Newswise — The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health, Education and Research Trust (LGBT HEART) today announced the first two recipients of the LGBT HEART Scholarship Fund for the Health Sciences. The 2005 LGBT Heart Scholars are Julie Anne Baker, a 5th year MD/PhD candidate at the Schools of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (SMBS) and Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP) at the University at Buffalo, and Brian Hurley, a 3rd year MD/MBA candidate at the Keck School of Medicine and Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Each received $2,000 scholarships for the current academic year.
As the LGBT community continues to mature and gain greater societal acceptance, the number of community members seeking health care providers and policy leaders who are sensitive to the unique needs of this community continues to grow. Twenty years ago, hospitals and heath care clinics never bothered to take the needs of LGBT patients into consideration. Now they face increasing pressure to have inclusive policies and culturally competent providers. This has created an opportunity for community members and organizations that support the health and well-being of the LGBT community to specifically respond to this situation.
"The core of our mission is to advance the health of the LGBT community and this year's LGBT HEART Scholars are committed to affecting change in this community through their education and work in the health profession," said Manuel Hernández, MD, FAAEM, President of LGBT HEART. "We see no greater way to foster our mission than through our LGBT HEART Scholars program, which encourages the development of clinical and academic health care providers who can provide clinically and culturally competent health care for the LGBT community."
Created through funds raised by LGBT HEART, the LGBT HEART Scholarship Fund for the Health Sciences provides a combination of need and merit based scholarships to LGBT students pursuing graduate-level training in the health sciences. It provides supplemental funding for students who have a demonstrated ability in and commitment to affecting change in the LGBT communities through their commitment to working and being educated in the health professions.
The 2005 scholarship program was open to all LGBT-identified students enrolled in a graduate degree seeking program in the health professions at an accredited college or university in the United States. Students must have been US citizens, demonstrated satisfactory academic progress and financial need, exhibited leadership traits and performed community service in the LGBT community.
For more information about LGBT HEART and the LGBT HEART Scholarship Fund for the Health Sciences, please go to http://www.lgbtheart.org or contact LGBT HEART at [email protected].
About LGBT HeartIncorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2004, LGBT HEART is a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) designation that offers support on a national level to cultivate future clinicians and leaders in LGBT health care. LGBT HEART targets its programming to meet the health care needs of the diverse LGBT community in the United States, which currently numbers between 16 and 28 million people and is represented in urban, suburban and rural settings and crosses all socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
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