VIDEO: LGBTQ+ mentorship key to help medical trainees be comfortably ‘out,’ GI fellow says
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In this video, Nikki Duong, MD, a gastroenterology fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University, shares his experience being “out” in the medical field and what he feels is necessary to create a more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ trainees.
Duong noted that within medicine there is a lack of LGBTQ+ trainees — and even fewer go into gastroenterology and hepatology. But that could change if there was a greater focus within the profession on building allyship, raising awareness among GI leaders, intentionally recruiting LGBTQ+ individuals and mentorship.
“There are truly just not enough leaders in our specialty that ‘look like us,’” Duong said. “Personally, I’ve been very fortunate every step of the way of my training to have had gay mentors, and not all of them have been gastroenterologists and hepatologists.
“But I think just having people you can look up to and relate to and say, ‘Hey, I want to be like that person one day. I can see myself following in their footsteps.’ It is extremely important, and it’s just really critical in order to retain and recruit.”
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Duong N, et al. Am J Gastroenterol. 2022; doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000001817.
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