Four Years Later: The Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative at Harvard Medical School

Four years ago, Harvard Medical School (HMS) launched an initiative to address the lack of sexual and gender minority (SGM) health-related content in medical education and to guide the development of an affirming learning environment.

LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and all sexual and gender minorities) individuals experience significant health disparities and require health care that addresses their unique needs.    However, traditional medical curricula lack adequate educational content specific to this patient population.  While medical students interact with diverse patient populations through clinical rotations, medical graduates are often poorly equipped to provide care to SGM patients.  Furthermore, medical students have typically not experienced welcoming, inclusive educational environments that are conducive to learning about SGM health care. 

In 2018, Harvard Medical School launched a 3-year Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative with the goal of integrating SGM health content into the longitudinal core medical curriculum and cultivating an educational climate conducive to engaging students and faculty in SGM health education. The initiative was led by members of the HMS faculty, including Alex Keuroglhlian, MD, MPH, Director of the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry at Mass General and the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at the Fenway Institute.

The scope of the initiative was broad and employed innovative strategies to comprehensively review existing SGM health curricula and to integrate input from relevant stakeholders (students, faculty, LGBTQIA + community members).  Core GSM health competencies were identified and GSM health-related content was integrated into courses and clerkships.  After establishing a set of faculty competencies encompassing core SGM health content, the co-directors created a series of nine online, interactive professional development modules for faculty.  Evaluations of this program indicate that the initiative has led to improvements in how the material is presented and has helped to create a safe, affirming educational environment for LGBTQIA+ and non-LGBTQIA+ students and staff.

One of the priorities of this initiative has focused on its sustainability and the creation of educational materials and guidelines.   The ultimate goal is that this kind of educational initiative can be introduced at other medical institutions in order to help both medical students and educators to better understand the unique health needs of SGM communities and to address implicit biases that may negatively affect health care and outcomes in this population.   Although the HMS program is ​​still evolving, the Association of American Medical Colleges has recognized the HMS initiative as an example of a program outlining competencies relevant to diversity, equity, and inclusion that educators should adopt as they design curricula for medical students and continuing medical education programs.

Keuroghlian AS, Charlton BM, Katz-Wise SL, Williams K, Jarvie EJ, Phillips R, Kremen J, Guss CE, Dalrymple JL, Potter J. Harvard Medical School’s Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative: Curricular and Climate Innovations in Undergraduate Medical Education. Acad Med. 2022 Dec 1; 97(12):1786-1793. 

Katz-Wise SL, Jarvie EJ, Potter J, Keuroghlian AS, Gums JN, Kosciesza AJ, Hanshaw BD, Ornelas A, Mais E, DeJesus K, Ajegwu R, Presswood W, Guss CE, Phillips R, Charlton BM, Kremen J, Williams K, Dalrymple JL. Integrating LGBTQIA + Community Member Perspectives into Medical Education. Teach Learn Med. 2022 Jun 29:1-15. 

HMS Completes First Phase of Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative (Harvard Medicine

On the Margins (Harvard Medicine)