Health Forum to Promote Better Healthcare for LGBTQI Communities

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Student Association at UCSF is proud to be hosting its seventh Annual LGBTQI Health Forum on Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21. This program is the oldest and largest student-run LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) health forum in the country, and it is designed to educate attendees from a variety of health disciplines about how to better serve the needs of LGBTQI people.

Health disparities continue to negatively impact the health of LGBTQI individuals. LGBTQI patients are less likely to have health insurance, and are less likely to seek and receive timely medical treatment. Fifty percent of transgender respondents nationally reported having to teach their own medical providers about transgender care. Worse yet, up to 39 percent of all transgender people report facing outright hostility or harassment when seeking routine health care. Health care professionals have also reported limited preparation about caring for the specific needs of LGBTQI patients. UCSF's LGBTQI Health Forum aims to provide practical and timely information to bridge this gap.

Forum plenaries will focus on barriers to care and other disparities affecting LGBTQI patients, as well as clinical take-aways. A skills-building workshop will address the question “How do I ask that?,” and attendees will hear patient stories in an LGBTI patient panel. In smaller breakout workshops, forum participants will learn from experts on specific topics in LGBTQI health, such as new advances in pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV transmission, mental health care for LGBTQI youth and family planning options for LGBTQI patients. This year's conference will conclude with a keynote speech from transgender rights activist, author, and performance artist Kate Bornstein. Bornstein is the author of “Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us, as well as A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir.”

Laura Duncan—a second-year medical student who participated in last year’s forum which drew more than 200 people—said: “The forum was both fun and educational. It covered LGBTQI health content which is absent from our core curriculum and offered concrete tools to better understand and advocate for all my future patients.”

All interested students and community members are warmly invited to attend this popular annual event! The course is offered for elective credit to UCSF students. Tickets, which include meals and a reception, should be purchased in advance on the registration page at tinyurl.com/Izr4p7w.