The UC Global Health Institute Center for Gender and Health Justice has been awarded a competitive National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Education Program (R25) grant titled, “Advancing Gender and Health Justice Research and Education.” This funding supports the development of short, innovative courses designed to complement and enhance the training of the new generation of the public health workforce. The audience for the courses is undergraduate students, master’s in public health students, and community health workers.

Course content was developed by Center for Gender and Health Justice Leadership—Sean Arayasirikul, PhD (UC Irvine), Jennifer Wagman, MHS, PhD (UCLA), Ushma Upadhyay, MPH, PhD (UCSF), Dallas Swendeman, MPH, PhD, (UCLA) and Taylor Thomas, MPH, MA (UCLA)—a multidisciplinary team of public health practitioners dedicated to advancing health equity. The project builds on the Center’s mission to reduce gender and health inequities through transdisciplinary research, education, and collaboration, and will help cultivate the next generation of scholars and practitioners equipped with the tools to advance gender and health justice locally and globally. 

The R25 project is grounded in the recognition that multiple epidemics, including gender-based violence, HIV, and structural inequities, converge in the lived experiences of people occupying intersecting minoritized social positions. Minoritized women, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women, transgender (or trans) women, and BIPOC trans women, at the intersectional interplay of minoritized sex, gender, and race/ethnicity, face disproportionate exposure to violence, heightened vulnerability to HIV, and poorer health outcomes driven by systemic inequities. These disparities are further exacerbated by contemporary social, legal, and policy environments that increasingly threaten reproductive health access, gender-affirming care, bodily autonomy, and self-determination.

The Center for Gender and Health Justice believes that educational opportunities that explicitly center gender and health justice are critical to addressing these intersecting epidemics. The R25-funded curriculum places a particular emphasis on the intersection of HIV prevention, gender-based inequities, and structural determinants of health. Courses are designed to provide learners with a strong foundation in intersectional analysis, community-engaged and trauma-informed approaches, and applied methods for advancing equitable HIV prevention and care among populations most affected by structural marginalization. Notably, the project responds to persistent disparities in HIV prevalence and care among transgender women of color and cisgender women of color

Over the winter and spring 2026 terms, the Center will pilot the short courses with approximately 30 University of California students. Through focus group discussions, students will provide critical feedback on course content and structure to inform refinement for broader future use. Structured focus group discussions will be used to gather student feedback on course content, pedagogy, and accessibility, ensuring that the curriculum is responsive to learner needs and grounded in real-world public health practice. Findings from this pilot phase will inform course refinement and future dissemination for broader use across UC campuses and community-based training settings.

This initiative aligns with UCGHI’s broader goals of expanding global health education and preparing learners at all levels to address complex challenges that intersect gender, health equity, and global health. Congratulations to the UCGHI Center for Gender and Health Justice team for this important new initiative!