Safe Space presentation at the School of Nursing

Today, Leo Benavides, a third semester student in the BSN program and PRIDE's lead nursing liaison, organized the largest single Safe Space session seen on campus. The educational event was held at the School of Nursing with approximately 60 participants, which included both students and faculty of different disciplines. 

Presenting with Eric Gonzales, Leo did an incredible job organizing the event so that it ran smoothly. It was no easy task to manage the presentation and the 12 breakout group discussions that came along with the unprecedented number of attendees. PRIDE would like to extend a special thanks to the 10 additional students who volunteered to facilitate small group case discussions: Brenda Villareal, Gilbert Vazquez, Jennifer Leet, Christopher Lam, John (Jack) Flores, Elisha Hwang, Kiersten Westhart, John (Philip) Palmer, Dustin Green, and Shaoli Chaudhuri. 

With Leo's hard work, PRIDE is more than ever becoming a student organization truly inclusive of other health disciplines. We are very excited to continue fostering the relationships between the School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and Department of Physician Assistant Studies. We also hope to reach out to other departments with talented individuals such as Leo. 

Leo Benavides, 3rd semester student in the BSN program

Dr. Peter Guarnero, co-faculty adviser of PRIDE, addressing the audience

Thank you for coming everyone, and we hope to see you at our clinician-focused presentation in the spring, "Safe Space 2.0: A clinician's guide to LGBTQ health"!

San Antonio Run & Walk for AIDS

UTHSCSA PRIDE participated in the San Antonio AIDS Foundation's Run & Walk for AIDS this past Saturday. The 5k run and 2 mile walk began and ended at the Blue Star Complex in the King William District. The annual event promotes awareness and generates funds that allow the San Antonio AIDS Foundation continue its pursuit of providing compassionate medical care and social services to people with HIV/AIDS and to help prevent the spread of HIV through education and free HIV testing.

We also had a relaxing after social hosted by Dr. Taylor, the faculty advisor of the Infectious Diseases Interest Group on campus where we got to know the staff from the FFACTS clinic at the Robert B. Green Campus.

It was a great day!

Safe Space 2.0 to be presented statewide at TAPA!

Every year, the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants (TAPA) holds a major CME conference for its members in major Texas metropolitan areas. UTHSCSA PRIDE is excited to announce that its very own Denise Nemeth and Eric Jay Gonzales will be presenting their newly-developed Safe Space Training 2.0 at the 40th Annual Spring CME Conference! Congratulations to both of them!!

The conference takes on February 19-22, 2015 at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, TX. Denise and Eric will present their Safe Space 2.0 on February 21st from 1:45-2:45PM.

We are very excited to educate and train more PA students than ever before in PRIDE history.

Screening of "The Normal Heart" at Jack's House

On Thursday night, PRIDE in partnership with Physicians for Human Rights held a home viewing of "The Normal Heart" (2014), the play-adapted Emmy Award-winning HBO special on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis among the gay activist community in New York City during the early 1980's. The storyline gives a glimpse of the nation's sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a country in denial. Thanks to everyone who came!

Upcoming PRIDE Events

PRIDE Monthly Meeting – September 19, 12pm-1pm. SON building – NSG 1.102

Come stop by for our monthly September general meeting for FREE LUNCH and see all the wonderful things that PRIDE is doing this Fall!!
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 Safe Space Training – September 17th, 12pm-1pm. MD Labs 2.029

1-hr training designed to increase knowledge and awareness of the LGBTQ community and the unique disparities they encounter. Attendees will develop social and cultural competencies that will allow them to support LGBTQ individuals and address the inequities they experience.
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SAAF Run & Walk for AIDS – Saturday, September 27th. Blue Star Complex in the King William District

Come help raise funds for HIV/AIDS research with the San Antonio Aids Foundation (SAAF) and stay active in this wonderful event! We have already created a team: ‘UTHSCSA PRIDE’ that you can register under and the cost is $30/$35 for walkers/runners. Website is www.runwalkaids.org. Also there will be a social event immediately following the race for those who sign up at Dr. Barbara Taylor’s house. PLEASE RSVP ASAP IF YOU WANT TO GO TO THE SOCIAL****** Contact floresjm@uthscsa.edu for further information

