A Bright Future Lies Ahead In The Next Generation Of LGBTQ+ Healthcare Providers

Healthcare and the LGBTQ+ community haven’t always had the best relationship, but two students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Medical School hope to change that.

Matthew Watowich and Wren Krahl are first-year students at the University’s Medical School who seek to be the next generation of LGBTQ+ doctors working to provide safe and comforting healthcare to the community.

Watowich said he is a student within the Medical Scientist Training Program seeking his M.D. and Ph.D., while Krahl said they intend to pursue a Masters of Public Health between their 3rd and 4th year of medical school to better learn how to integrate social justice and community work into their clinical practice, specifically in the realm of LGBTQ+ and gender-affirming care.

Watowich got his undergraduate degree in Biology at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. It was there he felt the support of community because he said most of his friends were also a part of the LGBTQ+ community. After college, he worked with the National Institute of Health (NIH) researching brain cancer for two years.

“While I was at the NIH, it was where I decided I really am passionate about healthcare, what it means to be a doctor, and go into this profession,” Watowich said. “It ultimately led to me applying originally to the M.D. program.”

Watowich said taking time away from school helped him realize there is more to life than just an academic curriculum. He emphasized the importance of learning about queer history and applying that to practicing medicine.

“There is so much more to life than acting in the norm that is historically rooted in lots of problematic ideals,” Watowich said.

Krahl spent their undergraduate years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in neurobiology and Spanish. While there, they spent a lot of time doing volunteer and service-based work.

But it was their gap years where they spent time being a ski instructor and a patient care technician at a hospital in Vail, Colorado. They added their dad was a huge support during that time. Krahl then moved to Denver to work for the Human Rights Campaign. During that time, they said there was a lot of anti-trans and anti-queer legislation being passed. 

“I wouldn’t say I knew myself very well in college,” Krahl said. “Taking those two years to really sit down with myself and finally meet myself was really nice; it was important to learn how to be a functional human before entering med school.”

After teaching English to children in Spain, Krahl decided to come back to the States to pursue their dream of attending medical school.

Throughout their first year of medical school, Watowich and Krahl have worked on trying to change the narrative behind their learning since the first year is mostly just book learning, they said. They both said learning queer history is important to understanding how to best help the LGBTQ+ community.

Medical school does not come without its challenges, though. As legislation and others continue to spread homophobia, Krahl said it can be hard to remain hopeful for the future.

“Trying to maintain the optimistic view that we have the power to change the system from within can be pretty discouraging,” Krahl said. “You’re just one person, and it can be an isolating process.”

But Watowich said it’s important to have support systems in place to get through the years of being in medical school.

“Surrounding yourself with people who want to fight the same battles as you and have the same values and beliefs as you is really important in not exhausting yourself,” Watowich said.

Watowich said the LGBTQ+ faculty at the Medical School have also been a huge source of support throughout this past year for himself and Krahl.

“[The faculty] really have a passion for being there and they want to train us to be the best that we can be,” Watowich said.

Being out and proud in their identity is crucial to Watowich and Krahl as they navigate the ups and downs of medical school, and they both expressed the importance of choosing love first.

“Having a baseline practice of love first, like ‘Can I operate with love and gratitude first?’ is important to me and important to what I hope to have as a medical practice,” Watowich said. “You have to love yourself first before you can love others. I want to show people it is very okay and awesome to be out and proud about your identity.”

Krahl added they want to make patients feel as comfortable as possible by establishing a causal relationship with them. Just because they are a professional doctor does not mean there has to be a “weird power dynamic,” Krahl said.

Watowich and Krahl have at least three years left of medical school, if not more, before officially entering the field. In that time, they both look forward to learning more about the healthcare system and how they can contribute to making the overall curriculum more inclusive.

“They are all sorts of bases built into healthcare, and so helping to undo some of those through existence and increased representation among diverse communities and targeting some of the systemic factors that keep those things alive will ultimately help everyone get the care they need,” Watowich said.

This summer, Krahl is going to lots of music festivals while looking forward to starting clinicians in the fall. Watowich is spending his summer doing research while working with Save The Bottoms, an organization offering anal cancer screening and HPV vaccination at Twin Cities Pride on June 29 and June 30.

Leslie Feinberg once said “I wanted to thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I’d never have known I had a right to be me.” Watowich quoted this in our interview and said the LGBTQ+ faculty at the University and his friends, including Krahl, have helped him feel more confident in pursuing his dreams of becoming a doctor. Krahl echoed a similar sentiment.