Deirdre Shires

Is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Michigan State University, and her research focuses on access to health care and heath disparities among sexual and gender minority individuals, cancer screening, and health services research. Prior to joining the faculty at MSU, she spent more than 8 years at the Henry Ford Health System managing large-scale NIH and CDC-funded survey and evaluation studies in the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research. Previously, she served as the health services coordinator for a gay and lesbian community center in metropolitan Detroit. She is currently the co-lead of a PCORI-funded project, “Partnering with Sexual and Gender Minority Communities to Address Cancer Disparities in Detroit” and has published articles on healthcare utilization, cancer screening, healthcare discrimination among transgender individuals, and health disparities. Other current sexual and gender minority health projects include: “Caring for Transgender Patients in the Emergency Department: The Physicians’ Perspective” (Funded by BCBS of MI Foundation) and “Experiences, Training, and Best Practices for Caring for Transgender Patients: ‘Bright Spot’ Physicians Tell Their Stories”