- Jack Flores, Communications Chair

UTHSCSA Safe Space Training

UTHSCSA PRIDE held its first Safe Space training seminar of the semester today, led by Vice President Ericjay Gonzales! The Safe Space program is a one-hour training designed to increase knowledge and awareness of the LGBTQ community and the unique health disparities they encounter. Attendees ranged from students to faculty and were given the opportunity to develop social and cultural competencies that will allow them to support LGBTQ individuals and address the inequalities they experience. Below are a few pictures of the training:

Dr. Esterl's Eccentric and Aquatic Extravaganza

Dr. Esterl was kind enough to invite UTHSCSA PRIDE to his home for a pool party this past Saturday! The house and the pool were beautiful and provided a much needed break from the Texas heat. Thank you so much Dr. Esterl for opening your home to us! We had so much fun!

Pride Festival 2014 Event

Yesterday, UTHSCSA PRIDE volunteered at the Pride festival organized by the community organization Pride SA. The festival was held in Crockett Park from 11am-7pm. UTHSCSA PRIDE staffed the First Aid tent, offered free health screenings, and surveyed people for the San Antonio LGBTQI Community Health Needs Assessment. The initiatives were a collaborative effort between the School of Nursing and School of Medicine. 16 medical students, 8 nursing students, a nurse practitioner, and our two faculty advisors: Dr. Peter Guarnero of the School of Nursing and Dr. Robert Esterl of the School of Medicine

We were taken by surprise when the 250 paper surveys printed in anticipation of the festival were all filled out by 4:30. However, more surveys need to be completed to move forward! The research initiative needs a minimum of 500 completed surveys, and as of last night, we reached a total of 330 surveys.

We will use the information to guide our next steps in how we can best assist the historically medically underserved LGBTQI community, whether it may be creating a network of LGBTQI-friendly clinicians or a student-run free clinic.

We would also like to thank Pride SA for putting on such a great event. We look forward to participating again in coming years!

Event Pictures

First Mandatory Transgender Health Panel in SOM and Dedicated Curriculum to LGBTQ Health

Yesterday, the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio held its first mandatory transgender health panel for their second year medical students in partnership with the San Antonio Gender Association (SAGA).

While PRIDE has held panels of persons who identify as transgender annually for the campus, this was the first initiative led by medical students in collaboration with faculty that became part of the required curriculum in the School of Medicine. In addition to the panel, the Medicine, Behavior, and Society (MBS) course module incorporated dedicated hours in the curriculum on LGBTQ health. Student's knowledge of the material was evaluated by written examination.

The effort was a great step forward by the School of Medicine in educating future physicians on the health needs of all persons, including the LGBTQ community.

Here is some feedback from the medical students to the panelists from the thank you poster (front side and back side) they made for them:

"I look forward to working with transgender patients in the future with your stories, perspectives, and advice in mind. Yours was a message of hope for transgender generations to come. I can't wait to pass this message along in my future practice."

"Thank you so much! Our class really benefited from you sharing your experiences as future doctors but also as human beings. We really appreciate your time, your openness, and you!"

"Thank you so much for sharing your stories with us. It was really enlightening and helped us understand the experiences of the trans community and inspired us to work to make a medical environment that is more open and accessible to your community"

"Thank you for sharing your personal experiences with all of us! That took incredible courage. It will help all of us to be more sensitive to transgender issues in our future practices."

The Texas Association GLBTQ Health (TAGH), Founding Constitution, and Board Members

After the founding of The Texas Association for GLBTQ Health (TAGH) after the OUT for Health Summit in April, the structure of TAGH and its constitution has been established as of today! You can also join our Facebook Group!

The board representatives of TAGH for each Texas Medical School are listed below with the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the TAGH board. 

TAGH Board

UT-Houston: Dustin Staloch, Will Tyson

UTHSCSA: Chris Lam, Gilbert Vazquez

UTMB: Micah Vaugh, Stefen Barton

TTUHSC-Lubbock: Erin Baroni, Andy Cruz

Texas A&M: Andrew Lupo, Justine Reilly

TTUHSC-El Paso: Kent Carter, Casey Finch

BCM: Priya Kumar, Maria Adelaida Otazo

TCOM: Roman Gabriel McInnerney

UTSW: James Bowen

Co-Chairs: Dustin Staloch, Will Tyson (UT-Houston)

Co-Vice Chairs: Chris Lam, Gilbert Vazquez (UTHSCSA)

The Chairs, Dustin Staloch and Will Tyson of UT-Houston's School of Medicine, will be hosting the second annual OUT for Health Summit in 2015! 

