Author Archives: Emilia

AJPH is reprinting my 2001 essay “Enhancing Transgender Health Care”

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I wrote “Enhancing Transgender Health Care” around 2000 when I was finishing a post-doc at UCLA.  It was the time when I was just beginning my academic/research career there were very few people doing trans related work let alone being trans identified as well.  The public health field was beginning to take Trans health issues seriously; The American Journal of Public Health also published an important needs assessment of trans women and HIV and the the American Public Health Association published a policy statement in 1999 supporting greater support for trans research and clinical care.

Since then there has been slow improvement in regards to trans health issues thanks to the growing number of trans health activists, academics, and clinicians and allies.  There has been movement in the inclusion of trans measures in national health surveillance (it has been included in HIV surveillance for awhile) and health plans are beginning to include trans health care.  That is not to say that everything is going well.  While things have been improving for some, many trans people (especially trans women of color) still experience an excessive amount of discrimination and violence.

The change in administration may also mean reduced support (if not reversal) of many of the trans supportive activities that has happened in the past eight years (Thanks Obama!).  The growing trend of legislation preventing trans people access to public accommodations based on their gender (“bathroom bills”) is also troubling.

So, while I’m happy to see an older paper of mine get new life, it is a reminder to me of what more needs to be done and in defending what has already been accomplished.

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303598

Interview with Robert Garofalo MD, MPH Editor-in-Chief of Transgender Health

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http://www.liebertpub.com/overview/transgender-health/634/

Transgender Health is one of the newer Journals publishing original research on transgender health issues.  Robert Garofalo is its Editor-in-Chief and has been involved in transgender health research as well as providing health care to transgender people for many years.  We talk about the journal and about trans health research in general.  The journal is looking for data driven manuscripts, short reports, and perspectives.

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Interview with Cat Fitzpatrick, Poetry Editor of Topside Press

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Bio (from her website):  Cat Fitzpatrick teaches literature and politics at Rutgers University – Newark.  Facilitates the Trans Poets Workshop NYC. Editor at Topside Press. Writes poems, makes zines, organizes events. Her book, Glamourpuss, is due out October 2016.

http://topsidepress.com/

http://catfitzpatrick.net/

http://transpoets.com/

Inaugural Trans Women’s Writing Workshop

Hosted by the LGBTQ Resource Center and the English Department at Brooklyn College August 15-19, 2016

Twenty-six writers were carefully chosen by a panel of trans women in and around the publishing industry. These writers will get to study in two sections taught by Sarah Schulman and Casey Plett, and will be showcased in readings around the city.

http://topsidepress.com/workshop/

2016 Trans Women Writing Workshop – Donate to the Access Fund

http://topsidepress.com/shop/the-workshop-summer-2016/

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Interview with Alana Jochum, Executive Director of Equality Ohio

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This is an interview I did Alana Jochum, Executive Director of Equality Ohio last month.

We talked about a legislative actions that have been and will be occurring this summer, notably Equality Ohio’s Summer of Action.   Since the interview Cleveland City Council approved and the Mayor signed the legislation that changes the city’s anti-discrimination policy to protect people on the basis of their gender identity and expression in public accommodations.

More information on what Equality Ohio has been doing can be found on their website.

Information on their summer of action can be found here, and on Facebook

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The T in the CLE: TransPop: U.S. Transgender Population Health Survey

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Soon there  will be the first nationwide population based study on the health of transgender populations in the US.  The study is a collaboration between the Williams Institute at UCLA, Fenway Institute, and Columbia University, and will examine the healthcare needs of trans people.  The study will also provide a better estimate of the size of transgender populations within the US.

I interviewed two of the study’s investigators a year ago.  We talked about the the study’s purpose and goals.

Jody Herman, PhD., Scholar of Public Policy, Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, University of California, Los Angeles

Sari L. Reisner, Sc.D., Affiliated Research Scientist at The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, Harvard University and The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health

For more information about Trans-Pop can go to their website.

http://www.transpop.org/

 

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The T in the CLE: 2008 interview with Julia Serano

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This is the first episode of my new podcast call The T in the CLE re-posting an interview I did with Julia Serano in 2008.

