268252 Summer Institute in LGBT Population Research

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 1:15 PM - 1:30 PM

Judith Bradford, PhD , The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA
Aimee VanWagenen, PhD , The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Boston, MA
Background: The Summer Institute in LGBT Population Research was initiated in July 2010 with funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). A national cohort of 18 students is selected each year, through a rigorous review of applications by staff and national faculty affiliated with a center for population research focused on LGBT health. An affiliated school of public health provides dormitory housing, classrooms and computer lab space. Instructors from a university-based leader in data archiving and population research provide training in statistics.

Program Goals: Held over four weeks, the program includes: • A dynamic Cornerstone Seminar in LGBT health and social life that overviews key topics, methods, and perspectives in the interdisciplinary study of LGBT health • A week of Stats Camp that includes short-course instruction in statistics and quantitative data analysis at the intermediate and advanced-intermediate levels • Hands-on training in analysis of LGBT population health data in the Interactive Data Lab

Successes/Ongoing Challenges: Participants have created relationships that will sustain them as they develop scientific careers in LGBT health. In effect, they are members of the “next generation of LGBT health scientists”, a concept that created momentum for the “LGBT Pop Center”, a national infrastructure for sexual and gender minority health population research. Leaders in LGBT health and social science teach the course, and for most students, this is the first opportunity to interact with scientists whose work they have studied and hope in the future to emulate.

Overall Evaluation of Program: The program has been quite successful and is much in demand. Each cohort is unique, particularly in statistics preparation, resulting in on-the-spot adjustments of “stats camp”. Students have rated participation as a highlight of their training and have been successful in gaining support for their own studies.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Explain the importance of population-based data for the growing field of sexual and gender minority health. 2. Describe the program components of the Summer Institute in LGBT Population Research. 3. Evaluate "return on investment" of years 1-3, considering participant feedback, papers published, and awards funded.

Keywords: Research, Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I developed and direct the NICHD-funded program that is the subject of this abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4228.1: Training the Next Generation of Public Health Professionals in LGBT Health Research and Practice