Openly gay Rutgers dean seeks to shatter perceptions, improve LGBTQ health

When Perry N. Halkitis, the incoming dean at Rutgers School of Public Health, is asked to discuss the accomplishments that make him most proud, his research in HIV/AIDS, his mentorship of young scholars and practitioners, and his roles as senior associate dean of New York University’s College of Global Public Health and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies come to the fore.

But equal to those achievements is his identity as an openly gay man in academia and a first-generation college student.

Halkitis, who will join Rutgers in August, is enthusiastic about furthering the research he pursued at NYU, which includes a longitudinal investigation delineating the risk and resiliencies of young gay and bisexual men as they emerge into adulthood; a study examining how young gay men relate to health care as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood; and a study of the health and resilience of HIV-positive men and women over age 50.

Rutgers Today spoke with Halkitis about what it means to be an openly gay leader in higher education, the importance of LGBTQ role models and the state of gay and bisexual men’s health in post-AIDS crisis America.

Read more: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/college/rutgers/2017/06/18/openly-gay-rutgers-dean-seeks-shatter-perceptions-improve-lgbtq-health/401348001/