A growing body of literature has started to document the growing health disparities and inequities impacting transgender and gender-diverse youth with a focus on identifying root causes. In particular, researchers have documented the disproportionate impact of psychosocial conditions, HIV infection, substance use, depression and anxiety, suicidal ideation, and interpersonal physical and sexual abuse among transgender and gender-diverse youth. Several social and structural conditions continue to drive these disparities and inequities including stigma, discrimination, victimization, structural violence, gender-based oppression, access to a quality education, and housing instability. Addressing these conditions and protecting against these risk factors must be made a priority in order to advance gender-affirming care. This symposium will provide recommendations to advance research and clinical practice that centers transgender and gender-diverse youth. Our recommendations include integration of legal services (e.g., name change clinics) and microeconomic strategies (e.g., emergency assistance) into programming. New technologies and online networks should also be leveraged to facilitate behavioral change and increased engagement in both prevention and care.

Omar Martínez

University of Central Florida. United States

Omar Martinez, JD, MPH, MS is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. His research integrates public health, medicine, law, social work, and human sexuality perspectives to create interdisciplinary strategies that address health disparities among sexual and gender minorities in the U.S. and abroad.
His experiences include the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs and interventions to address the health disparities affecting underserved populations, including Trans Equity Research Project, a peer-led, group-based HIV prevention and care intervention for men and women of trans experience; HoMBReS, a best-evidence community-level intervention HIV prevention intervention for self-identified heterosexual Latinxs; Connect n’ Unite, a couple-based behavioral HIV prevention intervention for Black men who have sex with men; and Connecting Latinxs en Parejas, a couple-based HIV prevention and care intervention for Latinx men who have sex with men.
He is currently leading an NIH-funded study developing a Medical Legal Partnership-comprehensive HIV care diffusion model to improve HIV care continuum outcomes among people living with HIV. Mr. Martinez is also committed to training the next generation of behavioral researchers. He currently serves as a consultant to the HIV Intervention Science Training Program for Underrepresented New Investigators at Columbia University.