Education

Empowering Healthcare Professionals

ERA’s education program is tailored to healthcare professionals who seek to better support LGBTQ+ people within their clinic settings. Since 2012, our team has provided roughly 15,000 hours of training to healthcare providers, care team staff, and allied professionals across the Midwest using our nationally recognized LGBTQ+ clinical and cultural humility courses. ERA’s curriculum empowers providers and care teams to better understand and address LGBTQ+ health disparities, implement gender affirming language policies, and best practices in LGBTQ+ healthcare operations. We offer a range of continuing education and professional development modalities through our clinic training programs and ongoing events.

Education Team

CEC HARDACKER

MSN, RN, CNL Director of Education

Cec Hardacker (she/ella) and her team are responsible for disseminating LGBTQ+ best practices to multi-disciplinary teams across the U.S. – her favorite is nursing education. In the 11+ years Cec has been at Howard Brown, she has contributed to national consortia in LGBTQ+ cultural competency education, conducted bladder health research in SGM populations, has published and co-edited a book on TGD older adults.  Cec and her team provide numerous diverse curricula, including the Health Education About LGBT Elders, or HEALE curriculum, the CORE Four curriculum, and last year, partnered with Oak Point University to develop an LGBTQ Health a 16-week “micro-credential” for Nurse Practitioners, chiropractors and acupuncturists. She identifies as a Chicana dyke artist, has been married for 28 years, has 2 pit bulls and a cat.

JORY ZHANG

BA, Training Specialist II

Jory Zhang (he/him) is a queer, transmasculine, Chinese American with roots in Chicago. Dedicated to healing justice, Jory has worked in sexual and intimate partner violence response as an advocate and trauma-informed medical educator since 2011. At Howard Brown Health, Jory has led focus groups on public health initiatives for sexual and gender minorities (SGM), collaborated with transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) patients in navigating health and justice systems, and acted as a first-response crisis interventionist and case manager for the In Power Sexual Harm Response Project. Currently, he serves as the lead training specialist for Howard Brown’s Department of Education. Jory believes in trauma-informed and harm-reductive approaches to care founded in reproductive and transformative justice. Jory lives on the South Side with his two cats and enjoys dreaming of abolitionist futures. 

GABRIELLA MULDER

MA, Training Specialist I

Gabriella Mulder (she/her) holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in Gender and Sexuality Studies and Sociology, and a master’s degree from DePaul University in Women’s and Gender Studies. Her master’s thesis focused on cultural discourses around fat queer bodies with regards to sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression. In her current role, Gabi develops and provides culturally humble, evidence based, interactive trainings on LGBTQ+ health, manages internship applications, and is part of the Midwest LGBTQ+ Health Symposium Planning Team.  She is passionate about gender and sexuality studies, LGBTQ+ health, and fat studies and is always excited to talk about it. Gabi identifies as a fat queer white femme, who loves D&D, romcoms, and crafting.

Continuing Medical Education

Howard Brown is proud to collaborate with the AMA Ed Hub™, an online platform bringing together high-quality education from the American Medical Association and other trusted sources, including Howard Brown. Designed to support the lifelong learning, licensure and certification needs of physicians and other health professionals, the AMA Ed Hub offers thousands of opportunities to earn CME, CEU, and MOC.