Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ilan Meyer
Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D. is Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences and Deputy Chair for Masters of Public Health (MPH) Programs at the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Meyer’s academic background is in social psychology, psychiatric epidemiology, and sociomedical sciences. He focuses on studying public health issues related to minority health. In several highly cited papers, Dr. Meyer has developed a model of minority stress that describes the relationship of social stressors and mental disorders and helps to explain LGBT health disparities. For this work, Dr. Meyer received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from Division 44 of the American Psychological Association. Based on this body of work, in January 2010 he provided expert testimony in a major civil rights case related to the right of gay men and lesbians to marry in the United States (Perry v. Schwartzenegger). Dr. Meyer is co-editor with Mary E. Northridge of The Health of Sexual Minorities: Public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations (published by Springer in 2007). This influential text offers a multidimensional picture of LGBT health, incorporating contributions from across clinical and social science disciplines. Dr. Meyer is the Principal Investigator of “Stress, Identity and Mental Health,” known also as Project Stride, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The study explored the impact of social stress at the intersection of disadvantaged identities related to gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation as they impact mental health.
