Meet the Team

Lisa Diamond

Lisa M. Diamond is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, where she has taught for nearly 25 years since receiving her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1999.  Dr. Diamond studies the development and expression of gender and sexuality across the life course, and the influence of social stigma, social stress, and social safety on health and well-being over the life course.  Dr. Diamond is best known for her research on sexual fluidity, which describes the capacity for individuals to experience unexpected shifts in sexual identity and expression over time.  Her 2008 book, Sexual Fluidity, published by Harvard University Press, has been awarded the Distinguished Book Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Study of LGBTQ Issues. Dr. Diamond is also co-editor of the first-ever APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, published in 2014, and is a fellow of two divisions of the APA.  She has published over 140 articles and book chapters, and has been invited to present her research at over 150 national and international Universities and conferences. Dr. Diamond has received awards for her work from the Developmental Psychology and LGBT Psychology Divisions of the APA, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the International Association for Relationship Research, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.  Dr. Diamond’s current research focuses on the evolved psychobiological mechanisms through which stigma harms the mental and physical health of sexually-diverse and gender-diverse (LGBTQ+) populations.  Her work argues that social safety (unconditional social connection, inclusion, belonging and protection) is essential for human health and development, and that deficits in social safety foster mental/physical health vulnerabilities in stigmatized or socially marginalized populations.  Dr. Diamond is currently studying the role of social safety in the experiences of sexually-diverse and gender-diverse individuals raised in the LDS (Mormon) Church, and the factors that promote adjustment and acceptance among LDS family members of LGBTQ+ individuals.   She lives in Salt Lake with her wife Judi and their two beloved dogs, Ruthie and Tikva.