Connecticut – Anchor Health Initiative Corp (“Anchor Health Initiative” or “AHI”) announced today it is combining with the Gender & Life-Affirming Medicine (GLAM) Center, a Hartford-based LGBTQ health center founded by AJ Eckert, DO, to become Connecticut’s only trans-led LGBTQ medical center. Anchor Health Initiative’s GLAM Center is excited to continue setting the standard of care for transgender, genderqueer, and nonbinary communities across the state.
As Connecticut’s first out nonbinary doctor, Dr. Eckert founded the GLAM Center in 2018 with the goal of creating a practice focused on trauma-informed care and safe space for the LGBTQ community. They decided to specialize in LGBTQ health after completing their education at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine and residency at NEOMEN/Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Program.
Dr. Eckert provides primary and preventative care, PrEP/PEP, osteopathic manipulation treatment, and gender-affirming services (including hormone therapy and puberty blockers). They are board-certified in family medicine.
“I am thrilled to be joining with Anchor Health Initiative. As a queer person in medicine, I am fulfilling a dream and I feel honored to be in a position to provide gender-affirming care to my LGBTQ family. I will continue to work hard to support and uplift our communities,” Dr. Eckert commented.
Dr. Eckert will lead AHI’s GLAM Center as its medical director effective September 1, 2020. All patients of AHI’s GLAM Center will have access to its expanded programming and services, including in-person or telehealth appointments with Dr. Eckert, in-office blood draws, expanded primary care services, access to case management services (including updating gender ID documents, transportation to medical appointments, insurance and affordable health care resources, etc.), and more.
Dr. Eckert will join AHI’s established team of providers to provide care to our growing patient population. AHI has been providing health care services to the LGBTQ community since it was founded in 2016 and now services more than 1,500 patients with over 50% identifying as trans or gender nonconforming. From humble beginnings, AHI now boasts two offices and an in-house pharmacy.
A.C. Demidont, DO, AAHIVS, AHI’s cofounder, said, “I am so thrilled that Dr. AJ Eckert is joining the AHI team. I founded AHI with the goal of creating a full-service health care organization for our community with an emphasis on trans care. I know that Dr. Eckert is a fantastic physician with a history of doing the work that AHI was built upon. I look forward to seeing them continue that crucial work and to see where they will take us.”
Mike Crisp, chair of AHI’s board, commented, “The combination of these two health care companies that serve the primary and specialty health care needs of the LGBTQ community is a transformational event. Dr. Eckert is the right person to help the combined organization expand our ability to serve the transgender community in Connecticut and the broader region.”
About Anchor Health Initiative
Anchor Health Initiative is a health care provider offering medical services to everyone in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community with particular expertise in the area of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and transgender medicine. The mission of Anchor Health Initiative is to embrace and promote the health and well-being of LGBTQ individuals and others living in our communities by providing compassionate, comprehensive, and evidence-based medical care in a safe, welcoming, and non-judgmental environment.
Contact
Email: info@ahicorp.org
Phone: 203-903-8308
