UCSF hosts Bay Area Lesbian Health Conference

By Maureen McInaney

The 2nd annual Lesbian Health Research Conference, to be held at UCSF in conjunction with San Francisco’s LGBT Pride Week Celebrations, will convene Bay Area community leaders to focus on understanding and eliminating barriers faced by lesbians, especially lesbians of color.

“Studies on and about lesbians have sampled primarily the easy to reach folks, lesbians who are well-educated, ‘out,’ white and on average 35 years old. In this conference, we will involve many community members, clinicians, and researchers in creating a community-focused research agenda for the UCSF Center for Lesbian Health Research,” said Suzanne Dibble, RN, DNSc, co-director of the Center.

“One of the biggest problems is that the lesbian healthcare community has not studied lesbians of color, ” said Trinity Ordona, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow in the UCSF Institute for Health and Aging. Ordona, along with Maria Cora, MA, coordinator of the Office of Women’s Health in the San Francisco Department of Public Health, will give a plenary address on the health disparities of lesbians of color.

DATE:  June 29, 2002
TIME: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
PLACE: UCSF Laurel Heights Conference Center
  3333 California Ave. @ Presidio Ave, SF
CONTACT: For program information call (415) 861-1637
  Visit: www.lesbianhealthinfo.org

Additional sessions/workshops include:
· The 2002 report on the state of lesbian health with key findings and issues in lesbian health research over the past twelve months.
· Physical activity, nutrition and weight management:  challenges facing the lesbian community
· Bi, queer and questioning girls and young women
· Healthy Aging after sixty
· Cultural differences in coming out and family acceptance
· Lesbian parenting
· Not your usual Western medicine (complementary therapies)
· Shades of blue: looking into the causes and cures of lesbian depression.

Media interested in covering the conference or developing a story about lesbian health should contact Maureen McInaney in the UCSF News Services office (415) 476-2557 or Betty Sullivan at 415-861-1637.