Celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month
“Seeing other Queer people in medicine inspires me to be my whole self within the practice – it’s so important to see other people like you in the same space.”
Cate is a fifth-year medical student who identifies as Queer and uses they/them pronouns. They are an advocate for the Queer community in medical education, a volunteer for a sex education charity and an active member of campus life.
Shining a light on Queer experiences
Cate advocates for the importance of Queer community and has published research with colleagues from Imperial, University College London, the University of Dundee and the University of Lincolnshire which shines a light on the experience of Queer medical students.
The study suggests the need for a deeper, cultural change to prevent discrimination and increase Queer students’ sense of belonging.
“It’s one of the very special things about being at Imperial, that we have such a strong culture of research. The staff involved really went out of their way to support us as medical students to carry out research.
“The idea was to shine a light on the experience of Queer medical students, something that we felt was overlooked. We also wanted to support medical educators in creating inclusive environments in the classroom.”
Cate and their colleagues will be presenting a workshop on Queer-inclusive teaching in medical education drawing on this research at an Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) event on 28 April 2025.
Community building on campus
Cate is actively involved in creating Queer-inclusive spaces at Imperial and is hoping to create a society for Queer medical students which recognises their unique experience and will support their sense of belonging.
“Medics are a bit different to other student groups because we’re on different schedules and often on different campuses.
“There are still Queer students who are joining medical school who think they are the only one. There’s no formal community that they can join and have those really important discussions around experiences of belonging and identity.”
Cate says one of the challenges they’re experiencing with creating the society is that many of the people working on the project are coming to the end of their studies.
“We’re really keen to engage the newer cohorts and encourage people to get in touch if they’d like to be involved in submitting an application to Imperial College Union for this society.”
Anyone interested can contact the Imperial College Union LGBTQ+ Officer, Anson To.
LGBTQ+ History Month
For Cate, LGBTQ+ History Month is a way of carving out some space for the community, amid the busy lives we all lead.
“For me, the month is about taking a step back and thinking ‘Where do I sit within this history? What does it mean to me and how can I carry it forward?’”
One of the people who has inspired Cate is Joe Smith, a consultant in HIV medicine. Cate says that Joe was the first doctor they interacted with who was openly queer.
“I met Joe through this great initiative called Queerying the Curriculum , which offers teaching and workshops for medical students around Queer healthcare. I remember being blown away by the first workshops; it was such a different way of approaching the topic in such a vibrant space.
“Seeing other Queer people in medicine inspires me to be my whole self within the practice – it’s so important to see other people like you in the same space.”
Volunteering with young people
Outside of their studies, Cate is involved with the national charity Sexpression which trains university students to speak to young people in secondary schools about sex education and consent.
“I think there’s something really special about this work because it makes you reflect on your beliefs around sex and consent. In medicine, something that’s challenging is that you realise you can’t help people if you don’t know what people actually want and need, so it’s been eye opening from that perspective as well.”
Cate is currently completing their orthopaedic surgery placement and is enjoying the fact that every day they’re going in and seeing something different, and the freedom and diversity medicine offers. They are particularly interested in potentially pursuing a career in infectious disease or sexual health medicine
“In both infectious diseases and sexual health medicine you really have to advocate for your patients, which is something I find attractive.”
Outside of medicine, Cate still has a life creating theatre through lighting and set design with ICSM Drama.
Read next
Find out more about IQ, the LGBTQ+ society at Imperial College Union.
Read “I Say I’m Kind of Out”: An Insider Qualitative Study of Queer Medical Students, published in The Clinical Teacher.