"An Absolutely Fabulous Brunch"

Jack, our communications chair, hosted a great social today. Here are some pictures!

OUT for Health Summit 2014: the first annual statewide LGBTQ health conference

The first annual OUT for Health Summit was held in April of 2014 at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio in partnership with the School of Medicine's Diversity and Student Professional Development. The event attracted 80 registrants and included medical students from every Texas Medical School. The Texas Association for GLBTQ Health was founded by these medical students to bring equitable healthcare to LGBTQ persons across the state of Texas.

Event details of the 2014 OUT for Health Summit

Friday April 11, 2014: Student & Physician Mixer at the Hotel Contessa 

Saturday April 12, 2014: OUT for Health Agenda 

Event Pictures and Feedback

"I enjoyed everything especially and LOVED Dr. Lee-Jones ... The mock clinical scenarios were great, and the transgender panel was beyond what I expected. Every healthcare provider needs to experience that." - Medical Student, TTUHSC

"I really enjoyed the discussion on the healthcare issues specifically faced by the LGBT community, because even though we are planning on becoming physicians in the future, we are also going to be patients at times. I also really enjoyed the 4th year residency panel..." - Medical Student, UTMB

"[My favorite parts of the summit were the] panel of students and transgender panel. It was very insightful... It reached me as an ally and helped me understand more about the LGBT community." Ally Student

Research Poster: "LGBT Health in Medical Education: A Review of the Literature"

Chris Lam (MSI) and Eric Gonzales (MSI) co-authored a research poster that was awarded "Honorable Mention" at "Passport 2014," the medical student research day at UT Health Science Center San Antonio. Their research brought awareness to the opportunity for LGBT-health inclusion in the medical school curriculum. Click here to read their poster and here for the references.

Safe Space with the Department of Physician Assistant Studies

PRIDE rolled out "Safe Space 2.0," a new clinician-focused curriculum on LGBTQ-health related issues. Eric Gonzales (MSI) and Denise Nemeth (PAS) worked closely together to lead this initiative and hold the first partnered Safe Space session between the School of Medicine and Department of Physician Studies.

Eric and Denise built upon the work of Chris Alonzo (MSIII), former co-president and founder of Safe Space to develop the new curriculum.

Event Pictures

General Meeting at the School of Nursing

We hope to reach out to more students, so please join us for the first general PRIDE meeting that will be held in the School of Nursing!

Date: 3/21
Time: 12:00pm
Room: 1.230-NS

New Faculty Co-Advisor!

Dr. Peter Guarnero of the School of Nursing has joined PRIDE as a second faculty advisor. He has extensive experience with health care in the LGBTQ community and will be invaluable as an advisor.

Social at the Flying Saucer

PRIDE had a fun time taking a break from studying and relaxing at the Flying Saucer today. :)

The New 2014 PRIDE officers :)

Top Row from Left to Right: 
Kiersten DeHart (c/o 2017, MD): Community Outreach Chair
Pamela Muñoz (c/o 2014, ABSN): ABSN Liaison
Eric Gonzales (c/o 2017, MD): Vice President
Brenda Villareal (c/o 2015, BSN): BSN Liaison
Leo Benavides (c/o 2015, BSN): BSN Liaison

Bottom Row from Left to Right: 
Gilbert Vazquez (c/o 2017, MD): Co-President
Elisha Hwang (c/o 2017, MD): Fundraising Chair
Denise Nemeth (c/o 2015, PA-S): PA-S Liaison
Jennifer Leet (c/o 2017, MD): Logistics Chair
Chris Lam (c/o 2017, MD): Co-President
John Flores (c/o 2017, MD): Communications Chair

Not in picture:
Garry Winkler (c/o 2016, MD): MSIII Liaison
Chris Alonzo (c/o 2015, MD): MSIV Liaison
Alice Seol (c/o 2017, MD): Historian
Ly Pham (c/o 2016, MD): Research Chair

We would like to give an especially warm welcome to Denise Nemeth, Pamela Muñoz, Leo Benavides, and Brenda Villarreal , our new Liaisons from the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and School of Nursing. We look forward to working more closely with other health profession schools!