Plenaries announced for LGBTI Health Summit

Organizers of the 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit announced that, in collaboration with the Bisexual Health Summit, five lunch time plenaries will serve as features of the Summit. The plenaries include a keynote by Cheryl Dobinson on bisexual health disparities (during the Bisexual Health Summit), a national conversation among gay mayors and LGBT liaisons from around the country, a discussion on the present and future sustainability of LGBTI health movement building, “Count Us In! How and Why To Include LGBTIs in Data Collection” a talk on LGBTI-inclusive research, and “Elder Sexual: HIV and Aging,” a dialogue on the issues of HIV and aging. The plenaries are sponsored by the Adler School of Professional Psychology, Roosevelt University, and Tibotec.

“The plenary topics illustrate many of the pressing issues in LGBTI health,” said Catherine Jefcoat, Director of the Lesbian Community Care Project at Howard Brown Health Center and a co-chair of National LGBTI Health Summit. “These four topics reflect the comprehensive nature of the Summit. We hope to use the plenaries as a catalyst for conversation and vision-setting.”

The Summit begins the morning of Friday, August 14 with a day devoted specifically to Bisexual Health and the needs, opportunities and challenges of the Bisexual Community. Saturday, August 15 kicks off the full LGBTI Health Summit which continues through Tuesday, August 18.

The full topic workshop schedule is posted on the website.


Philadelphia hosted the last National LGBTI Health Summit in 2007. This year’s Summit in Chicago – at the Chicago Hilton and Towers – will be the fourth gathering of its kind. Sponsors include Center on Halsted, Test Positive Aware Network, Chicago Hilton Hotel and Towers, the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Office of LGBT Health, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Howard Brown Health Center, Adler School of Psychology, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and Sidetrack among others. Organizers may be contacted through the Summit website www.2009lgbtihealth.org.