Christopher Balthazar

Christopher V. Balthazar is a clinical psychologist and community health leader committed to ending HIV disparities among LGBTQ+ youth of color. He earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology and school counseling from Roosevelt University and is completing a doctorate in community psychology at National Louis University. For more than a decade Balthazar served as research project director at Cook County Health’s John H. Stroger Hospital, overseeing NIH‑funded studies on HIV prevention, treatment adherence and psychosocial outcomes among young people. In 2019 he became executive director of TaskForce Prevention and Community Services, Chicago’s only Black‑led LGBTQ+ youth service organization. Under his leadership TaskForce expanded its drop‑in center, doubled the reach of its PrEP4Teens program, launched a mobile testing van and opened an onsite gender‑affirming medical clinic in partnership with Howard Brown Health. Balthazar trains health‑care providers on trauma‑informed care and cultural humility and serves on advisory boards for the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination and the Illinois Getting to Zero (GTZ) campaign. A lifelong Chicagoan, he frequently speaks at conferences on intersectionality, mental health and the role of community‑based research in public policy.