A Council of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)
2009-2010 Executive Board
July 15, 2009
To osteopathic medical students,
The Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP) is in support of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, &
Transgender Medical Education Assessment (LGBT-MEA) research project being performed by the Stanford
University School of Medicine. COGSP encourages each osteopathic medical student to participate in this project by
completing a survey at the follow website: http://med.stanford.edu/lgbt/lgbtmea/
The LGBT-MEA project aims to:
1. Assess the breadth and depth of medical education with respect to caring for LGBT individuals.
2. Develop practical tools to evaluate and improve the cultural competency within US medical school curricula.
Recent evidence suggests that members of the LGBT community are at disproportionately higher risk for many medical
and mental health conditions. COSGP supports efforts to ascribe sustained medical and mental health parity to all
minority and underserved populations including those of the LGBT community.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, COSGP formally addressed this issue on behalf of osteopathic medical students
requesting that osteopathic curriculum address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender related health care issues by
encouraging its integration into the existing cultural competency curriculum throughout the continuum of osteopathic
medical education. We feel that this research project helps to address this issue by aiding osteopathic medical schools in
the development of tools that medical schools can use to evaluate and improve their curricula outside of accreditation
standards.
COSGP will continue to monitor and pursue LGBT education and health disparity issues. Please join us in expanding
upon the existing knowledge base and participate in this survey.
Comments and suggestions should be directed the Stanford University School of Medicine LGBT-MERG at
lgbt@med.stanfo