Inaugural Award Features Early Investigators

On hand at the award ceremony were (from l) Dr. Karen Parker, director, Sex and Gender Minority Research Office; awardees Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld and Dr. Annesa Flentje; and Dr. James Anderson, director, DPCPSI.

Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang

The Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office recently held the inaugural NIH Sexual & Gender Minority Research Investigator Award event in Wilson Hall. Two awardees presented on their research and answered questions from the audience. Their lectures highlighted research on health disparities faced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations; both awardees are early investigators who are making significant contributions to SGM research.

The first presentation by Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, the Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. distinguished leadership professor of anesthesiology, surgery, biomedical informatics and health policy at Vanderbilt University, was titled, “Informatics and Health Policy: Building the Evidence to Improve Transgender Health.”

The second presentation by Dr. Annesa Flentje, assistant professor, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, was titled, “Reducing Health Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals.” Both researchers are already leaders in the field.

You can watch the event in its entirety at https://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?26058.