Dr. Swagata Banik, dean of the Dennis R. DePerro School of Health Professions, shared several professional updates. 

He was invited by Columbia University Department of Psychiatry's Institute for Gender Sexuality and Health to deliver an Oct. 23 lecture at the LGBTQ+ Health Series. The program was co-sponsored by Columbia University HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies and the Columbia University School of Nursing.

Banik was also recognized as one of the outstanding reviewers by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The CIHR is Canada’s federal funding agency for health research (equivalent to the United States’ NIH). Only 16.9% of the 1,501 total reviewers across 13 institutes of CIHR received this recognition. Banik has served as a sexual and reproductive health study section committee member since 2019.

In addition, Banik and his research collaborators from the University of Minnesota Medical School and Columbia University School of Public Health published a manuscript, “Gender-diverse male spirit mediums in Northern Thailand: intersection of spiritual role, societal acceptance, stigma, and discrimination,” in the International Journal of Transgender Health.