Shail Maingi, MD, still remembers when she first encountered JAMA®—as a girl. She enjoyed flipping through the pages to “look at the scary pictures.”
Those pictures must not have been too scary. After college, Dr. Maingi knew she wanted to go to medical school and chose Temple University, in nearby Philadelphia. She then went off to New York City for her internal medicine residency at Montefiore Health System and a fellowship in pain and palliative care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center before returning to Montefiore for a fellowship in hematology-oncology.
Dr. Maingi is now a hematology-oncology and palliative care physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), in Boston, where she is also the inaugural DFCI Network health equity and inclusion liaison.
In addition to her work caring for patients, Dr. Maingi’s passion is advocacy, particularly on health inequities for LGBTQ+ patients.
She was the founding chair of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s LGBTQ Special Interest Group. She has served on the GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality board and was vice president of the organization’s Lesbian Health Fund for six years. She also has served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and was co-chair of the society’s Sexual and Gender Minority Task Force.
In June, Dr. Maingi became chair of the AMA LGBTQ+ Section—the newest section at the AMA, created just last year—which addresses issues of interest to LGBTQ+ medical students, residents and fellows, physicians, patients and their allies.
“We’re living in a very diverse world, with much more acceptance and acknowledgement that health care is for everybody—that there are differences that are unexplored, and we can't pretend everybody has the same set of needs,” said Dr. Maingi, who is a lesbian.
“When people visit their doctor and they can relate to them, there's an extra connection that can make the care so much better. So helping LGBTQ+ physicians and medical students to succeed—to have leadership opportunities and feel like they're heard and they can be their authentic selves—is very important.”
Dr. Maingi noted, in addition, that “several studies show sexual minority medical students experience mistreatment, social rejection and even bullying that can continue throughout their professional careers.”
Care, and careers, at a crossroads
The notions of inclusivity, respect and understanding have newfound importance in medicine in 2025, Dr. Maingi noted.
“Since I was in medical school, I have encountered a lot of people who thought they could spend their entire careers doing LGBTQ+ research as a physician. Now many of those people, as well as junior faculty and medical students, are really scared,” she said, noting legal and other attacks on physicians who are providing guideline-driven, evidence-based care.
The LGBTQ+ Section can play a vital role in providing support, she noted.
“By nature, we’re intersectional. We have women, people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, seniors,” she said. “We need our allies more than ever. About 15% of society is part of the LGBTQ+ community, and many people have a family member or a loved one who is LGBTQ+. It's unnecessary for us to have a greater health burden or to be ashamed, mistreated or subject to violence. If our section’s membership were to reflect how many people in the U.S. population are part of the community or allies, we would be very happy with that.”
Hitting the ground running
The LGBTQ+ Section grew out of the AMA Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Issues, which was established 20 years before and had provided direction to the AMA Board of Trustees but could not introduce resolutions to the AMA House of Delegates.
It was certainly busy in its first year, under the leadership of inaugural chair Jason Schneider, MD, an internist and professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. At the 2025 AMA Annual Meeting, the House of Delegates adopted policy based on five LGBTQ+ Section-authored resolutions to:
- Support inclusive long-term care facilities.
- Preserve public funding for physicians and hospitals providing LGBTQ+ care.
- Expand care of sexually transmitted infections for people with unstable or no housing.
- Oppose the use of harm-reduction items as evidence of commercial sex work.
- Oppose censorship in public libraries.
Delegates also adopted policy based on four resolutions co-sponsored by the section addressing:
- Professionalism standards in medical training.
- Inclusive language in AMA policy.
- Public health implications of U.S. food subsidies.
- The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
In addition, the section hosted an education session at the Annual Meeting on intersex health.
“I learned so much from that session,” said Dr. Maingi, who was the section’s first delegate. “Maybe most of us will see only one or two intersex people in a decade of seeing patients, but to have some sort of knowledge about what the experience is like for that person and what they've been through makes us better doctors.”
Open to everyone
Looking ahead, one of Dr. Maingi’s goals as chair of the LGBTQ+ Section is preserving a safe workplace for LGBTQ+ physicians, residents and fellows, and medical students.
“I want all people to still feel that they can have careers in medicine, even if they don't feel they can be out,” she said. “Coming out in a workplace setting can be a complicated process. Many people might now feel they have to be back in the closet or they cannot talk about their weekend, partner or even LGBTQ+-focused research or work that they did because somebody might discriminate against them. Those are things that I had to do early in my career—and that I had hoped those times were over in the U.S.
“The attacks on care and research need to be addressed, and we really want to be part of the collective effort—consistent with our AMA values and policies—to be on the right side of history and support all people. We’re a section that can role model a lot of creativity and resilience, and it's very important at this moment in time that we're not invisible. We want people to learn from us and to collaborate with us.”
Dr. Maingi also wants to see greater participation from LGBTQ+ physicians specifically.
“All the LGBTQ+ communities are different. They each have their own identities, languages, and health risks and concerns. We want as much representation as possible from all the different communities so that we can make sure we're preserving and creating access to quality care for everyone,” she said.
The LGBTQ+ Section has three committees that provide opportunities for engagement: policy, membership, and research and education. Membership in the section does not, however, require serving on a committee, Dr. Maingi said.
“Being in our ranks protects your LGBTQ+ colleagues and speaks up for LGBTQ+ people in society,” she said. “We need allies now more than ever.”
Dr. Maingi said that “choosing to join the AMA LGBTQ+ Section as an ally is a simple step with a powerful impact. By standing with LGBTQ+ colleagues through this section, we strengthen our AMA’s commitment to compassion, fairness and excellence. Joining as an ally affirms that our AMA and our profession is at its best when every physician can thrive and every patient feels respected and heard.”
