Hello and welcome everyone to a presentation and discussion on tips for a career in gastroenterology and hepatology for LGBTQ+, brought to you by Rainbows and Gastro, and supported by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the ASGE Diversity and Inclusion Committee's LGBTQ Workgroup. My name is Eden Essex and I will be your announcer for this presentation. Before we get started, a few housekeeping items. First you can submit a question at any time online via the Q&A function on your Zoom control panel. Following this event, in about a week, you can access a recording of the presentation and other supplemental materials which will be posted in GILeap, ASGE's online learning platform. Now it is my pleasure to introduce our moderators for the event, Drs. Victoria Gomez and Howard Lee. Dr. Gomez is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Bariatric Endoscopy Program at Mayo Clinic Florida. She currently serves as the Chair of the ASGE Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Dr. Howard Lee is a Gastroenterologist, Transplant Hepatologist, and Assistant Professor in Medicine and Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Dr. Lee is one of the Executive Board Members of Rainbows and Gastro, and also a member of the inaugural LGBTQ Task Force of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. I will now hand the presentation over to Drs. Gomez and Lee. Welcome to our first joint event with the Rainbows and Gastro and ASGE. I'm Howard Lee, and it's my honor to be one of the moderators today with Dr. Victoria Gomez. And now I'm going to introduce some ground rules for our webinar today. Next slide. And so today we're going to have a safe space. Next slide, please. And then we're going to be confidential for all the personal information. Next slide, please. And then we'll be, please be mindful and sensitive for others' opinions, perspective, and personal stories. Next slide. We're going to respect each other. Next slide, please. And we will appreciate all our differences. And I think that tells, that's very important for our session today, moving forward. Now I'm having a little bit, a brief introduction about LGBTQ, NGI, and hepatology. So the last being gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or plus are underrepresented in medicine. According to 2020 census data, there's 8% of the U.S. population identifies as LGTBQ plus. However, according to the 2018 AMA, when the AMA added the sexual orientation and gender identity to include their demographic profiles, only 4% was identified as LGBTQ plus. So LGBTQ plus is underrepresented in medicine. So one out of five LGBTQ adults report avoiding or delaying interaction with the healthcare system due to fear or experiencing discrimination. And almost 30% of the LGBTQ plus medical student reported concealing their sexual identity during medical training. I think we should have more efforts to create LGBTQ plus friendly environment for providers and patients. And this should be the front line of the diversity, equity, and inclusion action plans. Next slide, please. So I will have to introduce a little bit about the Rainbow Gastro group. I think all our, we start as forming a group after Dr. Sonali Paul write the article about overcoming the challenges and mitigating the disparity in our LGBTQ plus patients. And that was published in the Red Journal. That article is very well received. And after the article, several of us, you know, start to forming a group and wanted to work on some of the issues in LGBTQ for both the providers, trainees, and the patients. So we have our first online event in August 2021, which is actually a similar event than the one we have today, that we also provide some information and tips and recommendations for our trainees that's interesting in GI and liver career. And after a year of preparation, we officially launched in last month in August 2022, that we are decided to form a more formal group. And we're going to introduce you a little bit more about it. Next slide, please. So our mission in Rainbow Gastro, including CHARM, which start with the community. Next slide, please. And we were having networking events in major GI hepatology conferences and healing. So we're aiming to create a safe space for sharing experience and ask for suggestions. A is for advocacy. So we're planning to have some advocacy campaign for LGBTQ plus patients. R is for research. We're planning to have LGBTQ plus in GI and hepatology surveys and patient registry and more research projects. And last one is mentorship for AIM. And the mentorship, we're planning to have a developing a mentorship program for LGBTQ plus trainee and junior faculty in the field of GI and hepatology. Next slide, please. So here is a slide of our excubit board. We have Dr. Burrell from Master of Health, Dr. Burbridge from Duke, Dr. Dunn from VCU, Dr. Paul from UChicago, and me from Baylor, and Dr. Salamento from Mayo. We also have board members, Dr. Chetted from Mayo, Dr. Godowski from Boston Medical Center, Dr. Jenks from University of Michigan, and Dr. Newman from University of Michigan. So this is our inaugural class of the excubit board and board members. Next slide, please. And we are a very new group. We would like to do more for our LGBTQ plus trainees, providers, and patients. And we're always welcome to hear more from you guys. Any suggestion, any