A Vote for Health: LGBTQ+ Rights

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, 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.

Dr. Radix is the Senior Director of Research and Education at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York and a clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU.  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 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.”