Resources

The following resources are intended to provide potential sources of support, perspective, and experience to LGBTQ premedical students and medical school applicants. For additional, broader support resources at Northwestern, explore Multicultural Student Affairs, the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, the Office of the Registrar (legal name or gender updates), and Rainbow Alliance.

Organizations

• National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP) - The NAAHP lists all schools with health professions advisor on staff. If you need to talk to an advisor but your undergraduate institution does not have one available, NAAHP offers volunteer advisors to assist you.
• Medical Student Pride Alliance – Activist and social organization committed to empowering sexual and gender minority medical students and allies, with chapters at medical schools across the U.S. 
• OutCare Health Mentorship Program -- OutCare Health, a non-profit that provides information on LGBTQ health and connections to LGBTQ competent care, offers students the opportunity to connect with an LGBTQ professional in healthcare for mentoring.
• Point Foundation - The Point Foundation “empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential,” and has provided scholarships to LGBTQ medical students.  
• American Medical Student Association (AMSA) - AMSA's Gender and Sexuality Action Committee is "dedicated to combating sexism and heterosexism, and to assuring equal access to medical care and equality within medical education."
• GLMA - GLMA is a national organization committed to ensuring health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and all sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, and equality for LGBTQ/SGM health professionals in their work and learning environments.

Insights

• "U.S. medical schools boost LGBTQ students, doctor training" (Tanner, 2020) - An Associated Press article examines the push for more LGBTQ medical students and efforts some schools have undertaken to make medical school more welcoming and inclusive for them.
• "Advice for LGBTQ+ medical school applicants" (Keyes, 2019) - A gay Stanford medical student shares their experience with applying to medical school and offers advice to prospective LGBTQ+ medical school applicants.
• "Medical School Admissions: An LGBTQ Perspective" (Tam, 2017) - A gay medical student's letter to the editor of Academic Medicine on the experience of applying to medical school openly and how LGBTQ students are considered in the admissions process.
• "Creating a Welcoming Environment for LGBTQ+ Students" (Jablow, 2017) - Student perspectives and guidance on how medical schools can welcome and support LGBTQ+ students.
• Aspiring Docs: Alex Gannon (2015)  - Now practicing in pediatrics, Dr. Alex Geiger (formerly Gannon) discusses the journey to medical school and being out as a gay and transgender man.
• Aspiring Docs: Carl G. Streed Jr. (2016) - Now a physician at the Boston Medical Center and a national LGBTQ health advocate, Dr. Carl G. Streed Jr. recounts his experiences as an openly gay medical student and his motivation to pursue a career in medicine.
• "Medical students push for more LGBT health training to address disparities" (Cohen, 2019) - NPR examines current training and efforts by LGBTQ medical students to increase training in LGBTQ health issues to address disparities among LGBTQ patients.

Programs & Opportunities

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center Program for LGBTQ Health Summer Internship Program - The Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ Health offers 10-week internships each summer to undergraduate and graduate students (including medical and nursing school students) with an interest in LGBTQ health and research. (February application deadline)

Out Lists

Download an interactive list of current LGBTQ medical school Out Lists

• These are currently known Out Lists. If you know of another medical school with an Out List not included here or if you are a medical school student or representative and have a new or unlisted Out List, please get in touch!

• National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP) Resources
  • Best Practices for Advising LGBTQ Pre-Health Students (Lockman & Cummings 2020)
  • The Advisor - Allies in PreHealth Advising: Effectively Supporting an Increasingly Visible LGBTQ Population (Lockman, 2020)
  • The Advisor: Practical Advice for Working with LGBT Applicants (Cummings, Parrish, & Wingard, 2013)
  • Diversity Resources
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Resources
  • Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR)
    • The "Campus Life" section for each school includes a section on "Support Systems at this Medical School for Gender and Sexual Minority Students." 
  • Improving Sexual and Gender Minority Health
  • Proceedings of the Diversity and Inclusion Innovation Forum: Unconscious Bias in Academic Medicine (downloadable resource)
• General Knowledge and LGBTQ competency
  • LGBTQ Glossary of Terms (Human Rights Campaign) - Get familiar with terminology used by those in the LGBTQ community so you are prepared for conversations with LGBTQ students.
  • Terminology Related to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and More (Streed, 2017) - Learn more about LGBTQ terminology in health care settings via this glossary for Harvard's Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative.
  • Resources on Personal Pronouns - Understanding the use of personal pronouns -- what they are and what they mean -- so you are equipped to respect your students' pronouns and share your own.

"Creating a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ students" (Jablow, 2017) - Student perspectives and guidance on how medical schools can welcome and support LGBTQ+ students.

"Keeping our promise to LGBTQ+ patients" (Streed, Siegel, & Davis, 2019) - Three MDs advocate for improved LGBTQ+ health training for future physicians to better prepare them to care for underserved and often misunderstood LGBTQ patients. 

"U.S. medical schools boost LGBTQ students, doctor training" (Tanner, 2020) - An Associated Press article examines the push for more LGBTQ medical students and efforts some schools have undertaken to make medical school more welcoming and inclusive for them.