CrescentCare – CrescentCare is recognized as a leader in providing culturally and clinically competent care to New Orleans’s LGBTQ community. CrescentCare has been providing high quality, affordable healthcare to people living with HIV/AIDS in New Orleans since its founding as NO/AIDS Task Force in 1983. From its origin as a single phone line responding to HIV/AIDS-related questions, CrescentCare has expanded its services impressively to provide a broad range of care for underserved communities of Greater New Orleans.

More about CrescentCare: CrescentCare began as NO/AIDS Task Force in 1983 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The organization began as a single phone line to answer questions surrounding the outbreak. The program soon expanded services into a hotline, mental health services, case management, meal delivery and primary care services for those living with HIV/AIDS. After the city-wide flooding following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the agency almost did not return. Resources soon enabled its comeback, and the board and leadership explored more long-term solutions for the future of the agency. In 2013, NO/AIDS Task Force expanded its mission as a Federally Qualified Health Center. CrescentCare Community Health Centers provide quality care to individuals, couples and families that seek a “medical home” where they can consistently go for care. CrescentCare is particularly focused on its Greater New Orleans neighbors who come from underserved communities: individuals and families coping with HIV, the service industry, the LGBTQ community and slowly developing neighborhoods. From primary care and pediatrics to behavioral health and preventive services, affordable healthcare resources are always available through CrescentCare. CrescentCare is a multi-community center serving the Greater New Orleans area. This qualification means that the health center meets strict standards and serve everyone according to need, regardless of income or insurance status.

Stephen Goldstone, MD, FACS – Stephen is a pioneer in the field of gay men's health and anal health. His extensive body of work includes countless contributions to anal HPV screening, diagnosis, treatment, and more. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

More about Stephen: Stephen E. Goldstone, MD is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. He attended the State University of NY at Albany and graduated Summa Cum Laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society. He completed a surgery residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine and has a surgical practice in New York City. Stephen has spoken at conferences around the world and has done extensive research on human papillomavirus (HPV). His work has been published in many prestigious medical journals. He has developed techniques to treat anal dysplasia and is currently involved in testing screening, prevention and treatment procedures for HPV. He is immediate past president of the International Anal Neoplasia Society and Past President of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Alumni Board of Governors.

Jessica Halem, MBA – Jessica has been a leader in LGBTQ equity for more than 25 years and is a force for the improvement of LGBTQ medical education and resources at Harvard Medical School. As LGBTQ Outreach and Engagement Director for the school’s Sexual and Gender Minorities Health Equity Initiative, she plays a unique leading role among medical schools around the country.

More about Jessica: Jessica Halem, MBA, is the LGBTQ Outreach and Engagement Director at Harvard Medical School and remains unique in her role among medical schools in the United States. Under her leadership, the first-year class has grown from 4% to 15% self-identified LGBTQ and the faculty and resident OutList has quadrupled in size. Most recently, she helped secure a major grant to overhaul the entire curriculum to integrate sexual and gender minority health equity. Prior to joining Harvard, Jessica ran the Lesbian Community Cancer Project in Chicago where she implemented the nation’s first cultural competency trainings for the CDC, served on then-candidate Obama’s first LGBT Advisory Committee, and fought for the inclusion of transgender health on the national agenda since 2001. Jessica has published on treating transgender patients (AMA Journal of Ethics, 2016), optimism and organizational change (Medical Care, 2018), and mentoring across difference (Mentoring Diverse Leaders, Routledge, 2017). She coaches students, faculty, and administrators on dealing with difficult moments and is a sought-out speaker nationally on issues of workplace diversity and inclusion. She currently serves on the Board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation and can be found on social media at @jessicahalem.

Jessica Landry, DPN, APRIN, FNP-BC, and Todd Tartavoulle, DNS, APRN, CNS-BC – Jessica and Todd are being honored for founding the Advocacy Program, which trains healthcare providers how to communicate and provide culturally sensitive care to LGBTQ patients. The Program has helped participants create affirming healthcare environments through sessions for more than 700 healthcare providers, faculty, and hospital staff both in heart of conservative Louisiana and across the country.

