Dear colleagues,

Please find the latest newsletter below. With this newsletter, I would like to draw special attention to the section's call for abstracts for EPH 2023 in Dublin this year.

Newsletter February 2023

1. Call for Abstracts: EPH 2023 in Dublin
2. New Vice President and Steering Group Members
3. New Landmark Publication in NEJM
4. European Public Health Week 2023

1. Call for Abstracts: 2023 European Public Health Conference in Dublin

The EUPHA section on Sexual & Gender Minority Health would like to encourage all members to submit new and relevant work on LGBTQI+ health as abstracts for the EPH Conference in Dublin (November 2023) to the section leadership, prior to the general submission deadline.

As in previous years, the section aims to draft several workshop proposals (including 4-6 individual presentations) focusing on sexual and gender minority health (SGMH) and submit these proposals on behalf of the section. If you are interested in joining a section-initiated workshop proposal, you are invited to send an abstract to the section leadership first. The section’s steering group will then review and organize the abstracts into thematic draft proposals. More information about abstract formatting and general submission can be found on the European Public Health Conference website: https://ephconference.eu/abstract-submission-10

All contributions that are related to SGMH are welcomed. We further encourage, but do not limit to, abstracts of work that are related to the following themes:

• Training and education of healthcare providers on LGBTQI+ health
• Gender-affirming health care and rapidly changing political climates
• Intersectional approaches to LGBTQI+ health
• Intracommunity stress – within-group discrimination and stress
• Resiliency & LGBTQI+ health prevention and promotion
• SOGIE status and neurodiversity

Please send your abstract to Dr. Van der Star (avanderstar [@] sdsu.edu) and Dr. Lovro Markovic (lovro.markovic [@] pm.me) by March 31^st, 2023. 

NB: If you decide to send your abstract to the section, please do not also submit the abstract using the official submission system of the EPH Conference. We will notify you whether your abstract is selected as part of a workshop proposal ahead of time. In this way, there will be ample time to submit your contribution as an individual abstracts before May 1^st.  All proposed workshops and individual abstracts will have to be scored by the EPH International Scientific Committee before a decision will be made on whether contributions are accepted as part of the conference program.

2. New Vice President and Steering Group Members

Late last year, the section appointed a new section vice president, Dr. Lovro Markovic. The section also welcomed three new members to the steering group; Dr. Corina Lelutiu-Weinberger (USA), Prof. Nigel Sherriff (UK), and Dr. Massimo Mirandola (Italy). Incumbent members include Dr. Igor Grabovac (Austria), Dr. Amets Suess Schwend (Spain), Dr. David Doyle (Netherlands/UK), Dr. Chris Noone (Ireland), Dr. Kristefer Stojanovski (USA), and Dr. Richard Bränström (Past President; Sweden).

3. New Landmark Publication in NEJM

In a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers linked increases in appearance congruence with concurrent increases in positive affect and life satisfaction and decreases in depression and anxiety symptoms in a large sample of transgender and non-binary youth and young adults, followed over a period of two years after initiating gender-affirming hormone treatment. These important results show scientific support for how gender-affirming hormone treatment considerably improves the psychological wellbeing of gender minority youth and young adults seeking such healthcare services. Read more here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2206297

4. European Public Health Week 2023

This year, EUPHA is organizing the European Public Health Week (EUPHW) from May 22-26, 2023. With the EUPHW, EUPHA aims to raise awareness on public health and promote collaboration among the public health community in Europe. The EUPHW centers around this year’s five daily themes (follow the links to find out more):  

• Monday May 22 - Mental health for all
• Tuesday May 23 - Diversity in health
• Wednesday May 24 - Access to care
• Thursday May 25 - Prevention and control of chronic diseases
• Friday May 26 - Global health emergencies and response

In case you are considering getting involved, please reach out to Dr. Van der Star (avanderstar [@] sdsu.edu) and Dr. Lovro Markovic (lovro.markovic [@] pm.me). We are particularly looking for ideas and collaborators for Tuesday (Diversity in health), but the section may also get involved on Monday (e.g., LGBTQI+ mental health) or Wednesday (e.g., access to gender-affirming health care).

Best regards,

Arjan van der Star, Ph.D., M.Sc.
Section President
EUPHA-SGMH

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