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Associated Faculty
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Dr. Randall Sell – Dr. Sell serves as the director of the Program for LGBT Health at the Drexel University School of Public Health. He was one of the first to estimate the prevalence of lesbians, gays and bisexuals in a probability sample of the United States, United Kingdom and France. His work critically examines the variables used to measure health disparities. Dr. Sell also established the website GayData.org.
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Dr. Lisa Bowleg – Dr. Bowleg studies the prevention of HIV/AIDS in African American communities, as well as experiences of minority stress and resilience in African American LGBT communities. She received a grant of nearly $2 million from the NIH last year for a study to raise awareness of HIV risks and facilitate HIV prevention efforts in African American communities.
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Dean Marla J. Gold, MD – Dean Gold was previously the Division Chief for HIV/AIDS Medicine at the former MCP Hahnemann University. She was also Philadelphia’s Assistant Health Commissioner for Infectious Disease Control in the Public Health Department. Dr. Gold directed the design of a system of HIV care among the city’s eight public health centers.
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Dr. Seth Welles – Dr. Welles focuses on the natural history of HIV/AIDS, as well as the impact of childhood sexual abuse on various HIV risk indicators and HIV research in minority communities. He also is active in the design and evaluation of clinical trials.
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Dr. Augusta Villanueva – Dr. Villanueva’s expertise focuses on the health status of vulnerable populations, specifically at-risk youth, the role of race, culture and ethnicity on health outcomes and the use of qualitative methodologies in community-based research. |
The Program for LGBT Health Graduate Health Classes
I. Fall: Studying Rare or Hidden Groups (PBHL674) was developed by Dr. Randall Sell, Director of the Program for LGBT Health. He will teach the course as a challenging introduction to the methods, difficulties & ethics of conducting research, programs, and evaluations among marginalized populations with a focus on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people as the primary example.
Dr. Sell is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Community Health & Prevention and is one of 3 researchers currently collaborating on a new federally funded scientific study of social diffusion in online media for reaching hidden communities. He is also the lead investigator for a pending study of social networks as a means to sample gay men & collect health information. Dr. Sell has researched and published on the history and best practices of sampling homosexuality and has created an assessment of sexual orientation (the Sell Scale). He was one of the first to estimate the prevalence of lesbians, gays and bisexuals in a probability sample of the United States, United Kingdom, and France and serves as a consultant to an ever-increasing number of surveys and programs that have begun to collect sexual orientation data.
II. Winter: LGBT Health Disparities (PBHL675) is a new survey course in various health issues, disparities and outcomes in LGBT Communities developed by Dr. Seth Welles. He will lead the examination of these topics in relation to the effects of discrimination, resultant stress & resilience factors owing to the marginalization of these communities as stigmatized minorities.
Dr. Welles is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and former director of the Program in LGBT Public Health Research at Boston University School of Public Health. He has conducted several large survey and cohort projects that involved assessment of HIV risk behaviors & etiology of those behaviors; a large random sample survey of HIV risk and psychosocial determinants at Gay Pride events, and co-led a survey of HIV risk among Black/ African American men recruited at five neighborhood clinics among online MSM.
III. Spring: Intersectional Perspectives (PBHL676), developed by Dr. Lisa Bowleg, examines the complex issues intersecting social identities and social inequality based on race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex/gender, SES, disability and other constitutive bases of identity. In this course Dr. Bowleg will lead the exploration of such interdependent identities in an LGBT context to determine whether and how different health implications and outcomes result for different groups of LGBT people.
Dr. Bowleg is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Community Health & Prevention and the Principal Investigator of “Opening the Doors for Diverse Populations to Health Disparities Research,” a new federally funded science education program in the School of Public Health. She previously received a major grant from the NIH as the PI of “Represent:” a study to raise awareness of HIV risks and facilitate HIV prevention efforts in African American communities.
Mission
The mission of the Program is to improve the health and well being of LGBT people. This mission is grounded in the recognition that sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, race and socioeconomic status play integral roles in behavioral, cultural, social and etiologic aspects of illness and health. Yet, the dimensions of sexual orientation and gender identity are largely ignored in public health research, the delivery of health care services, and the training of researchers, clinicians and administrators. Therefore, in accomplishing its mission, the Program aims to:
1. Develop multi-disciplinary research and theoretical innovations addressing the relationship between human health and illness and sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, race and class.
2. Advance, in collaboration with health care providers, the provision of comprehensive, high-quality health care services responsive to LGBT clients.
3. Develop curricula for educating and training professionals in the specific needs and experiences of sexual minorities and members of transgender communities.
4. Advocate for the advancement of public health and the well-being of LGBT people through public policy.
The Drexel University Program for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health aims to address these concerns through research and evaluation, education and training, partnering with health and social service providers, and public health policy and advocacy. Located in the School of Public Health, the Program uses the expertise of professionals from multiple disciplines from within and outside the University. The Program is committed to developing a comprehensive approach to public health issues affecting members of LGBT communities.
The Program represents one of a handful of major academic efforts to specifically address the complex issues confronting the health disparities and health seeking behaviors of LGBT people. Leading U.S. health organizations such as the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association, as well as Federal, state, and local health agencies, have all highlighted the need to increase attention to the health needs of LGBT people. The Program has been launched in response to the growing recognition of the public health disparities, as well as vulnerabilities, created by the gap in our understanding of LGBT health and the resultant demand for relevant high-quality research, training, service and public health policy.