Our fall election series invites leading thinkers to reflect on key issues for health in the 2024 election.

This program considered the intersection of the 2024 election and LGBTQ+ health. We explored the sociopolitical forces that shape LGBTQ+ health and reflected on how public health can better engage with these forces to advance the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ populations.

Resources

Ideas underpinning our election series: “A Vote for Health” by Dean Galea in The Milbank Quarterly
A full event transcript is available here

Speakers

José A. Bauermeister

Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and Founding Faculty Director, Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative, University of Pennsylvania

José A. Bauermeister

Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and Founding Faculty Director, Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative, University of Pennsylvania

José Arturo Bauermeister, MPH, PhD (he/him) is the Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and at the University of Pennsylvania. His research integrates perspectives from public health, social science, medicine and human sexuality to create behavior change interventions that can reduce the health disparities experienced by sexual and gender minority adolescents and young adults. His work has been published in over 250 scientific publications and book chapters in the areas of HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+ health, behavioral health, and cognitive and emotional well-being. He has received over $40 million in funding as principal investigator and over $200 million as co-investigator in federally-funded research. Dr. Bauermeister is Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow, and a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Dr. Bauermeister has pioneered community-based, action-oriented strategies to improve the reach & impact of mHealth applications for LGBTQ+ youth. His work integrates youth-based participatory strategies within digital health tools to improve their reach and impact. To accelerate innovation and impact in LGBTQ+ health, Dr. Bauermeister founded the Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. Eidos sees a world where community experiences, diverse partnerships, thought leaders, and public health science join to advance the wellbeing of the LGBTQ+ community. At Eidos, Dr. Bauermeister cultivates and engages emerging and experienced leaders from community, academic, civic and business spheres to create innovative solutions for the LGBTQ+ community.
Kerith Conron (SPH'97)

Former Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar & Research Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law

Kerith Conron (SPH'97)

Former Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar & Research Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law

Kerith Conron, ScD, MPH is the former Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar and Research Director at the Charles R. Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. She is a social and psychiatric epidemiologist whose work focuses on documenting and reducing inequities that impact sexual and gender minority populations. She is committed to altering the landscape of adversity and opportunity for LGBTQ communities, particularly through collaboration. Dr. Conron developed one of the nation’s first gender identity-based homeless shelter protocols as Boston’s first LGBT Health Coordinator and served on the inaugural Steering Committee of the National Coalition for LGBT Health. She is co-PI of the NICHD/NIMHD-funded Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity, Socioeconomic Status, and Health across the Life Course (SOGI-SES) study. Dr. Conron has also been supported by NICHD to train scholars in LGBT population health research and by NIMHD to improve the health of LGBTQ youth of color. She completed graduate work at the Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health. Her publications appear in the American Journal of Public Health, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, and Psychological Medicine. Her expertise and commentary have been featured by the New York Times, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio. Dr. Conron is also affiliated with the Fenway Institute, Boston, the Heller School for Social Policy, Waltham, MA, and the Department of Maternal and Child Health at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Sannisha Dale

Associate Professor, University of Miami; Director and Founder, SHINE Research Program

Sannisha Dale

Associate Professor, University of Miami; Director and Founder, SHINE Research Program

Dr. Sannisha Dale is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at the University of Miami (UM). She is the Founder and Director of the SHINE (Strengthening Health through Innovation and Engagement) Research Program. Dr. Dale also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Dale completed her PhD at Boston University, internship and postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital /Harvard Medical School (MGH/HMS), and was on faculty at MGH/HMS prior to joining UM. Dr. Dale’s primary research interests are (a) enhancing our understanding of the relationships between resilience, trauma, and health outcomes among individuals with HIV and those placed at risk for HIV, (b) investigating psychosocial and structural factors that relate to HIV health inequities, (c) developing effective prevention, intervention, and implementation strategies to promote resilience and good health outcomes amongst survivors of trauma and individuals with or placed at risk for HIV, especially individuals minoritized due to racism (e.g., Black/African Americans), sexism, heterosexism, and cisgenderism, and who are heavily burdened by the HIV epidemic, and (d) engaging community members and stakeholders in research.