question, you can now reach to us to our official Gmail. It's rambosengastro at gmail.com. And we'll actually have our first another event in the upcoming ACG meeting in Charlotte in the coming months. So please join us if you're interested. Thank you so much, Howard. Hello, everyone. I'm Victoria Gomez. It's a pleasure to be here serving as a co-moderator on this fantastic webinar. I do have the pleasure and the privilege of introducing the panelists for this evening. We have Dr. Jasmine Barrow. Dr. Barrow is a gastroenterologist at MedStar Health in Baltimore, Maryland. She attended medical school at Harvard Medical School, completed her internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins, also her medical residency program, and her GI fellowship at the University of North Carolina. And Dr. Barrow is one of the executive board members of Rambos and Gastro. Welcome, Dr. Barrow. We have Dr. Nikki Duong. Dr. Duong is a 30-year GI and transplant hepatology fellow at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. His passion is in alcohol-related liver diseases, health care disparities, and diversity and inclusion efforts and fellowship training. Welcome, Dr. Duong. We also have Dr. Alex Goldowski. Dr. Goldowski is a GI fellow at Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Goldowski is one of the board members of Rambos and Gastro, focusing on advocacy. Welcome, Dr. Goldowski. And we have Dr. Kira Newman. Dr. Kira Newman is currently a gastroenterology and hepatology fellow at the University of Michigan Health Systems. Dr. Newman received her undergraduate degree from Yale University, earned her MD and PhD from Emory University, and completed her residency. Welcome, Dr. Newman. I also want to take this chance. We actually have a special guest for us today. I'm pretty sure a lot of you know him, Austin, the famous Austin Chan. So I don't think Austin needs a lot of introduction, but Austin is currently the chief medical officer of Medtronic GI, and he is also assistant professor at Jefferson for advanced endoscopy. And I know Austin for a long time, and he is actually coming here to visit us in Houston today. And I really am very excited to have him on board here, because I know a lot of us, you know, in the LGBT world is looking, you know, looking up to him since he has such a career, a successful career for, you know, at such a young age, and he does amazing things on social media as well. So welcome, Austin. Thank you. Oh my gosh. You guys are too kind. Thank you for that introduction, and I'm glad to see so many familiar faces. Okay. All right. So I think this is the time that we're going to start our Q&A session. So I'm going to ask the first question that we received. So the first question is, how have you navigated to balance your personal life goals with your professional aspirations? So maybe we can, Austin, I think this is maybe a great question for you. Wait, sorry, can you repeat that question real quick? Okay, so how have you navigated, balanced your personal life goals with your professional aspirations? Oh my goodness. I feel like I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I feel like at times, I'm not sure I've achieved that balance at the moment. Still searching for that balance, but I think that part of it is also very dependent on, you know, your employer and the support that they are willing to give you, and, you know, I think that's important in going into looking for your career, like, you know, looking for your future employer, you know, what, gauging kind of their receptiveness and how much they value that sort of balance of, you know, respecting your personal life and embracing kind of what you bring to the table. And I've been very, I think that's always played into my decision of, you know, who I work for, and fortunately, I think they've been able to do that, but yeah, I'm not sure. I think given the amount of travel that I'm currently doing, trying to achieve that, so I might have to get back to you on that one. Thank you, Austin. So being in the job search process myself right now, I think just to keep it short, a lot of it is about figuring out what your why is and what's your purpose in life or what you figure out, what you find to be purposeful and prioritizing that. And I think it's easier said than done, because this whole time in fellowship, you know, you're just kind of doing these rotations and doing things that are forced upon you at times or things that you think may impress other people, but this is the first time in your life that you can finally do something that you want that will give you fulfillment. I would say it's important to reflect on your most previous stage in your training or where you are in your career and kind of assess, you know, your goals and your success with finding that balance and where you were previously so that when you are applying for the next job or you're going into your next interview season for fellowship or for whatever, you can help make that decision a little bit more clear based off of how well you balanced where you were previously. I'm pretty junior right out of fellowship two years ago. And so going into where I am now, I was pretty deliberate on the type of setting that I wanted to practice in, whether it be private or academic or some type of hybrid. And, you know, I settled on a hybrid type of setting, which I