I had done a podcast called Radio-Free Transburgh when I was living in Pittsburgh.  It was a podcast where I interviewed people about trans related topics, mostly around trans related academic, activist, and research issues.  It ended due to various issues, but I’ve been wanted to restart it here in Cleveland.  To start I’ll be re-posting interviews I did in 2008.  To start out I’m posting an Interview I did with Julia Serano who at the time published her book Whipping Girl in 2007.    Below is the show blurb I originally used.

Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, spoken word performer, trans activist, and biologist. Julia is the author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (to be published by Seal Press in June, 2007), a collection of personal essays that examines the ways in which misogyny frames many popular stereotypes and assumptions about transsexual women. Her other writings have appeared in queer, feminist, and pop culture magazines such as Bitch, Clamor, Kitchen Sink, LiP, make/shift, and Transgender Tapestry, and excerpts of her work have appeared in The Believer, The San Francisco Chronicle, and on NPR. In recent years, Julia has gained notoriety in transgender, queer, and feminist circles for her unique insights into gender. She has been invited to speak about transgender and trans women’s issues at numerous universities, at queer, women’s studies, psychology and philosophy-themed conferences, and her writings have been used as teaching materials in college-level gender studies courses across the United States.

 

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New Program Announcements for Gender and Sexual Minority Grants at NIH

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These take the place of the program announcements for LGBTI Health Disparities that expired earlier this month.

PA-15-260
The Health of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Populations (R15)
Application deadlines (3 times a year): Feb. 25, June 25, Oct. 25
FOA expires: Sept. 8, 2018
For more information about this FOA, see this link:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-15-260.html

PA-15-261
The Health of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Populations (R01)
Application deadlines (3 times a year): Feb. 5, June 5, Oct. 5
FOA expires: Sept. 8, 2018
For more information about this FOA, see this link:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-15-261.html

PA-15-262
The Health of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Populations (R03)
Application deadlines (3 times a year): Feb. 16, June 16, Oct. 16
FOA expires: Sept. 8, 2018
For more information about this FOA, see this link:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-15-262.html

PA-15-263
The Health of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Populations (R21)
Application deadlines (3 times a year): Feb. 16, June 16, Oct. 16
FOA expires: Sept. 8, 2018
For more information about this FOA, see this link:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-15-263.html

Experts Release New Report Highlighting the Lack of Population-Based Data about Transgender People and Other Gender Minorities

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Experts Release New Report Highlighting the Lack of Population-Based Data about Transgender People and Other Gender Minorities

Current survey practices fail to identify transgender and other gender minority respondents

Los Angeles—A new report released today by the Gender Identity in U.S. Surveillance (GenIUSS) group highlights the lack of survey measures to identify transgender and other gender minority respondents in most federally-supported population-based surveys. This groundbreaking report, entitled Best Practices for Asking Questions to Identify Transgender and Other Gender Minority Respondents on Population-Based Surveys, examines current practices in population-based surveys to see which surveys currently include measures to identify transgender and other gender minority respondents and offers expert recommendations for including sex and gender-related measures in population-based surveys.

The 2011 Institute of Medicine report on LGBT health specifically identified transgender health research as being a high priority.  However, without adequate measures to differentiate between trans and cis people such research would be very difficult to conduct.

The report offers best practices for identifying transgender and other gender minority respondents in population-based surveys. Among the best practices delineated in the report, the most effective is the “two-step” approach. This practice includes measures of self-reported assigned sex at birth (the birth recorded on one’s original birth certificate) and gender identity at the time of the survey. There are also recommendations on the best way to place and integrate sex and gender-related measures into population-based surveys in this report.

Among the federally supported population-based surveys that currently do not include measures to identify gender minority respondents are the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, and the National Health Interview Survey, and others.

The proposed guidelines are an important step in working toward the the development and inclusion of transgender health within national health studies.

The full report is available here: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/geniuss-report-sep-2014.pdf

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The Gender Identity in U.S. Surveillance (GenIUSS) Group is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional group of experts convened by the Williams Institute to increase population-based data about transgender people and other gender minorities by advancing the development of gender-related measures for population-based surveys, with a particular consideration for publicly-funded data collection efforts.

