HSR Investigators and Staff Win National LGBTQ+ Awards

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April 29, 2024

Congratulations to John R. Blosnich, Taylor L. Boyer, Michelle Hilgeman, and Sarah Wilson for winning VA's LGBTQ+ Health Program research paper awards!

Taylor L. Boyer, MPH, a health science specialist, and John R. Blosnich, PhD, MPH, an investigator, are with HSR's Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP). They received the 2024 Monica Helms and Angela B. Sheedy TGD Research Paper of the Year Award for "Patient Experiences and Provider Perspectives on Accessing Gender-Affirming Surgical Services in the Veterans Health Administration," which explores transgender and gender diverse (TGD) patients' and VA providers' perspectives on Veterans' access to gender-affirming surgery and other gender-affirming medical interventions not offered at VA.

Sarah Wilson, PhD, an investigator with HSR's Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT), and Michelle Hilgeman, PhD, an HSR investigator at the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, received the 2024 Leonard Matlovich LGBQ+ Research Paper of the Year Award for "Rolling out PRIDE in All Who Served: Barriers and Facilitators for Sites Implementing an LGBTQ+ Health Education Group for Military Veterans," which clarifies determinants of implementation and sustainment of VA's PRIDE program. The PRIDE program was developed to improve health equity and access to care for LGBTQ+ Veterans and has led to improved outcomes among participating Veterans. The paper also won ADAPT's COIN Paper of the Year Award.

Both of the award-winning papers were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

LGBTQ+ Veterans can experience increased risk for suicide and other healthcare inequities, due in part to discrimination and barriers to care access. The Monica Helms and Angela B. Sheedy TGD Research Paper of the Year Award is named for Monica Helms, a U.S. Navy Veteran and transgender activist credited with creating the first transgender flag, and Army reservist Veteran Angela B. Sheedy, who joined Helms to create the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA). The Leonard Matlovich LGBQ+ Research Paper of the Year Award was named after the first gay U.S. military service member to purposely out himself to fight the ban on LGBTQ+ individuals serving in the military. This is the inaugural year for the awards.

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