think has worked well for my interest in GI as well as my personal goals. And that's a question that I had for the group in general. I mean, I guess, you know, at every level of training or practice, I mean, you know, how have your how have your identities impacted your, for example, your medical school education, your postgraduate training and specialty choice? So for me, when I think about this, I met my wife in medical school. We were both in the same medical school class. And so my entire career in medicine has been so closely related to my family life and my relationships. And I've traveled around. I did med school and PhD in Atlanta and then went to Seattle to sort of balance that because my wife wanted to do her fellowship out there. Then we came to Michigan because this is where we found something that's going to work well for the both of us. And throughout that, I've been very open about my life because I've had to. If I wanted to be in the same place as my wife and being off cycle and training, there was no way we could couples match. It was something that we had to be really open about and forthright about. And fortunately, I've had very positive experiences across the board. And Kara, I think it's great that you brought up that. So I'll kind of come from the other side of things where I actually for quite some time was not, I would say, out of it. If people were to ask me a personal question, which on the interview trail really should not be asking personal questions of that nature. If someone asked me a personal question, I would have no problem saying something. But I was someone who wanted to kind of stand on my own. I did not have a partner at the time that I was applying for residency or applying for fellowship. So I kind of used that as an opportunity to gauge the locations that I was thinking about training and continuing my training. Ultimately, I've found a really wonderful and welcoming place. And what I will say is now being out on the job market and with an interest specifically in LGBTQ plus digestive health as my specific niche within gastroenterology and hepatology, it has really opened up a wonderful door to so many different people and experiences that I've been able to have. So now it's kind of really, I would say, for lack of a better word, plastered everywhere all over my CV and my cover letter that this is what I want to do and that my identity as someone who identifies as LGBTQIA plus was really truly formative and where I'm planning on taking my career. Very nice. Yeah, that's nice. Thank you for sharing that, Alex. And can you share, because you're telling us about now you're finding this as your niche and it sounds like you are looking for a job right now. And can you tell us how do you prioritize, like when you look for a job, it's a location, it's a program, how do you find out that's a LGBTQ friendly place that you will be comfortable working at? Absolutely. That's a great question. I think that for me, so I will be honest that I've been lucky to grow up in a relative bubble in the Northeastern portion of the United States my entire life. I really haven't left the region from New York City up to Boston in my 32 years. But ultimately, when it came down to things, I think, unfortunately, especially now in the current kind of environment and climate that we live in, being conscious of where I'm considering training is something that definitely crosses my mind. I have a partner and I want to be able to kind of build a future with that partner. And I know, unfortunately, that there may be parts of the country that that'll be more difficult than in others. Having said that, I think the places that I have found, the things that I've been asking and the questions I've been asking are how open is your institution to new ideas and new perspectives? And I think that's been a great place to start because this is an area within gastroenterology and hepatology that's new and is really just now taking off. So asking about openness and receptiveness to new ideas, different ways of thinking, and just being upfront and saying, I want to build a clinic in this area, like I would really like to talk to you about kind of the resources that are available at your institution. And I would say across the board in the places I've been looking on the academic market specifically, all the places that I've looked at have been so open and so welcoming. And that's been incredibly exciting. I think that's a really great point, Alex. And I was just thinking, now we're just seeing offices of DEI budding at every institution with big action plans to engage members of the entire community and a lot of movements towards the LGBTQ community. I didn't know if maybe when institutions are hiring or trying to recruit, maybe part of their itinerary with any candidate that comes through to interview for a job, maybe should they have the opportunity to meet with the office of DEI if that's an option? Because that's, I think, where you would have a great abundance of resources to see exactly what all the institution is doing to make progress. Yeah, no, that's a great suggestion, Dr. Gomez. I agree. Because now there's, I know even some programs have like a promotion track for DEI. I know Hopper, it sounds like Hopper started doing that, I know a couple of institutions. So I think that's also a good way to ask. And I've just been through