Michigan Medicine Pride Month keynote speaker calls on students to 'disrupt healthcare barriers for LGBTQ+ communities'
With an emphasis on 'sexual and gender minority' people, Bauermeister's past research has focused heavily on 'young men who have sex with men.'
José Bauermeister recently discussed 'how to advance LGBTQ+ health equity and reduce health disparities in our society through multisectoral collaborations.'
On June 8, University of Michigan Health (Michigan Medicine) hosted a keynote speaker in celebration of LGBT Pride Month.
In his address, José Bauermeister, a nursing professor at the University of Pennsylvania, offered “an overview of the current state-of-the-science in LGBTQ+ health” and discussed “how to advance LGBTQ+ health equity and reduce health disparities in our society through multisectoral collaborations.”
Hosted by Michigan Medicine’s LGBTQ+ Health Advisory Committee, the keynote speech was sponsored by the Michigan Medicine Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, the Office of Patient Experience, and the Office of Faculty Development.
According to his university biography, Bauermeister is the chair of the UPenn department of family and community health.
“Dr. Bauermeister’s scholarship is grounded in social justice and characterized by a commitment to addressing structural and interpersonal barriers that hinder the social and personal well-being of [sexual and gender minority] communities,” states the UPenn website. “Alongside race, class and gender, sexuality structures how we relate and interact with one another, and can give way to social and health inequalities when some sexualities are privileged over others.”
A recipient of over $40 million as a principal investigator, Bauermeister has performed research on a variety of areas “to optimize the health and well-being of LGBTQ communities.” His past work examined how to successfully administer drugs to sexual and gender minority youths in order to prevent HIV/STI transmission “when engaging in receptive anal sex .”
In 2022, Bauermeister founded UPenn’s Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative. According to its mission statement, the organization “cultivates and engages emerging and experienced leaders from community, academic, civic and business spheres to create innovative solutions for the LGBTQ+ community.”
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In 2021, Bauermeister’s work explored utilizing dating apps and websites “to engage in research [of] young men who have sex with men (YMSM) at risk of HIV infection who may not be otherwise reached by in-person recruitment efforts.”
In 2013, Bauermeister studied “[s]exting among young adults.” His study ultimately concluded “that sexting is not related to sexual risk behavior or psychological well-being.”
Bauermeister is also a Health Innovator Fellow at the left-leaning Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization that claims to uphold “the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in everything we do.”
A two-time graduate of Michigan, Bauermeister promised to speak to his alma mater about “the current gaps in the [LGBT health] literature, discuss existing challenges to culturally humble care, and offer strategies to disrupt healthcare barriers for LGBTQ+ communities.”
Campus Reform has contacted Michigan Medicine and Dr. Bauermeister for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
