Medical students honored for hosting LGBT conference

A team of UCI medical students led by sophomore Soe Thein has received the 2016 LGBT Health Achievement Award from the American Medical Student Association. The group, which also included students from UCLA and USC, was honored for hosting the Southern California LGBT Health Conference, which was held Feb. 20 in UCI’s Medical Education Building. The event raised awareness of LGBT communities in Southern California and provided a forum for the discussion of new trends in LGBT healthcare issues. More than 250 students attended the conference. Thein said he’s excited by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants. “There is a clear need to train competent and compassionate healthcare practitioners to address systemic issues of healthcare disparities affecting LGBT communities,” he said. “Through the success of our conference, other medical schools throughout the country have been inspired to hold similar ones that focus on LGBT health issues. So this has been great.” His team received the award at AMSA’s annual convention on March 31 in Washington, D.C.