The District Magazine Vol. 1 Issue 4, Winter 2016 | Page 30

G I V I N G M AT T E R S

The Ybor Youth Clinic
Ken Kavanagh was a Psychiatric ARNP who cared
for HIV-positive youth when he was working in the
USF Pediatric Infectious Disease Division. An openly
Gay man who took care of young gay men newly
diagnosed with HIV, Ken was a fierce advocate for and
well-loved by his patients. As he was caring for these
youth in the Children’s Medical Services Clinic on the
USF campus, he brought attention to the desperate
need for a more appropriate space for youth and
young adults, a safe place for LGBT youth to come
where they feel welcomed and accepted. Ken knew the
challenges these youth were facing as he was kicked
out of his home when he came out to his family. At the
age of 16, he found himself on the street facing the big
question of how he would survive. Despite remaining
estranged from his family for many years, Ken, being
the pragmatist that he is, could not drown in self-pity or
resort to survival sex, drugs, or other undesirable ways
to put a roof over his head. His situation fueled him with
the motivation he needed to go to school to help others
like him. When the USF Peds I.D. Division won the PreExposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Protocol for Young MSM
(Men who have Sex with Men), Ken knew the time had
come to find this special venue. He went out into the
community and single-handedly spearheaded efforts to
30
30

bring his dream to fruition. The Ybor Youth Clinic will
be forever grateful for his vision and efforts that led to
the opening of the only brick-and-mortar destination
for homeless youth in Tampa, and the second clinic
of its kind to specialize in serving LGBTQ and other
disenfranchised youth in Florida.
The Ybor Youth Clinic opened October 15, 2012.
During the first year in operation the clinic served as 1
of 12 nationwide sites for the young men’s PrEP study
under the Principal Investigators Dr. Patricia Emmanuel
and Dr. Diane Straub. Terri Berger, ARNP, was onsite full-time, providing care to their first “free clinic”
patients, both HIV-positive with Ryan White funding
and uninsured youth who were not HIV positive. Their
services have expanded and now and Dr. Diane Straub
and Amy Weiss, USF Division of Adolescent Medicine,
Dr. Pat Emmanuel, and Dr. Rachel Rapkin, USF OB/
GYN, now provide in-kind service at the clinic each
week. Medical directors of the clinic are Dr. Diane
Straub, Chief of Adolescent Medicine, and Dr. Carina
Rodriguez, Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Dr.
Emmanuel, Endowed Chair of Pediatrics, remains very
involved clinically. Justice Gennari is the current Chair
the the Ybor Youth Clinic Advisory Board.