Kellan Baker

Dr. Kellan E. Baker is the Executive Director of Whitman-Walker Institute, which leverages cutting-edge research, policy, and education to advance health equity nationwide, particularly for LGBTQI+ people and people living with HIV. The Institute is affiliated with Whitman-Walker Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center with more than 50 years of service to diverse communities in Washington, D.C. and beyond.

Kellan is a nationally known health services researcher, educator, and health policy professional with specific expertise in areas such as health equity, LGBTQI+ health, community engagement in research, insurance reform, and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data collection. He is an appointed consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and is currently involved in developing global guidelines on transgender health with the World Health Organization.

Kellan has worked with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on multiple studies related to LGBTQI+ health and was a member of the research team that conducted the systematic evidence reviews for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care (Version 8). He is also the co-founder and director of Out2Enroll, a national campaign launched in 2013 to connect LGBTQI+ people with insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Kellan is the former board co-chair of Equality Federation, and he holds appointments as associate faculty in the Departments of Health Policy and Management at the George Washington University and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He received his Ph.D. in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins, where he was the Centennial Scholar and a Health Policy Research Scholar; an M.P.H. in health policy and M.A. in international development from the George Washington University; and a B.A. with high honors in astrophysics and Russian from Swarthmore College.