- EPO
- HMO
- Medicare Managed Care
- NYP Employee Plan
- NY Signature
- POS
- PPO
- Signature Administrators
- Student Health
Coventry Health Care
- Coventry Health Care
Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield
- EPO
- Medicare Managed Care
- PPO
MagnaCare
- MagnaCare
UnitedHealthcare
- Behavioral Health
- Behavioral Health Columbia University Employee Plan
- Medicaid Behavioral Health
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- PhD, 1988 Vrije Universiteit
Honors & Awards
- 2011: University Innovations, in appreciation of commitment to research and innovation at the University of Minnesota
- 2006: Fellow, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
- 1996: Helping Professional of the Year, City of Lakes Crossgender Community
- 1988: Post-Doctoral Clinical/Research Fellowship, Program in Human Sexuality, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, 1988-1990
Research
Dr. Bockting research interests are in LGBT health, sexual and gender identity development, Internet research methods, HIV prevention, and the promotion of sexual health. His research has been funded by the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the National Institutes of Health.
He is the Principal Investigator of an NIH funded study that developed and evaluated an Internet-based HIV prevention and health promotion intervention for the U.S. transgender population. He is also co-investigator of several studies focusing on vulnerable subgroups of the trangender population in New York, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Mumbai, India. At CUMC, Dr. Bockting collaborates on research on staph infections among men who have sex with men and on a community survey of residents in Washington Heights and Inwoods. In the Spring of 2014, Dr. Bockting will launch a new study on transgender identity development, implemented simultaneously in New York City and San Francisco.
Research Interests
- Gender identity and sexual development
- HIV prevention research
- Internet research
- LGBT health
- Sexual health
- Transgender-specific health care
Selected Publications
- Bockting, W. O., Miner, M. H., Swinburne Romine, R. E., Hamilton, A., & Coleman, E. (2013). Stigma, mental health, and resilience among an online sample of the U.S. transgender population. American Journal of Public Health.
- Nuttbrock, L., Bockting, W., Rosenblum, A., Hwahng, S., Mason, M., Macri, M., & Becker, J. (2013). Gender abuse, depressive symptoms and HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections among male-to-female transgender persons: A three year prospective study. American Journal of Public Health, 103(2), 300-307.
- Grey, J. A., Robinson, B. E., Coleman, E., & Bockting, W. O. (in press). A Systematic Review of Instruments that Measure Attitudes toward Homosexual Men. Journal of Sex Research.
- Gonzalez, C. A., & Bockting, W. O., Beckman, L., & Durán, R. E. (2012). Agentic and communal personality traits: Their associations with depression and resilience among transgender women. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 67(9-10), 528-543.
- Coleman, E., Bockting, W., Botzer, M., Cohen-Kettenis, P., DeCuypere, G., Feldman, J., Fraser, L., Green, J., Knudson, G., Meyer, W., Monstrey, S., Adler, R., Brown, G., Devor, A., Ehrbar, R., Ettner, R., Eyler, E., Garofalo, R., Karasic, D., Lev, A.I ., Mayer, G., Meyer-Bahlburg, H., Hall, B. P., Pfaefflin, F., Rachlin, K., Robinson, B., Schechter, L., Tangpricha, V., van Trotsenburg, M., Vitale, A., Winter, S., Whittle, S., Wylie, K., & Zucker, K. (2012). Standards of care for the health of transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people, 7th version. International Journal of Transgenderism, 13(4).
- Zamboni, B. D., Robinson, B. E., & Bockting, W. O. (2011) HIV status and coming out among African-American gay/bisexual men. Journal of Bisexuality, 11(1), 74-84.
- Bockting, W. O., Benner, A., & Coleman, E. (2009). Gay and bisexual identity development among female-to-male transsexuals in North America: Emergence of a transgender sexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(5), 688-701.
- Bockting, W. (2008). Psychotherapy and the real-life experience: From gender dichotomy to gender diversity. Sexologies, 17(4), 211-224.
- Bockting, W. O., Miner, M., & Rosser, B. R. S. (2007). Latino men's sexual behavior with transgender persons. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(6), 778-786.
- Bockting, W. O., Robinson, B. E., Forberg, J. B., & Scheltema, K. (2005). Evaluation of a sexual health approach to reducing HIV/STD risk in the transgender community. AIDS Care, 17(3), 289-303
For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov