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Greetings, During the third week in February, the University of Louisville School of Medicine will host a week of activities emphasizing the value of respect and the importance that diversity plays in medicine. The intention of this week is to give medical students exposure to different groups of people that make up the Louisville medical community as well as the community at large. The week will start Monday with a presentation by the executive director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice, Mr. Al Herring. Wednesday’s program will include a patient and physician panel to answer questions about how human rights issues have shaped their experiences with medicine. Vice-Chairperson Mike Handley of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance Board of Directors will be among the panel to speak specifically of the issues that members of the LGBT community have with obtaining healthcare, and that LGBT health providers have professionally. The week will close with Friday’s program, a presentation by the head of LGBT services at the University of Louisville, Brian Buford, and the director of the University of Louisville Cultural Center Michael Anthony. This lunch time workshop is intended to teach medical students methods for discussing topics that are perceived to be difficult such as race or sexual orientation. The students of the school of medicine will end the week having been exposed to a healthy sampling of the diverse individuals that make up the Louisville community and have new communication tools to employ in their future practices. You can help us in this endeavor by sending KFA an email telling your experiences with medical professionals that are proactively supportive of the LGBT community and/or sadly unsupportive. Please email your experiences and/or recommendations. You can indicate that you do not wish for your name to be included if the story is shared. Questions regarding these events next week at the University of Louisville School of Medicine should be directed to U of L Vice President of Health Sciences for Human Rights, Maurine Williams. Questions regarding KFA's involvement should be directed to Vice-Chairperson Mike Handley. In
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