A team led by Mandi Pratt-Chapman, MA, associate center director for patient-centered initiatives and health equity at the George Washington University (GW) Cancer Center and Eduardo M. Sotomayor, MD, director of the GW Cancer Center, received a 2018 Education Research Grant Award from the Center for Faculty Excellence at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS). The team aims to address gaps in the existing SMHS curriculum around clinical care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) persons, while measuring the impact of the specific knowledge intervention.
“GW has some great strengths when it comes to teaching students about the clinical care needs of the LGBTQI community, but we also have room for improvement," said Pratt-Chapman. “Lack of training on sex- and gender-based medicine prevents optimal care for sexual and gender minorities across the country. GW is one of only a handful of medical schools proactively remedying this health professional training gap."
The team will organize and host a one-day symposium addressing gaps in the existing medical curriculum at GW. According to Pratt-Chapman, the symposium will address some of the health equity challenges among the LGBTQI community in Washington, D.C., an area that is home to one of the largest populations of sexual and gender minorities in the nation.
"We all have lots of great ideas, but it is impossible to implement most of them without resources," said Pratt-Chapman. “This grant will allow us to convene students and faculty at GW to learn about the unique health needs of sexual and gender minorities, a population that has historically been invisible in health care and health research."
The CFE provides Education Research Grants to encourage and support scholarship in medical and health sciences education. Up to $45,000 is awarded annually based on applications and a peer review process.
The CFE was established to support the development of SMHS as a national leader in innovative education and training by advancing the scholarship and practice of teaching and learning.
To learn more about the Center for Faculty Excellence, visit https://smhs.gwu.edu/cfe/.
