Your support of the Childrenʼs Fund is helping a physician-researcher bring visibility and understanding to the sexual and reproductive health needs of LGBTQ+ people.
The Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) uses your Children’s Fund gifts to support pilot grants in Community Engaged Research to Promote Health Equity. Juno Obedin-Maliver, MD, MPH, MAS, FACOG, an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Stanford School of Medicine, received a grant to study the challenges that individuals who are in the LGBTQ+ community face when trying to start a family.
“It is so important for us to gather scientific data about the experiences that all people have as they seek medical care related to pregnancy,” Dr. Obedin-Maliver says. “That is how we push toward more inclusive, evidence-based, and comprehensive care for our patients.”
Dr. Obedin-Maliver, whose passion is promoting the health, well-being, and equity of LGBTQ+ people, says philanthropy plays an important role in propelling research like hers forward.
“Although almost 7 percent of the U.S. population is LGBTQ+, and many are parents, there is very little research on how LGBTQ+ people build families and the associated health challenges,” she says. “Philanthropy allows us to make advances for those who would otherwise remain understudied and vulnerable to poor health. We are literally charting new domains of knowledge and service.”
Thank you for your support of vital research like Dr. Obedin-Maliverʼs!
This story originally appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of the Children’s Fund Update.