2025 Aaka Pande and Sumit Majumdar Memorial Award Recipient Announced
LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence
Our mission is to advance health equity for LGBTQ communities.
About the Center
LGBTQ people experience widespread discrimination resulting in adverse physical and mental health. Public health and medicine are key to addressing these inequities; however, the field lacks the infrastructure to prepare learners to have the necessary skills to protect the health of this marginalized population and be leaders in the field.
The LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence was founded by Brittany Charlton. Working with partners across Harvard and around the world, we focus on training the next generation of LGBTQ health leaders, conducting research to expand the evidence base on LGBTQ health, and communicating with policy makers, healthcare providers, and the public about how to improve LGBTQ health.
Research
Our research encompasses a broad range of LGBTQ health topics. Topics include mental health, reproductive and sexual health, HIV/AIDs, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging. Our research also focuses on methods in LGBTQ health research including measuring sexual orientation and gender identity.
Research Areas
Our work has revealed persistent and pronounced reproductive health inequities related to sexual orientation and gender identity. For example, we have documented that LGBTQ individuals are significantly more likely to have a teen pregnancy than their cisgender, heterosexual peers.
Our research has highlighted inequities in various cancer outcomes among LGBTQ communities. For example, we have elucidated lower uptake of screenings and higher risk of cancer incidence among LGBTQ individuals compared to their cisgender, heterosexual peers.
LGBTQ health research has often relied on self-reported survey data so our work has focused on improving how sexual orientation and gender identity data are collected and analyzed in this setting, particularly over time in longitudinal research. Additionally, our work has also focused on identifying LGBTQ populations using other data sources such as health insurance claims.
Our Team
Our team includes more than a dozen faculty and two dozen fellows, graduate students, and staff. Leaders from within and outside Harvard serve on the Center's academic councils.
Join our team!
We embody a wide collection of talents, expertise, and backgrounds, cultivating a dynamic and collaborative environment.
Seminars
We host various events throughout the year, including those open to the public. In addition to seminars, events focus on training, research, and communication related to LGBTQ health equity issues.
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