the same process you did for job searching, like two years ago now. Sometimes I use, I think it's, well, I did the interview during the middle of COVID, but I was just still trying to go to the place and visit. So you kind of have that vibe. Also like I will try to ask them, I'll tell them that I am married with a husband and usually they will try to let me talk to other LGBTQ plus members. And then I always ask them, I remember my husband was actually, my husband was interviewing one of the program and he asked one of the faculty, current faculty member, they're like, how do they feel about living in that city? And the response he got is, oh, they actually don't hold hands on their city because sometimes they don't feel safe. So, and that we didn't go to that place, I think that that's one of the big reason. So I think, I do think for myself, I think it's important, especially if you are building a career in LGBTQ, I think finding a place that you have a promotion track, doing DEI, related stuff. And then also finding a LGBT friendly city is, I think it's important. So I think to talk about the side of things where when you're applying to fellowship, it's a little bit different, obviously, than when you're applying for a job, because right now when you're applying for a job, they're trying to recruit you and what I've experienced is that if they really want you, they'll try to have every, it seems like every gay person and like any medical department call me from like, I talked to somebody from surgical oncology and they're like, Oh, yeah, you'll see, like, you'll, you'll realize why we connected you to talk to this person a little bit. And I was like, I can totally read between the lines, you know, I did a quick Google search and within seconds, I figured it out. And you know, it was really, I think, admirable that they went out of their way from the marketing recruitment standpoint, not necessarily, I don't know if they have a DEI committee necessarily, but it's clear that they're trying to advertise to me that this is a safe space and welcoming city, even though it may not typically be known for that, given its location. So for the fellowship perspective, though, I think it's a little bit more challenging because the ball is not necessarily in your court. And you kind of just want to take whatever you can get, you know, because it's so competitive to get into fellowship. So at that same token, though, I don't think you should compromise, at least from my perspective, I think you should not settle because it's three years of your life, and you want to be happy outside of work. And so I think it's really important to try to reach out to current fellows or even people who may not be at that institution. You can reach out to people, for example, this is why Rainbows and Gastro exists, right? You can reach out to us. And then even though we're not at that institution currently, you know, many of us collectively have probably interviewed at, you know, said hospital, and we can probably speak to that culture before you make your rank list, for example. So that's just my thought. Nikki, that's a really good point. But one thought that I have, you know, for trainees that maybe are still not comfortable with coming out or, you know, identifying with the LGBTQ community, maybe there should be a push, you know, just a thought that maybe programs should discuss that or have that available on their website when trainees are looking through because, you know, if you feel comfortable speaking out and identifying yourself, that's great. You know, people will provide you potentially with the resources to talk to other members at your institution and to learn more about the city and the community. But what about for trainees that are still just not very comfortable? I mean, if they don't ask, they may not know. So how do we go about with helping them? I actually asked my program director if you'd be comfortable making an outlist. So I helped create that. And then I made sure they put it on the website, printed it out and put it in the packet when people came to interview. And of course, the outlist included people even outside of internal medicine as well. It just showed like a vision and a culture of support, essentially, like you're mentioning. Yeah, no, 100% agree. I know there's, again, you know, since DI is such a very hot topic in our field, you know, I know a lot of programs now actually have specific programs to recruit underrepresented minorities. But LGBTQ plus is not, you know, often included in those, you know, we don't think about it. It's actually underrepresented minorities, as I just talked about. But, you know, it's actually a lot of time we don't think about it. And we kind of often forget about it. So I totally agree with Nikki. You know, I think that's a great way to do. And I agree with Dr. Gomez. This is something we can probably try as a group, like, you know, try to promote this. So, you know, program director can think about, you know, so they, you know, taking care of the needs of the LGBTQ applicants as well. And now I think, thank you Nikki for brought up the fellowship applicant I'm pretty sure a lot of our audience today on the webinar is maybe going through the same process of fellowship application or maybe residency application. I don't know any of you guys want to share a little bit about your experience and