The American Medical Association Foundation (AMA Foundation) announced the inaugural institution of its National LGBTQ+ Fellowship Program as the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UWM) to begin transforming the health equity landscape for the LGBTQ+ community through this innovative educational program. The program will address the social determinants of health specifically affecting LGBTQ+ individuals to ultimately ensure that all LGBTQ+ patients receive the highest standards of care.
While progress has been made in advancing LGBTQ+ health, the AMA Foundation is uniquely positioned to exponentially accelerate the pace of change in improving the health of and health care for LGBTQ+ patients. One in five LGBTQ+ adults avoid medical care due to fear of discrimination and one-third of medical schools spent zero hours teaching LGBTQ+ health. The AMA Foundation will serve as a convening force, bringing together leaders in the LGBTQ+ community, health care, medical education, community organizations, and advocacy groups with participating fellows and partner institutions.
Over time and with investments from new partners, the AMA Foundation National LGBTQ+ Fellowship Program will support institutions across the country and train hundreds of fellows, all while developing multi-disciplinary standards of care for LGBTQ+ health to educate the next generation of physician leaders. The result will be a pipeline of LGBTQ+ health specialists who can properly serve the health care needs of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as a rich body of knowledge that can be passed on to all medical schools and professionals through the creation of best practices in care.
With the support of the LGBTQ+ Honor Fund Founding Donors, and under the direction of the AMA Foundation Board, the AMA Foundation Fellowship Commission on LGBTQ+ Health—a collaborative of LGBTQ+ thought leaders, educational specialists, physicians and philanthropists led by John D. Evans—provides oversight on the development of the Fellowship Program. This group conducted a rigorous peer review and analysis of the exceptional proposals submitted for consideration.
“This program is the AMA Foundation’s response to the urgent need to address the growing health disparities and lack of quality medical care for LGBTQ+ patients” said John D. Evans, Chairman, AMA Foundation Fellowship Commission on LGBTQ+ Health. “The LGBTQ+ community is widely diverse, and for those members of the community who are also members of other marginalized groups–such as people of color, people with disabilities and those living in rural communities–the outcomes are exponentially worse. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the health care disparities for LGBTQ+ people of color and other marginalized communities as those groups received inconsistent and inadequate care and representation throughout the pandemic.
Lipton Strategies is proud to partner with the AMA Foundation and serve as the consultant for this transformative new program. To learn more about this historic initiative or get involved, please contact Sandi Smith at sandi.smith@ama-assn.org.
Check out the profile piece in TIME Magazine here!
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