National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Health Research Conference to be Held at Baldwin Wallace University

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Research concerning the health issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals has been very limited and more work is needed to better understand the health needs of LGBTI populations. This was the finding of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2011 report written at the request of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Since then, academics, researchers, and government officials have been working to improve the state of LGBTI health research.

(Link: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/The-Health-of-Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-and-Transgender-People.aspx)

With this in mind, representatives from Baldwin Wallace University, Cleveland State University, and MetroHealth Medical Center have organized a conference to provide people (students, researchers, and community members) an opportunity to learn more about LGBTI health research. Speakers from across the United States will discuss their work. The conference will be able to provide students, researchers, and community members with opportunities to learn more about LGBTI health research, to network with existing researchers, and learn of opportunities for training in LGBTI health research.

The conference will be held August 7-9, 2014 at Baldwin Wallace University (Center for Innovation & Growth (CIG), 340 Front Street, Berea, OH 44017). The conference is free and open to students, researchers, academics, and community members.

Registration:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conference-on-current-issues-in-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-and-intersex-lgbti-health-research-registration-11575064329

Contact:

Emilia Lombardi, PhD

elombard@bw.edu

Teaching R to Undergraduates Part 1, Why R and How to Install it

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Teaching R to Undergraduates Part 1, Why R and How to Install it (work in progress)

 # This will be a rough draft of what I hope to provide for students in my research class in the fall.  Suggestions/questions welcome.

 First, what is R and why are we using it?

 ·        R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics.

·        Have I mentioned that its free and can be used on multiple platforms (windows, mac, linux)

 So it’s free, but is it any good?

 ·        R is used by many academics, and companies around the world.  Google and Health Canada both use R for example.   http://www.revolutionanalytics.com/companies-using-r

·        It is a living program, in that it has a community constantly building and adapting the program.  

·        It can provide very powerful tools for analyses and graphics. 

·        It is considered to be as useful if not better than SPSS or SAS

 Why don’t we just use SPSS or SAS since the University provides it for free on its computers?

 ·        If you just plan on using University computers for the rest of your life than that can work.  But what if you want to use your own computer or if you are working/interning somewhere that won’t let you move their data off of their computer, what will you use then?

·        SPSS and SAS are expensive programs and require yearly patches to continue working after its initial purchase.  You don’t really buy the software as rent it from year to year.  SPSS has a special student price, but you can’t use it after you graduate.

·        If you are working for a nonprofit or other small organization, expecting them to spend thousands of dollars on software per year may not be very sustainable.  That same amount could be used to provide direct services or develop other goods. 

 So how do I install it?

·        The first step is to download the latest version.  Case Western Reserve hosts a depository that you can access it and other needed packages (more on that later).

o   GO to http://cran.case.edu/ and click on the version for your system (window, mac, or linux) and install it onto your system using the direction provided.

o   Once installed, run the program you should see this.

 ·        Next, make sure that you have java installed on your computer, if you don’t have it or don’t know got to http://www.java.com and find the right version for your system.  If you have a 64 bit computer, make sure you have the 64 bit version of java.  This program will be needed to run the Graphic User Interface (GUI) that we will be using.

 ·        We will be using the Deducer GUI to work with R.  It’s not necessary, but it will be easier to work with for beginners.

 o   At the top of the R program you should see an option for Packages, click on that.

o   You should see an option for Install package(s), click on that.  You should be given a list of cran mirrors.  Scroll down and look for USA (OH) option.  Click on that and hit OK.

o   Next, you should see a list of Packages.  Scroll down and look for Deducer.  Click on that and hit OK.

o   That will install Deducer and any related package.

o   Once finished, go pack to Packages and look for Load package(s) and then click on it.  You will be given a list of packages available.  Look for Deducer and click on it, and then click OK.  The program will attach itself and you will see additional options available on the tool bar after Help on the right.  You should see Deducer, Data, Analysis, and Plots.  If you do that means that its installed and ready to go. 

 The next part will cover inputing data and simple statistics.