Dr. Dale has been a PI of 15 grants in the area of HIV (e.g., NIMH R01 on Black women living with HIV, R01 from NIMH focused on a bundled implementation strategy for HIV prevention in Black communities hardest hit by HIV in Miami, T32 focused on training the next generation of scholars addressing HIV inequities). She has also been a Co-I on over 12 grants. In addition, Dr. Dale is the Director for the Mental Health Disparities and Community Engagement Core for a P30 grant (Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health [CHARM]) where she established and provides guidance to the Community Advisory Board.

Beyond her noted research projects, Dr. Dale has given over 150 presentations of her work domestically and internationally, authored over 80 publications, received four early career researcher awards and one research mentor award, and served as an associate editor, consulting editor, and reviewer across several peer-reviewed journals. Her efforts in engaging community members have been recognized by two awards (Rhoda Johnson-Tuckett Award for Commitment to Community-Engaged Research and a Community Hero Award) and several certificates/plaques of appreciation from community partners. In conducting research Dr. Dale views community engagement and involvement as the key and start to doing research that can be adopted in community settings to have a positive impact. Positive community relationships both ground and inspire her approach to research.
Jasmine McKenzie

Founder and Executive Director, The McKenzie Project

Jasmine McKenzie

Founder and Executive Director, The McKenzie Project

Jasmine McKenzie was born and raised in Miami, Florida. A black transgender woman, she has been living with HIV for the past 19 years and three years ago she openly came out to her community, family and close friends about her HIV status. She is not only a long term survivor, but a mother, aunt, grandma, business owner, advocate, pillar and voice of her community. She is the CHANGE- a Black woman of trans experience who is committed to changing and molding her community with an extreme focus on making sure that other Black transgender and nonbinary bodies have a safe and amazing future. Fighting for equity for TLGBQ+ community is her top priority. As an add-on to making sure the general population of cis folks become educated and empowered with the proper education and knowledge around HIV/AIDS, she became a certified HIV tester in 2019 in the state of Florida where she has help conduct HIV wraparound services and linkage to care for those living with HIV and or out of care. Before Jasmine got into the line of work with community advocacy in 2016, she became the executive director of Color N Raw which was a community-based modeling agency which has now become a youth enrichment program for young black TLGBQ+ folks in both Miami and Broward County. August 2019 Jasmine opened her first drop-in center which catered to the South, Florida ballroom community and allies. On Feb 8th, 2020, she started a Black trans-led and Black trans-focused organization. Named The McKenzie Project, Inc. were She serves as the founder and executive director. In 2021 Jasmine was awarded the “Changemaker Award “by the National LGBTQ Task force gala. On June 4, 2022, she was recognized as a local leader doing extraordinary HIV advocacy work for HIV Long Term Survivors Awareness Day. On June 4, 2022, she will be recognized as a local leader doing extraordinary HIV advocacy work for HIV Long Term Survivors Awareness Day. It was the 15th day of August 2022 when both The McKenzie Project and TRANSsocial opened two drop-in resources centers in both Miami-Dade and Broward County. Ms. McKenzie is also a passionate and active member of the South Florida Ballroom community and serves as the mother of The Iconic and Legendary House of Ebony and is the Co-Chair for Trans Pride Fort Lauderdale. Jasmine is the band aid, that is covering all the healing wounds of those who have been broken and abused in the south Florida trans community.
Asa Radix

Executive Vice President of Research and Education, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center; Clinical Professor of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Asa Radix

Executive Vice President of Research and Education, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center; Clinical Professor of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Dr. Radix is the Executive Vice President of Research and Education at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York and Clinical Professor of Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Radix is board certified in internal medicine and infectious disease and completed postgraduate training in public health and epidemiology. Dr. Radix has presented both nationally and internationally on LGBT health issues and has assisted in developing guidelines in transgender health for multiple agencies including the World Health Organization & PAHO.

Dr. Radix serves on numerous boards including the New York State AIDS Institute’s Medical Clinical Care Committee and the DHHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents. Dr. Radix is currently Co-Chair of the WPATH (World Professional Association of Transgender health) Standards of Care 8 Revision committee. Current research interests include LGBT health, STI/HIV risk and HIV prevention.
Orion Rummler

LGBTQ+ Reporter, The 19th (MODERATOR)

Orion Rummler

LGBTQ+ Reporter, The 19th (MODERATOR)

Orion Rummler is an LGBTQ+ reporter at The 19th focusing on state politics, breaking news and the underreported ways that trans and queer people are marginalized. He previously covered breaking news for Axios and contributed research to “Axios on HBO.”