LGBTQ+ Healthcare

Dr Michael Brady was appointed as the National Advisor for LGBT Health at NHS England in April 2019. In this role Michael works across NHSE with the Government Equalities Office and a wide range of stakeholders, partner organisations and the LGBT community to address health inequalities for LGBT individuals and improve experience in the NHS.

Dr Michael Brady joined Terrence Higgins Trust as a Trustee in 2004 and became the organisation’s first Medical Director in 2007. Michael is also a sexual health and HIV consultant at King’s College Hospital, where he is the clinical lead for sexual health services. Michael has also worked on specific projects in an advisory capacity for BHIVA, BASHH, the RCP, NHS England and the Department of Health.

Elsa Le Pennec is a Human Rights Officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Elsa works in the Women’s Human Rights and Gender Section under Thematic Engagement for the Special Procedures and Right to Development Division. 

She has been coordinating the work on the human rights of LGBTI people since September 2019. Prior to this assignment, Elsa worked for 15 years as a human rights officer in the context of complex humanitarian settings in peace operations and with OHCHR country offices in Sudan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Haiti, Mali and Panama and with the OHCHR Syria office.

Elizabeth McDermott is a Professor of Health Inequality in the Faculty of Health & Medicine at Lancaster University. She is a public health specialist in young people’s mental health. Her research is focussed upon explaining why there are inequalities in young people’s mental health, and unravelling the mechanisms by which poor mental health is distributed unfairly across the adolescent and young adult population. Over the last two decades this research has concentrated on understanding why LGBTQ+ young people have elevated rates of poor mental health. 

As Chief Investigator, she has completed numerous studies investigating LGBTQ+ youth mental health and advises various UK Government departments on national policies which attempt to tackle this inequality. Her book titled: ‘Queer Youth, Suicide and Self-Harm: Troubled Subjects, Troubling Norms’ (Palgrave Macmillan) was published in 2016. She is currently leading a 3 year UK national study funded by the NIHR which identifies and evaluates early intervention mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth.