TransFORWARD - Improving Transgender Lives Research Community Application

Thank YOU for considering this questionnaire! We estimate it will take you between 6 and 8 minutes to complete.

First, a little context to ensure we are on the same page regarding our work.

Our Journey so far
Each journey begins with a first step. We could not have imagined where we would be when we took our first step in November 2015. Our five-course Transgender Health Learning Series was framed by our Houston listening session. Transgender authors and reviewers started our journey. We found our village along the way. A village with dedicated transgender people and parents of trans youth. Clinicians who improve the lives of trans people daily. Researchers who work with trans people and clinicians to conduct and disseminate research improving transgender lives. We’ve traveled from El Paso to Nacogdoches. From Edinburg to Lubbock. Through Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Our village has grown over these months and years. Today, we have been funded by twenty organizations and individuals. Each dollar invested to improve the lives of transgender people and help our village community take the next steps going forward.

Where are we going
Improving lives is a noble calling. Improving the lives of individuals and families in the transgender community is a very noble calling. We have an opportunity to do something no one else can accomplish at our scale. We have a unique opportunity to create a statewide, transgender-focused research community across 254 Texas counties and several counties in New Mexico. Potentially, we can impact the lives of over 200,000 transgender people in our state. We can help transform healthcare by disseminating our research results. It will take everyone we can bring to our research community to make this happen. We will need transgender people who can work with researchers and clinicians in creating patient-centered outcomes research projects. We need clinicians and researchers who will work with trans people and parents of trans youth in developing research that meets the needs of the trans community. We need transgender people to participate in clinical studies where trans people are key stakeholders in the design, implementation, and dissemination of the research. We need each of us to serve as “trusted advocates” and enroll people in our clinical studies and The PRIDE Study. 

Call to action
What can I do as one individual? One individual can make a difference. 

1. Apply to join our TransConnect community by completing this application. If selected, you will join over 220 people working to improve transgender lives. Then sign in several times a month to connect with people in your region of the state working on transgender focused research using a Facebook/Twitter like interface.

2. Commit to Stay Connected by reading our bi-weekly newsletter. Like all village newsletters we will keep it short with clarity of purpose to keep you informed. We'll add you to our mailing list if you submit an application

3. If you identify as LGBTQIA+, commit to checking out The PRIDE Study. TransFORWARD is a community engagement partner. We encourage you to enroll in the study. This gives our Texas village a large enough research group to work with and helps improve how we will enroll people in clinical studies.

If you have questions, contact John Oeffinger at joeffinger@texashealthinstitute.org.

This project is funded through a Patient-Centered