Ames Simmons is a queer white transgender man who holds a senior lecturing fellowship at Duke University School of Law. His work is grounded in community-based anti-racism, anti-violence, and anti-poverty efforts to achieve justice for transgender people and collective liberation. His previous roles include policy director at National Center for Transgender Equality, policy director at Equality North Carolina, and assistant general counsel at a healthcare company assisting uninsured patients with Medicaid. Ames attended Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish, and Emory University Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree.