Vanderbilt Pride in Medicine
For our first chapter showcase, we would like to draw attention to Vanderbilt Pride in Medicine, our affiliate chapter at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
Vanderbilt Pride in Medicine has three core missions: creating a social space for Vanderbilt medical students, improving both the quantity and quality of LGBTQ+ health education within the medical school curriculum, and advocating for LGBTQ+ health causes within both the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville communities.
Aside from regularly scheduled social events, the organization runs a buddy program that pairs medical students, residents, faculty, and university/medical center staff with each other every month to help make connections between members of the LGBTQ+ community across Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt Pride in Medicine Co-Presidents for the 2023-2024 year at the annual welcome event.
Left to right: Emily Wooder, Anna Matthews, and Drew Kittleson
As a part of the interview experience, every interviewee at Vanderbilt School of Medicine is offered the opportunity to speak with a student member of Pride in Medicine. This provides prospective students with access to candid answers about LGBTQ+ life both at Vanderbilt and in Tennessee.
The chapter has left a mark on the Vanderbilt curriculum, such as assisting in the development of a case-based learning case focusing on gender affirming medicine, creating materials for taking an affirming gender/sexual history, contributing to the development of a new sexual medicine integrated science course, and leading a session of the first-year Physical Diagnosis course on LGBTQ+ health.
Partnering with Students of Stonewall, a program that trains motivated Tennessee high school students in LGBTQ+ advocacy, Pride in Medicine members facilitate a LGBTQ+ youth health educational session as a part of the pediatrics clerkship curriculum. After a brief lecture by adolescent medicine faculty focusing on terminology and options for identity-affirming care, clerkship students are given a safe space to speak with and ask questions of the Students of Stonewall themselves. Through this collaboration, medical students have the opportunity to learn from the first-hand experiences of gender and sexual minority youth.
Vanderbilt Pride in Medicine’s work does not stop at the medical school either – they also work with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Program for LGBTQ Health and local organizations in Nashville to advocate for LGBTQ+ patients and community members. Medical students have tabled with medical center staff at Nashville Pride, assisted in blood pressure screenings at community health fairs, and have returned to Students of Stonewall to answer questions about pursuing careers in medicine.
We at MSPA National are so proud about everything our member chapters are doing and we hope that this post may have inspired your chapter. Want us to feature your chapter? Email us at marketing@medpride.org with the subject line “Chapter Showcase Nomination” with a summary of notable chapter accomplishments or a draft showcase post (submission guidelines) to nominate your chapter!