Sixth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations: Main Conference Concurrent Workshops Roundtable Discussion: What Is Culturally Competent Health Care for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community?
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C-5 Integrating LGBT issues into the cultural competence agenda

Roundtable Discussion: What Is Culturally Competent Health Care for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008: 2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Minn Marriott, 6th Floor - St. Croix II
This roundtable discussion will provide an overview of cultural competency issues related to barriers to health care  faced by members of the LGBT community.  The panelists will present background information about the range of challenges that confront LGBT patients and ways to address the health needs of the LGBT community.  The session will then be opened up for a broader discussion for participants to identify additional issues and to explore what culturally competent health care for this population might look like.

Presentation Information:

Program: Main Conference Concurrent Workshops


Doreena Wong, JD , National Health Law Program, Los Angeles, CA
    Staff Attorney
    National Health Law Program
    2639 S. La Cienega Blvd.
    Los Angeles CA, USA 90034

    Phone: 310-204-6010
    Fax: 310-204-0891
    Email Address: wong@healthlaw.org

    Biographical Sketch:     Doreena Wong is a staff attorney at the National Health Law Program ("NHeLP"), which is a national public interest law firm working to increase and improve access to quality health care on behalf of limited income people by providing legal analysis and representation, information, education, and policy advocacy. She provides support to the Health Consumer Alliance, a partnership of consumer assistance programs operated by community-based legal services organizations whose purpose is to help low-income people obtain essential health care. She places a special focus on increasing the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services for immigrants and limited-English proficient populations. She has served on various advisory bodies and task forces, including the Office of Minority Health=s National Advisory Committee for the Development of Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care and California=s Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists. She is currently one of the co-chairs of the Policy and Research Committee and on the Board of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, and serves on the Advisory Committee of the California Health Care Safety Net Institute’s Language Access Advisory Committee, the Advisory Group of the National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations, and the Department of Health Services’ Task Force on Medi-Cal Language Access Services. Before coming to NHeLP, she worked in the area of civil rights for a number of public interest organizations including the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, CA, the ACLU of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C., and a Los Angeles civil rights firm specializing in enforcement of consent decrees in race discrimination cases. She graduated from New York University School of Law in 1987 as a second career after having worked as a health care professional for nine years.
Joel Ginsberg, JD, MBA , Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), San Francisco, CA
    Executive Director
    Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA)
    459 Fulton Street, Suite 107
    San Francisco CA, USA 94102

    Phone: 415-255-4547
    Fax: 415-255-4784
    Email Address: jginsberg@glma.org

    Biographical Sketch:     Joel Ginsberg, JD, MBA is the Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). Ginsberg has broad experience in management, public policy, and law. He currently co-chairs the Advocacy and Policy Committee of the Commission to End Health Disparities and serves ex-officio on its Steering Committee. The Commission comprises more than 50 medical societies working to eliminate healthcare disparities based in race and ethnicity. Ginsberg also serves as Vice-President of Access Institute for Psychological Services, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco that provides low-cost mental health services to the community through a supervised training program for mental health professionals. Before joining GLMA in 2003, Ginsberg worked as a management consultant and held several appointed positions within the Clinton Administration. He also served as a Fellow in the Health Office of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), where he worked on the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Ryan White CARE Act. Before entering public service, Ginsberg practiced law for four years. He earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law and his MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Chicago.
Jennifer Pizer, Esq , Lambda Legal, Los Angeles, CA
    Senior Counsel
    Lambda Legal
    3325 Wilshire Blvd.
    Los Angeles CA, USA 90010-1729

    Phone: 213-382-7600, x. 223
    Fax: 213-351-6050
    Email Address: jpizer@lambdalegal.org

    Biographical Sketch:     Jennifer Pizer is Senior Counsel for Lambda Legal, the nation’s premiere legal advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement. Based in Los Angeles, Pizer litigates cases and does policy advocacy to advance LGBT family protections and to end discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. Pizer was co-counsel in In re Marriage Cases, in which the California Supreme Court held it is unconstitutional to deny gay and lesbian couples the equal right to marry. She also specializes in challenging health care provider bias, discriminatory health plans and insurance policies, and other health-related legal needs of LGBT people. She currently represents Guadalupe Benitez before the California Supreme Court against physicians who refused her a common infertility treatment because she is a lesbian based on their anti-gay religious beliefs. The high court is expected to rule in August 2008 on whether doctors have a constitutionally protected religious right to violate state anti-discrimination laws. Pizer is a frequent speaker on the importance of increasing culturally competent care for LGBT patients, including in medical schools and CME programs. A graduate of NYU School of Law and Harvard College, Pizer is an adjunct professor at USC Law School and Loyola Law School.
Shane Snowdon , University of California, San Francisco
    LGBTI Resources Director
    University of California, San Francisco

    Phone: Unknown
    Email Address: SSnowdon@genderequity.UCSF.EDU

    Biographical Sketch:     Shane Snowdon is LGBTI Resources Director for the University of California (UC), based at UCSF, the UC system's graduate health sciences campus and the Bay Area's largest health care provider. Since 1999, Snowdon has worked with UC's medical schools and health centers statewide to institute LGBTI-sensitive policies and practices, including leading the successful efforts to secure domestic partner health benefits and transgender health coverage for UC's 100,000+ employees. This work has earned her the UCSF Chancellor's Award for Exceptional University Service, appointment as a Management Fellow at the UC Office of the President (with responsibility for LGBTI issues systemwide), and election as Chair of the UC LGBTI Association of students, staff, and faculty. Snowden is deeply involved in the LGBT health movement. She has delivered countless trainings and keynotes, designed curricula, consulted extensively and convened conferences of all sizes on LGBTI issues for community advocacy and service groups, graduate health schools, health care providers, medical groups, employer groups and insurers nationwide. Before coming to UCSF, Snowdon was Director of the Women's Center at UC Santa Cruz. Before that, she was Executive Director of a national women's health group, an urban domestic violence agency, a regional environmental education and advocacy center, and a community development organization.
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