2SLGBTQIA+ Community MPact Project

In the past several years, many medical schools have worked to expand their curriculum to include social determinants of health and the biopsychosocial aspects of health care. However, researchers have found that one third of physicians felt uncomfortable caring for a queer patient despite agreeing that 2SLGBTQIA+ patients should receive equal healthcare and closing the training gap will improve patient care.

This grant was used to support two projects that aimed to discuss and disseminate the work of two student-led projects to improve 2SLGBTQIA+ training in medical students. Medical students Dakota MacColl and Morgan Whyte led a case-based learning project and community engagement project to encourage medical schools to assist future physicians in better serving 2SLGBTQIA+ communities:

1. The case-based learning project aimed to enhance critical thinking, communication skills and applications with the biopsychosocial model by following one family throughout time, as opposed to unique, brief vignettes.
2. The community engagement project connected medical students to local clinics focusing on 2SLGBTQIA+ health, culminating in a final project of the students’ choosing (research project, educational pamphlet distributed at a community site, etc.) aiming to advance student skills in the areas of communication, teamwork, community advocacy and research.

Presentations based on this work were delivered at the North Dakota LGBTQIA2S+ Summit on October 11–13, 2024 (Cailean Dakota MacColl and Morgan Whyte were plenary presenters) and SYNChronicity: the National Conference for HIV/HCV/STI, Drug User and LGBTQ Health in Washington, D.C. March 18–20, 2026 (Education Specialist Michael Gendernalik and former medical student Morgan Whyte [now Freyja] were presenters).