George Washington University has launched a new graduate certificate program in LGBT health to train current and future health care leaders and policy advocates on issues relating to the health and well-being of the LGBT community.
The LGBT Health Graduate Certificate Program, which will enroll its first students in June 2013, will encompass a set of courses focused on issues ranging from psychological and medical to legal and policy based. The hybrid curriculum of on-campus and online offerings will include contemporary topics, such as transgender care, marriage equality and advocacy for underserved populations.
While housed in GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the program will also draw on faculty from the School of Public Health and Health Services as well as guest lecturers who are immersed in the LGBT field.
“The creation of this graduate certificate demonstrates GW’s commitment to educating a work force to be both dexterous and empathetic to the diversity of our society,” said Peg Barratt, dean of GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. “With the recent and upcoming changes in health care and debate over policies relating to marriage, there is a great need for a program of this nature.”
Stephen Forssell, director of the program and a professor of psychology, said the program fills an unmet need.
“I am excited that we are offering this unique program, the first of its kind in applied LGBT health,” he said. “Not only will it provide an opportunity for discourse on the disparities faced by the LGBT community, it will also focus on strategies to move the field forward toward a more inclusive, equitable state.”
More information on the Graduate Certificate Program in LGBT Health is available on the program website.