More about the Advocacy Program: The mission of the Advocacy Program is to be leaders in the integration of, inclusion, and equity to ameliorate health inequities and create affirming healthcare environments. The purpose of this program is to promote diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and improve patient outcomes.  The program will begin with self-introductions and then discussion of the health disparities in LGBT+ patients and how healthcare providers can improve outcomes. The activities will begin with a vocabulary match up game where participants will learn important and appropriate LGBT+ terminology to improve patient communication. The participants will also engage in an activity that allows them to create diverse and inclusive work-spaces for staff and patients. The Cass Model (by Dr. Vivien Cass) will be demonstrated so the participants can understand the psychological process of "coming out" and best communication techniques to approach a patient who is in each phase of the model. The participants will also be given an activity that requires them to identify myths and stereotypes bestowed upon LGBT+ patients and how these labels affect their health. The concept of gender fluidity will be discussed and compared to traditional binary views of masculinity and femininity. Participants will be taught how to create a psychologically safe spaces through respectful communication and self-reflection. Most importantly, a guest speaker will be present to share story and answer questions from participants.

The LGBT Health Policy & Practice Program at The George Washington University – The Program is being honored for its innovation in training current and future leaders to develop and apply best practices and shape policy to eliminate disparities and improve health outcomes. The Program is a one-of-a-kind 18-credit interdisciplinary graduate program established by Founding Director Stephen Forssell, PhD.

More about the Program: The LGBT Health Policy & Practice Program is an 18-credit interdisciplinary graduate certificate program established by Founding Director Stephen Forssell, PhD in 2013 at The George Washington University in Washington DC. It is offered in a hybrid online/2 week on-campus residency format. The Program has an applied focus aimed at expanding the capacity of practitioners to offer improved and highly effective services to the LGBT population, improving health outcomes, and closing health disparities.

The Program integrates perspectives and enrolls students from public health, public policy, mental health, social work, nursing and medical science disciplines. The certificate serves as a sub-concentration to those with Masters or Doctoral degrees. It is also sought by post-Baccalaureate students who are either involved in the community through grassroots activism or deciding their next degree pathway. The Program’s hybrid format allows students from across the country and around the world to enroll. Students complete the bulk of the coursework online and participate in two residencies on GW's campus in Washington, DC each year where they attend classes with core faculty, hear presentations from distinguished guest lecturers, and visit with policy professionals and political representatives on Capitol Hill.

The Program is typically completed in one year, though many students opt to finish over 2 years. Coursework includes core classes in Multidisciplinary Health, Mental Health, and LGBT Health Policy; elective courses in Transgender Health, LGBT Youth, Rural LGBT Populations, International LGBT Health Policy, MSM Health and Lesbian Health; and a Capstone project that results in a product or outcome that can be applied in existing community settings. Many of the projects have been implemented on a wider scale or published in academic journals. The Program enrolls up to 15 new students annually. Total active enrollment is limited to 25 students to encourage close, tight-knit professional and personal relationships.

David Malebranche, MD, MPH – David is being recognized for more than 20 years of leadership researching and improving the health and well-being of Black gay, same-gender loving men, and other men who have sex with men in the US. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Medical Director of Student & Employee Health at Morehouse School of Medicine.

More about David: David J. Malebranche, MD, MPH, is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician, researcher, and public health activist with expertise in HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention and treatment, racial disparities research, correctional health, student health, and LGBT health. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Medical Director of Student & Employee Health at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. David is an experienced qualitative HIV behavioral prevention researcher who has completed several studies on sexual health among Black men of diverse sexualities. He has also published over 50 articles in medical/public health journals and is known as a dynamic speaker worldwide. He can be seen on the Greater Than AIDS campaign “Ask the HIV Doc” series on YouTube and is the co-host of the weekly YouTube live series “Revolutionary Health” with the Counter Narrative Project.