any tips in terms of, you know, were you coming out and how do you know that, you know, how do you know this is LGBTQ friendly program, and how do you, you know, get the program or the city that you're interviewing, you know, especially now we're doing a lot of events virtual, so I think you know it's again it's, it's probably a lot harder in my opinion so I don't know who will like to share a little bit about the experience or the tips for our fellowship applicants. I think one of the big pieces of advice, I'd have having lived all across the country is not to have a, you know, trying not to have preconceived notions about what a particular region of the country, or a particular state is going to be like. If you've never been there. Yes, the interviews are virtual, but you can travel there. If you really are interested in a program, and it's in a state or city that you've never been to. And you have the means or the time to go. Think about doing that. A lot of people I think are very fearful of, particularly the south and the Midwest to a certain extent, and having lived in both of those places I can say that they're really wonderful places to live, and that having lived in places that people thought were going to be, you know, infinitely accommodating friendly, accepting, like the Pacific Northwest, and the Northeast, I found that people can be unfriendly and hateful in those places, just as much as anywhere else. And so we have these ideas, and what's going to be important is, if you can go somewhere talking to people, if you're interviewing at a program. And if you feel comfortable being out, having some conversation or asking the program director, hey, you know, would you be willing to put me in touch with the office of DEI if they haven't already done that. You don't have to say what your specific DEI question is, but if they're interested in you and they want to support you and your success in their program, then they're going to be more than happy to send you that information to connect you, because that's what their job is, is they want to recruit people who are going to be successful, they're going to be happy in their program, and they want to nurture your career. I'll second that as far as preconceived notions and having an open mind with the programs and areas that you might be interested in. Much of your perspective might come from where you are in your own journey of your sexuality, and what you're looking forward to in the next phase of your life. So I was interviewed for a fellowship when I was in a place where I was still kind of exploring where I was, you know, personally, and I wound up in North Carolina, which is in the South, in a place that you might assume may not be a place to flourish and grow and learn about yourself, but I actually met my wife within a year of moving there. And I would say I was a little guarded at first, when I was kind of in my own personal side of life exploring outside of my fellowship, and as I became more comfortable, I was able to connect with my co-fellows and, you know, bring my new partner around, you know, social events, and just kind of gradually merge the two things together at my own pace. And I didn't have any difficulty with that. I think it was a matter of you, me kind of deciding how much I wanted to reveal and being comfortable with myself in doing that, and kind of feeling, meeting people that you trust, and gradually, you know, merging the two things together. So you kind of just have to know where you are in your own journey and help make thoughtful and smart decisions that you're comfortable with. And you may be alone at first, especially if you're moving to a place that you don't have any family or any friends or any connections. What I did was, I learned about Durham, I learned about Chapel Hill, there were a lot of LGBTQ resources and restaurants and clubs and everything, and I spent like a weekend there and had a great time. So you just kind of have to like research your, you know, where you're interested in and trying to see if you can see yourself being comfortable there. I totally, I totally agree, especially for the, as a former Duke trainee, I agree with what Dr. Burrow just shared. And I also echo, you know, what Dr. Newman just shared with that. I think, you know, it's easy to put like a stereotypical, you know, image to any city because, you know, when I told my friend I'm going to move to Houston, a lot of people got very surprised, you know, we all know that Texas has some bad reputation out there right now. But actually, you know, it is, you know, once after I moved here, I learned how it's actually, you know, especially in the Houston area, I grew up in Houston, it's actually very, very liberal. I feel very comfortable. And my new institution is very acceptable for me as a, you know, out game physician here. So, you know, and me and my husband, we, you know, we joined our first pride in Houston and we love it, you know, and then we don't really have any problem in the city here. So the thing, open-minded is important, and I agree with Kira that if you have concern, the best way, although we have all the virtual interview, the best way is probably just flying there and take a look. If you're really interested in the program, and you'll be surprised because a lot of place will be, especially if you are, you know, stay in one region in the country