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Gender Health Conference Examines Care for LGBTQ+ Population

May 11, 2022

Coordinated with the opening of its new Gender Health Program, Hartford HealthCare is offering a professional conference entitled “Building Gender Literacy: Gender Affirmative Care across the Lifespan.”

The conference is being held both in-person and virtually on Friday, June 3, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“The LGBTQ+ population has unique healthcare needs and while services like our program can help, it’s critical for all healthcare providers to have at least a basic understanding of those needs and how to meet them,” said Laura Saunders, PsyD, ABPP, co-medical director of the Hartford HealthCare Gender Health Center and the Institute of Living’s Right Track LGBTQ+ youth service.

The conference features the following presentations:

  • “What’s the Connection? LGBTQ+ Identities and Autism Spectrum Disorder” with Dr. Saunders, Derek Fenwick, PsyD, who is assistant director of the Gender Health Program, and Wendy Shores.
  • “Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy for Adolescents” with Priya Phulwani, MD, of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
  • “Working in Primary Care: Managing STIs in the LGBTQ+ Community” with Patrick Cahill, MD, medical director of the Community Care Center at Hartford Hospital.
  • “The Role for Reconstructive Surgery in Gender Affirmation” with Charles Castiglione, MD, FACS, chief of plastic surgery at Hartford Hospital, and Christopher Hughes, MD, also a plastic surgeon at Hartford Hospital.

In addition to these four sessions, there will be a one-hour panel discussion featuring LGBTQ+ speakers addressing “Exploration of Lived Experience: Affirming and Non-Affirming Healthcare Practices.”

A buffet lunch is included in the conference, which will be held in the Hartford Hospital Education Resource Center, 510 Hudson St., Hartford. The target audience for attendance is family and internal medicine providers, urologists, nurses, gynecologists, endocrinologists, social workers, case workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and recovery support specialists.

To register for “Building Gender Literacy: Gender Affirming Care across the Lifespan,” go to https://hhchealth.cloud-cme.com/GenderLiteracy_2022.