Dr. Denae Peterson earned her doctorate in psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology - San Francisco campus of Alliant International University in 2010. Her doctorate focused on clinical psychology and gender studies, and her dissertation examined the impact of body image on sexual pleasure pre- and post-gender affirming surgery in a transgender population. Dr. Peterson has been working for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) since 2011 and is one of CDCR's primary mental health subject matter experts for transgender and gender minority care. In 2020, she created the Gender Affirming Surgery (GAS) Mental Health Evaluation, which is used by all CDCR facilities to assess transgender patients requesting GAS. Her current role is as a senior psychologist specialist and she serves on CDCR's Gender Affirming Surgery Review Committee.