2024 National LGBTQ Health Conference Held at Emory

Starting today, the 2024 National LGBTQ Health Conference will take place at Emory University, bringing together researchers, students, and thought leaders dedicated to advancing research and promoting public health practice in communities across the country. Chaired by Jodie Guest, PhD, professor of epidemiology, this is the second time the conference has been hosted at Emory.

“I think it’s incredibly important to bring together people who do work; research; and clinical, policy and community work, to support LGBTQ health particularly at a time in our country when multiple states are working to limit gender-affirming care, when HIV rates are still so high in the Southeast, and when PrEP rates are still too low, though increasing thanks to programs like Travis Sanchez’s Together TakeMeHome project,” Guest says.

In her role as chair, Guest has led the vision for the conference’s speakers and topics, fundraising and grant support, the conference’s mentoring program and scholarships, and the pre-conference workshops being held at Rollins today (one where junior investigators meet with NIH program officers to help build successful research programs and an afternoon session on science implementation).

The conference’s theme, Bridging Research and Practice, speaks to the importance of communicating research to individual communities, as well as Emory’s focus on interprofessional education through the Office of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPECP) at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

Tickets are sold out for the in-demand conference, but Guest discusses a few of the major highlights, the continued need for LGBTQ public health research, and current research at Rollins.

Are you speaking at the conference? What other sessions are you looking forward to?

I’m the opening speaker and will also close the conference, a time that will allow me to highlight the many exciting presentations throughout the conference. I am thrilled that Adm. Rachel Levine, the 17th assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the head of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, is our keynote speaker. I’m also looking forward to our plenary focusing on aging among LGBTQ communities, our PrEP sessions, and our large focus on mental health.

What types of professional development opportunities are featured at the conference?

In addition to the pre-conference workshops, NIH program officers will be meeting with students and junior colleagues during lunch sessions and during a student get-together tonight. We also created a new section of Data Blitzes this year which will showcase additional student presentations.

Can you share a few major research projects happening at Rollins in the LGBTQ space either that will be featured at the conference or that you think people will be interested in learning about?

Multiple Rollins students are presenting at the conference including work led by Brady Bennett to improve PrEP uptake among women most at risk for HIV.

How are we doing—public health as a whole—in terms of advancing LGBTQ health? Where do we need to focus more efforts/resources?

The LGBTQ community continues to face stigma and inequities in access to supportive care. We need to be able to provide care that, while inclusive of, goes beyond HIV care to include mental health care, unique issues in aging, increasing rates of STIs beyond HIV, and issues of safety and support among LGBTQ youth.