before exploring other places, you know, you will be surprised what you learn. So, if I wanted, maybe we could ask a question about how with patient care, I mean, please chime in. I mean, how have your identities impacted your patient care, your patient's experience and their satisfaction or feedback? Are you out to your established patients, you know, what is your relationship with your patients? So, I would say, I would say for me, how has it affected my patient care? I think it's made me much more conscious of the experiences that my patients have. It's made me more aware of issues in gastroenterology and hepatology that I didn't think about before that are really vital to patient care, and I think allows me to give better patient care and more culturally competent and culturally conscious patient care. Am I out to my patients? I'm not. I have a pride flag on my name badge, so if people look at it, they might say like, oh, okay, I haven't gotten any particular comments about it, but I am not out to my patients because I don't know that me being out to them affects the, is going to affect their care or their opinions of me, along with probably some subconscious, like, worries of not wanting to kind of alienate that patient by saying something like that. If a patient asked in particular about it or commented on it, I think I would say something, but I don't go out of my way to do so. I've had this. Yeah. Oh. No, go ahead. I was going to say, similar to Alex, I'm not per se out to my patients. Some people, whether patients or colleagues, may make assumptions based off of, you know, your appearance or haircut or something like that, but, you know, most often a patient is not going to, you know, ask a direct question like that. I would say that it does come up if you're wearing like a wedding band, a reference to a partner of a certain gender does occur, and in those instances, it's kind of a judgment call on whether or not to correct that person if it's, if I think it's relevant to that particular interaction. I would say in general, just like inquiries to my personal life. I try not to engage too much with, it may not be, it kind of sidetracks the clinical interaction. For instance, asking about my age or something like that occurs, you'll get it outside of fellowship because you look so young, but it's up to you just like how much you really want to reveal to the patient if you think it's relevant or how close you feel with that particular patient and, you know, establishing rapport with them is up to you, but I wouldn't say that I'm like purposefully out to my patients. I've had some patients who have sought me out, even as a fellow, where they wanted to be sure that they were going to have a provider who was LGBT affirming and wasn't particularly people who use a pronoun that differs from what would be assumed based on their sex assigned in the medical record. And a lot of my patients who have sought me out for those reasons say, we wanted, I heard from someone else and what was so important was that they said that when they looked at your notes, you use the correct pronouns. And so that's less about me as an LGBTQ person and more about me providing competent care. But I think that I'm visibly queer and gender non-conforming, so that probably sticks in people's mind, you know, may make people assume that I'm going to be better at those things, even though we all know that being competent and being queer are not the same. But you know, fortunately, I am attentive to people's pronouns in the medical record. That's great to hear. I would say one thing, I have a similar approach to Alex as well. I'm not, you know, intentionally out to all my patients, but if somehow I get to know the patient is also LGBTQ+, I will intently out to them. And all my response is getting is actually very positive. And I think a lot of patients actually when I was out to them, they opened up a little bit more and, you know, and I never really had a bad outcome from that. I mean, I do agree with Alex, you know, I think, you know, I've been talking to some LGBTQ patient, you know, a lot of time when they come into your office, looking for some visual like hint or clue that telling them this is a safe place for them to be out to be themselves. So if you can, you know, I encourage everyone to have like, I like Alex's idea to put a rainbow pin on your badge and stuff like that. And, you know, that just that actually, I think, you know, as a patient, if I come in to see a doctor at the rainbow flag on their white coat, that tells me a lot and I'm pretty sure as a patient, I'll feel more comfortable telling them about my story and everything. So I think that's great. Can I just add something really quick, because it's not been said before. So I do something a little bit different than everyone that's contributed so far, actually go so far as wearing a rainbow lanyard. And I actually started doing this in fellowship, I actually don't even know why. It's probably because I was like, all right, what is there to lose at this point, I've gotten to the ultimate, like, position and fellowship that I want to be in. But more so just that I think it's that I've just really discovered how comfortable I am with myself and completely agree with you guys that it doesn't impact patient care whatsoever in a negative way, at least. However, I can tell you on more occasions