December 8, 2020

AMA Foundation Funds Pilot Fellowship Program with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to Address Disparities in LGBTQ+ Health Care

CHICAGO – The American Medical Association Foundation (AMAF) today announced a new collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to underwrite a pilot fellowship program to address health care disparities faced by the LGBTQ+ community. This pilot program is designed to complement the AMAF’s National Fellowship Program, which will release a Request for Proposal (RFP) to U.S. MD and DO educational institutions in early 2021.

Recognizing that training the next generation of physicians requires promoting excellence in LGBTQ+ health as well as advocacy for the unique sets of needs that patients in the LGBTQ+ community face, the Icahn School of Medicine will offer an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Fellowship through its Department of Medicine’s Institute for Advanced Medicine (IAM), that will launch in the 2022 academic year. This pilot fellowship will be led by Michael Gaisa, MD, PhD, Director of the Anal Dysplasia Program at the Mount Sinai Health System. Under Dr. Gaisa’s leadership, the prospective fellow will focus on evidence-based, patient-centered, integrative and culturally competent clinical care, to include social, cultural and mental health.

“The goals of the Mount Sinai LGBTQ+ Healthcare Fellowship are in complete alignment with the AMA Foundation’s National LGBTQ+ Fellowship Program,” said John D. Evans, Chairman of the LGBTQ+ Fellowship Commission. “I am thrilled the AMA Foundation is underwriting this pilot fellowship so that we can learn from Dr. Gaisa and thereby enhance health care for LGBTQ+ patients. This is a unique opportunity to provide the LGBTQ+ Fellowship Commission with vital information to further enrich the RFP process and best practices in LGBTQ+ health care.”

The AMAF will provide one year of grant funding to underwrite the pilot LGBTQ+ Healthcare Fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine with the overarching goal to create a sustainable, ongoing program that supports and advances LGBTQ+ health education, mutually benefiting both the AMAF and Mount Sinai Health System. “We’re grateful and excited to collaborate with the American Medical Association Foundation,” says Dr. Michael Gaisa. “It is our shared vision to reduce disparities and improve quality and accessibility of LGBTQ+ health care across the US through education of physician leaders. Together we’re striving to set national standards for post-graduate education in LGBTQ+ medicine.”

First announced in January 2020, the National LGBTQ+ Fellowship Program at the AMAF is designed to create a pipeline of LGBTQ+ health specialists who are able to serve the health care needs of the LGBTQ+ community while growing the pool of competent instructors who will pass their knowledge to the next generation of LGBTQ+ providers. The LGBTQ+ Fellowship Commission is guiding the national fellowship program inception to ensure the health needs of the LGBTQ+ community are optimally considered throughout the RFP process.

Since 1950, the AMA Foundation has been a leader in health care philanthropy with programs that advance public health and medical education. As the philanthropic arm of the world’s largest physician organization, the AMAF has awarded more than $121 million in grants and scholarships, demonstrating nationwide programmatic excellence.