THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The organizer of the conference is Cynthia Tucker, vice-president of prevention and community partnerships at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago ( AFC ). Tucker is also a member of CAHISC's advisory board.

Tucker explained that she created the conference in order to gather more data on STI and HIV rates within the transgender community. She noted that the Primary Prevention Early Intervention Committee is tasked with making recommendations about funding priorities and any gaps in services, however, since there's a limited amount of information on STI and HIV rates in the transgender community due to a lack of research and data collection it's been hard to pinpoint what those recommendations should be and this conference is a way to alleviate some of these gaps.

"The idea behind this conference is to get a wealth of real time data and information out to the public in a short amount of time that will help us to make sure that the City of Chicago has enough services and is doing everything they can to serve Chicago's transgender population," said Tucker. "I think a lot of the challenges and barriers to getting this data and information is the fact that transgender people lack access to trans affirming health care."

The panel will feature remarks by Dr. Margo Bell ( inpatient pediatric director John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County specializing in Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine Pediatrics ), Dr. Robert Garofalo ( division head—Adolescent Medicine, professor of Pediatrics—Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, director—Center for Gender, Sexuality and HIV Prevention, Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute ), Lisa Kuhns, PhD. ( research assistant professor of Pediatrics—Adolescent Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine ), Helena Bushong ( activist and trans woman living with HIV ) and Beverly Ross ( trans woman and Youth Expert Advisory Board facilitator for AFC's Project Elevate ).

Conference sponsors include AFC, the Chicago Department of Public Health, Cook County Health and Hospitals System, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and CAHISC.

To RSVP for the free conference, visit www.aidschicago.org/transformations. Lunch will also be provided to all attendees.