than not probably can count it on two hands. When patients are really vulnerable, such as an endoscopy, and you're going to transplant hepatology, when you find somebody in the pre-op area, and you're consenting them, and they're scared, they're nervous, they didn't sleep all night because they were doing their bowel prep. And they see that you have a rainbow lanyard, and they're also gay or lesbian or transgender. I've had multiple patients look at me now and say, thank you for being there for me. And I trust you. I may not have even been the person to do their procedure. I'm just consenting them and just helping the team out. But that alone was enough for me to say, OK, I'm going to continue doing this. And yeah, you'll get the occasional person who doesn't necessarily agree with my social lifestyle. But I think the positives just far outweigh those negative experiences, which are far and few between, even in Virginia. I do have a question. I think we talked a little bit about the last year during our seminar. And I want to hear to our what our panelists this year will think. And it's also, since we just have that Spring Bowing Gastric Group officially established this year, to what extent do you believe that we, as queer medical providers, have a responsibility to serve LGBTQA plus community? I think that we, as physicians, have an obligation to give back to our communities, whether that's where we live or whether that's the queer community, whether that's a racial or ethnic community that we're from. I think that we, sure, we all live our own lives. It's sort of a very American thought is like the only person who you really have to satisfy is yourself. But we all do better when we connect with those who have helped us and those who have supported us. And so on some level, I do think that physicians, LGBTQ physicians, have an obligation to the queer community. Yeah, I feel the same way, and I think, you know, it's easier, much easier for us to understand the need of LGBTQ, you know, because all of us probably have been patients at some point. So, you know, we kind of know what's the need for LGBTQ patients. Like, I remember there's one time I was on the GI service. I have a patient that come in with lower GI bleeding and after, you know, he was he was actually he was he is a gay man and he was using some personal toys and then and then having some anus bleeding afterwards. And he felt so bad and guilty. And, you know, and then and then I have as a gay as a gay physician, I, you know, I soon realized why, you know, I think it's much more easier for me to understand why he felt like that. And I think I have I know a little bit better how to how to tell him what's happening. And it's, you know, and stuff like that. So I do think I do think we do have that responsibility. And it's just also we probably know more their needs as well. And and I totally believe I totally agree with Kira about, you know, giving back to to the community. And the other thing I think I'm I'm very excited that we are forming this group now is because, you know, I was, you know, during our when I was a trainees, I I wish we can have this group because I have so many questions I want to ask. I have so many experience and I want to share. But, you know, and I and there's really nothing like this before. So, you know, I'm glad that we are forming this group and hopefully it can provide resources to the to the trainees and providers that are needing any advice and mentorship and help as well. What are your thoughts on the inclusion of your identity in the personal statement? Mostly, if that proves a point of resilience or courage of coming out, do you think this would negatively impact chances of getting interviews in certain places? Good question. I can take that one. So I think for residency, when I applied, I definitely did that. And I think the reason what my thought process was, you know, it's not as hard to get into residency. It's a well-known fact, internal medicine residency. And it really defined kind of the reasons why I chose internal medicine, which obviously we don't have to get into right now. But then when I applied for G.I. Fellowship, I think it's also unfortunately a well-known fact that it's a little bit more conservative given its procedural nature. And so I chose to leave it out both the first time and the second time when I applied. So even as a re-applicant, I really didn't think it would contribute at all to resilience for me. Then everyone's story is different. So I just want to not make this like a blanket statement. If for you, you feel like it really played a role in why you want to become a gastroenterologist or contributes to sort of the research you did, then certainly I think it's important to include. But if you're maybe just saying it to show your resilience, you can definitely show it in other ways. And I'll just leave it at that. Yeah, Nikki, I tend to I tend to agree with you, I think ultimately when it comes to personal statements, it comes down to ultimately people want to know why you're passionate about what you're passionate about. And if you're LGBTQ plus identity is important to that, then also like definitely include it. Like I said, at least on the job market, like it is all over my cover letter for that. Having said that, I think including it just for the sake of including it or because it's an important part of