The UNMC LGBT+ Faculty Mentoring Group will continue its new “Education and Sharing Series” events this month as UNMC’s Jean Amoura, M.D., and the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Jay Irwin, Ph.D., discuss interacting with transgender people as patients, colleagues and students.
The event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the UNMC Center for Drug Discovery and Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education, Room 1026.
“We will present guidelines and recommendations on transgender health care,” Dr. Amoura said. “Attendees will become aware of the barriers that transgender patients face and ways that health care providers and systems can and should improve the experience and, ultimately, the care of transgender people.”
The Education and Sharing Series, which began in July, is an effort to create a safe environment for discussing questions of interest to health care providers regarding the LGBT+ community, said Russ Buzalko, Ph.D., chair of the mentoring group and an organizer of the new series.
“At the last event, we had participants from both UNMC and Nebraska Medicine,” Dr. Buzalko said. “Conversations on these issues have increased — in fact, I don’t think at any other point in time that I’ve seen as much discussion on these topics.”
Dr. Amoura said she was pleased to be taking part in the new series.
“I find the new series to be a welcome forum to raise issues about the LGBTQ+ population that have not received sufficient attention on campus or in the hospital,” she said. “We all come into contact with diverse people every day. Increasing our knowledge and sensitivity affirms UNMC/Nebraska Medicine as a safe and welcoming place to work, study, and seek care.”
Dr. Buzalko praised campus leaders for their support of the mentoring group and its outreach efforts.
“Leadership is open to these discussions, and I see UNMC and Nebraska Medicine trying to promote an open, safe environment,” he said. “We are reaching out across the organizations, so we can examine issues of interest from both the academic and clinical sides.”
The LGBT+ Faculty Mentoring Group plans to continue the series in the future, but future dates and topic are not yet set, Dr. Buzalko said.
“The environment is open to discussion, so it’s only right for us to facilitate the discussion,” he said.
For more information on the LGBT+ Faculty Mentoring Group, click here.