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Heiden-Rootes Recognized in St. Louis Business Journal’s 2025 Business of Pride Awards

06/23/2025

Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D. (Grad Med ’14), professor of medical family therapy and an assistant vice president in the Division of Diversity and Innovative Community Engagement (DICE), has been named one of this year’s St. Louis Business Journal’s “Business of Pride” honorees.

Now in its fifth year, the Business of Pride program honors LGBTQIA+ leaders and allies who demonstrate professional excellence, community leadership, and a commitment to equity and inclusion. This year’s six individual honorees were selected through an independent editorial review by the Business Journal’s editorial team. 

A woman with short blonde hair dressed in a light gray cardigan, smiling softly while standing against a neutral background
Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D. Submitted photo.

“Awards and recognition are tough for me generally, because it’s not why I do the work,” Heiden-Rootes said. “But it’s an honor, and I'm really humbled by it.”

Heiden-Rootes, who joined the faculty in 2015 after earning her doctorate in family therapy at SLU, co-founded the Queer and Trans Wellness Clinic at the University, which offers financially accessible counseling services for the LGBTQIA+ community and their families.  

She also co-founded the Transgender Health Collaborative, a faculty-organized and led network of researchers, educators, and clinicians from a variety of disciplines working to advance the health and well-being of gender-diverse individuals in St. Louis and the surrounding region.

“I really resonate with and believe in the Jesuit mission of our institution,” Heiden-Rootes said, noting how her work aligns with the Jesuits’ Universal Apostolic Preferences, particularly the calls to walk with the excluded and to journey with youth to a hope-filled future.

“When I think about what it means to walk alongside someone — particularly when I work with the trans and non-binary community — they are having experiences I've never had,” she said. “I walk in a very privileged place, so it’s critical that when I’m walking alongside someone, I’m listening and learning — that the voices of the excluded are informing everything I do.”

She added, “We have a generation of young people on our campus right now who are the least hopeful since World War II, and I want to be a part of opening doors to spaces where they have agency, where they feel empowered, where they can paint pictures of possibilities for themselves to grow and to feel inspired.”

One way Heiden-Rootes has done that is by co-chairing the interdisciplinary team steering the University’s four-year JED Campus initiative, which launched in 2022. The Jed Foundation’s nationwide effort helps schools evaluate and strengthen programs and systems related to mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention.

Like the JED Campus initiative, Heiden-Rootes’ role as an assistant vice president in DICE reflects her leadership in shaping institution-wide efforts to support student well-being and inclusion. In this capacity, she leads strategic initiatives, develops programming and provides training — all in support of the division’s work to foster belonging and promote the flourishing of all members of the SLU community.

Heiden-Rootes has received multiple University honors for her contributions to SLU and its mission, including the Norm White Award for Engaged Scholarship and Service in 2022, the Division of Student Development’s Campus Partners Award in 2023, and, most recently, a 2025 Mary A. Bruemmer Award from the University’s Women’s Commission.

In her work for and with the LGBTQIA+ community during the past 15 years, Heiden-Rootes said she has found “a ton of joy and friendship” — work that spans research, clinical care, and a deep commitment to being both an ally and an advocate.

“Because LGBTQ folks are whole people, they have a multitude of ways they need to be seen and supported,” she said. “I feel very grateful for the work I’ve been supported to do here at SLU with some of the best colleagues anyone could ask for — Whitney Linsenmeyer, Rabia Rahman, Theresa Drallmeier, Annie Garner, Max Zabatsky, Shelly Dalton, Knieba Jones-Johnson, Debie Lohe, Chris Rollins, Rochelle Smith, Richard Marks, Allison Brewer, Bobby Wassel, Jeff Scherrer and Joanne Salas — among many, many others.”

Read the "Business of Pride" profile of Heiden-Rootes in the St. Louis Business Journal.