your personal life, I don't know that that would have as much of an impact. The one thing that I will say, if you do include it and you don't get an interview in some places, I might argue that like maybe that's not a place that really wants you in a place that you really should end up. I think ultimately I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason. And if that is a huge part of your identity and it's important to show why that's why you went into internal medicine or gastroenterology and a place doesn't offer you an interview, well, you know what? Good riddance for that. And you're going to end up at a much better place. I'll say welcome back. We're talking about, you know, sorry, I called you out every time you were showing off your face. Any thoughts on the inclusion of your identity in the personal statement when applying for residency and fellowship? Any thoughts on that? I turn on my camera just to participate in support. I'm not a panelist, so I don't want to steal anyone's thunder, but I mean, honestly, what Nikki and Alex said, I couldn't have said better. I mean, I agree wholeheartedly and that's exactly what I was thinking, too. This one is how would you suggest a medical student go about finding a mentor to guide them through navigating the residency and fellowship application process with internal medicine and GI hepatology? I'm assuming this is pertaining to a mentor within the LGBTQ plus community. Is that I think maybe what the question may be geared towards? Honestly, I would say don't try to hold your breath because there are not that many out people in GI and hepatology, and so if you happen to know someone and connect with someone at your institution or through Rainbows and Gastro or in some other way, wonderful, but it's also totally fine to have mentors and, you know, folks who are supporting you who are either not in GI and hepatology or who don't identify as LGBTQ. And so you can get a lot of good advice from someone who at least is listening to you and reflectively thinking about what would be best for your situation. If it's really important for you to connect with someone, though, who is in GI and is LGBTQ, I think Rainbows and Gastro is your best bet unless you happen to know someone already at your institution. And this is the announcer, can you just remind everybody on Twitter what the handle is for Rainbows and GI? Is it simply at Rainbows and GI? It is, it is Rainbow and Gastro, at Rainbow and Gastro, no S, because we are out of character. So it's Rainbow and Gastro. I'd also like to just say we are all, I think, friendly people and are happy to help in any way we can. We have the Rainbows and Gastro email and you can feel free to you can feel free to email the Gmail and we're happy to help. And our personal email addresses are all with with all the board members. So we can point you out into the right direction. Exactly. And yeah, and you can DM us and a lot of us on Twitter as well. So if you want to, I think most of us have a message function open. And then if you want to reach out to any one of us, I think we'll be more than happy to help you out. I would like to, again, I would like to thank you, everyone. I would like to thank you, our co-moderator, Dr. Gomez and all of our panelists and our special guest, Austin, today to join this first ASG Rainbow and Gastro event. He literally got pulled by me like today when you come showing up into my office. So, well, thank you, everyone. And thank you, everyone, that listening. And, you know, we really appreciate that you join us in this first event. I want to give some special shout out to Dr. Dawn, who have done a lot of communication and also our wonderful ASG staff and colleagues. You know, we we put all this work together in a very short period of time. So really, really thank all the support from the ASG committee and Dr. Gomez and DI group and Michelle and all the staff from the ASG. Thank you for giving us. We are a very new group organization, so we appreciate to have the opportunity to work with such a well-established, prestigious professional group to having this webinar provide more information to our trainees that's interested in GI hepatology. So thank you again, everyone, for coming today to our webinar. And I echo those comments. And just one more comment that, you know, for the audience that's interested, if there are any particular topics of interest that you would like to see in future webinars, please email at the email address shown here so that we can put together more webinars throughout the year. So thank you for your interest. So thank you, Drs. Gomez and Lee and to all of our panelists and to you, our audience. In closing, we want to just thank you for your participation in this discussion on tips for a career in gastroenterology and hepatology for LGBTQ+. A recording of this presentation and supplemental materials will be available in about a week in GI LEAP, ASG's online learning platform system. Rainbows in Gastro and ASGE look forward to hearing from you. Please reach out if you are looking for resources or have any questions or ideas regarding LGBTQ plus matters. This concludes our presentation. We hope this information is useful to you and your practice.

gastroenterology

hepatology

LGBTQ+

Rainbows and Gastro

medical field

residency application process

LGBTQ+ mentors

inclusive healthcare

support