You’re invited to NEOMED’s first Transgender Health Workshop, held Wednesday, Sept. 20 and hosted by Medical Students for Choice, Q Club, Obstetrics and Gynecology Interest Group, and Physicians for Human Rights. This is an exciting opportunity to converse with patients from the transgender community and their healthcare providers. Come learn about the unique struggles the transgender community faces in accessing quality healthcare and the challenges healthcare providers face in providing them with adequate care in a keynote address delivered by Cecile Unger, M.D., a surgeon at Cleveland Clinic.
In a 2015 national study, one-third of transgender patients who saw a health care provider had at least one negative experience related to being transgender, such as being verbally harassed or refused treatment because of their gender identity. Additionally, nearly one-quarter of respondents reported that they did not seek the health care they needed in the year prior to completing the survey due to fear of being mistreated as a transgender person.
Regardless of the specialty you choose to practice in, you will encounter transgender patients throughout your education and career. It is important to have knowledge about the needs of transgender patients and the competence to treat this population.
Attending the transgender health workshop will provide you with insight that you might otherwise not receive. Come learn how to shape your future practice to be inclusive and safe for transgender patients!
Dinner will be provided to those who make a donation of $5 or more to Margie’s Hope, a local transgender nonprofit that helps homeless transgender individuals find resources and get back on their feet. The first 10 first-year College of Medicine students to register for the event will receive their meal for free, thanks to a donation made by Julie Aultman, Ph.D., professor of family and community medicine.
Continuing education credit will be offered for physicians.
When: Wednesday, Sept..20, 2017, from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Great Hall
Register at Eventbrite by Sept. 17.
--Savannah Bowman, a second-year College of Medicine student, contributed this article.