Hosted by Kiki Coe from Canada’s Drag Race, the April 22 event featured 10 to 15 physicians, providers and patients.
Third-year medical student Samuel Streicher says, “As medical students, we get very limited training on how to navigate sensitive issues like gender-affirming care and sexual health. By bringing together health-care providers and patients, we aim to provide specific and nuanced advice to future and current health-care professionals.”
Samuel, also uOttawa representative for the Canadian Queer Medical Students Association, is known for combining his identity with an academic and professional interest in ethics, advocacy and a commitment to inclusive care.
He and fourth-year medical student Sami Sabbah felt there was a need to bring speakers together to discuss how care is provided to queer persons and how care is received and perceived by members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
“We wanted to create something that brings lived experiences and clinical perspectives together, so future providers feel more confident delivering care that is genuinely inclusive.”
Sami Sabbah
— Fourth-year medical student
Speakers included specialists in fields such as family medicine, neurology and psychiatry, nurse practitioners, queer community members who’ve received gender-affirming care at the Ottawa Hospital, research technicians, local drag performers and others. They brought their own lived experiences of receiving or providing care.
Speaking after the event, Samuel said he hopes to co-ordinate similar events in the future. “The panellists offered such meaningful words, drawing from their work and personal experience. So many attendees have reached out saying that it was a unique and impactful learning experience.”
The event was aimed at students, particularly undergraduate pre-medical and current medical students, but was open to all.
“This was an opportunity for health-care improvement. Events like these allow future providers to learn directly from the patients we seek to protect and practitioners who already support queer health on a daily basis.”
Samuel Streichter
— Third-year medical student
