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A Call to Action for Improving LGBTQIA2S+ Inclusive Policies and Practices in Educating Science and Medical Professionals

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Abstract

Based on Nature’s novel sex and gender guidelines, we share a call to action to enact policy changes in medical and scientific education. We conducted a literature search of current policies and practices affecting sex and gender minorities. Our work indicated a scarcity of guidelines and curricula dedicated to standardizing LGBTQIA2S+ topics. Educational policies must be enacted to ensure that sex and gender guidelines are implemented across all institutions as it impacts the future of healthcare and science. It is essential that sex and gender considerations be mandated topics in both medical and scientific education.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the benefactors that contributed to the Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine Shipley Pilot Grant and the Sexual Medicine Pilot Grant. We would like to acknowledge the land we stand on. We are gathered on traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Massa-adchu-es-et, Pawtucket, Naumkeag, Agawam, and Pokanoket; Susquehannock and Lenapehoking; Monongahela culture, Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee), Osage, and Massawomeck; Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations; and Multnomah, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribe of Grand Ronde, and Cowlitz [28]; all areas where this commentary was written.

Funding

Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine, Shipley Pilot Grant and Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine, Sexual Medicine Pilot Grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Translational Anatomy of Degenerative Diseases and Developmental Disorders (TAD4), Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine, 72 E Concord St., L-1004, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Anastasia K. Filimonov & Jonathan J. Wisco

  2. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA, 17022, USA

    Alexandra R. Gates & Anya Goldina

  3. Department of Cognitive Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Annmarie N. Allos

  4. Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Laboratory Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Heather J. Billings

Authors
  1. Anastasia K. Filimonov
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  2. Alexandra R. Gates
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  3. Annmarie N. Allos
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  4. Heather J. Billings
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  5. Anya Goldina
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  6. Jonathan J. Wisco
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Contributions

AKF and ARG contributed equally (AKF contributed to the LGBTQIA2S+ healthcare access and education, and physician education portions of the commentary; and ARG contributed to the medical education, residency education, and standardization portions of the commentary). ANA contributed to the policy sections of the commentary. HJB contributed to the impacts in medicine section. AG and JJW supervised and directed the study. All authors provided integral feedback of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anastasia K. Filimonov.

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Filimonov, A.K., Gates, A.R., Allos, A.N. et al. A Call to Action for Improving LGBTQIA2S+ Inclusive Policies and Practices in Educating Science and Medical Professionals. Med.Sci.Educ. 33, 767–772 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-023-01797-w

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