Pitt Pediatrics congratulates Carlos Melendez-Garcia, MD for his recent viewpoint publication in JAMA Pediatrics, titled, “Someone Like Me–The Importance of Visible Sexual and Gender Minority Health Care Professionals.” Melendez-Garcia is a first-year fellow in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics. 
The viewpoint, which was co-written with Robert W. S. Coulter, PhD, MPH, of Pitt’s School of Public Health, focuses on an open discussion about the importance of visibility for sexual and gender minority (SGM) providers. It also calls for greater workplace protections for SGM providers, an improvement to medical school and healthcare curriculum and practices, and for further support of SGM provider work and research.
Drawing on his personal experiences as an SGM provider through medical school, residency, and fellowship training, Melendez-Garcia notes the difficulties of working in an environment where anti-LGBTQ slurs are still commonly used, and the subsequent closeting of SGM providers as a result. He describes how systemic barriers in medicine can make overturning this effect both difficult and exhausting.
Ultimately, Melendez-Garcia argues, more visibility and workplace protections for SGM providers will lead to not only more diverse and equitable environments, but better health outcomes for patients, their families, and providers.
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