Sex Positive Primary Care ft. David Alajajian, MD

***DISCLAIMER: KB ONLY***

This podcast is a series of interviews with medical providers, mental health professionals, community members and advocates. Each interview represents the opinions of the individual. Individuals may use different terminology than what you’re used to. The intention is to educate not discriminate, and we welcome positive and constructive feedback. Please keep in mind; this is not a replacement for medical care or advice. I am simply presenting my views along with educational information that will be both evidence based research and external networks that have an impact on LGBTQI and nonbinary health care. Consult your provider for any medical or mental health concerns. My name is Kerin “KB” Berger and welcome to Queer MEDucation!

***INTRO MUSIC***

***INTRO TO EPISODE: KB ONLY***

Hello and welcome to our pilot episode of Queer MEDucation, a platform to educate medical professionals and the general population on LGBTQI and nonbinary health care. So many LGBTQI and nonbinary individuals are constantly asked sexual history and past medical history questions that are not applicable. Today’s episode will highlight creating a sex positive environment in a primary care setting with a physician practicing in Los Angeles, California. Thank you for joining us and I hope you enjoy this interview.

***INTERVIEW: KB AND DAVID ALAJAJIAN***

KB:                  Hey, what's up? It's KB. I'm here with a very special guest today. I'm going to allow this person to introduce themselves.

DA:                  Hey. I'm David, Alajajian. I'm a primary care doctor, internal medicine and I specialize in taking care of the LGBT population.

KB:                  Awesome. And where are you practicing currently?

DA:                  I work at a practice called Pacific Oaks medical group. It's technically in Beverly Hills, close to West Hollywood.

KB:                  How long have you been there?

DA:                  Um, it's about a year and a half now.

KB:                  Awesome. And tell us a little bit about Pacific Oaks and kind of how you got from your training to that particular setting.

DA:                  Um, so I did internal medicine residency at, um, a residency program in Long Island, at Northwell Health, um, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine to be exact. And I was looking to move back to Los Angeles with my partner at the time. And, um, I signed up with a recruiter and I had just told them, hey, I'm looking for a primary care practice because I'm passionate about preventative medicine. And they said, well, here, we'll set you up with a bunch of interviews. And, um, they said, you know, one day they called me and they said, well, you know, there's this practice that's been around since the 80s, and, uh, we're having problems finding the ideal person for this practice because a lot of people are uncomfortable working with gay population. Would you feel comfortable, um, interviewing with them and I just lit up and I said, you know what, um, this would maybe be a perfect match for me because not only would I feel comfortable, I feel like there's a lot of life experiences that I've had that I would find as an asset to that practice. So when I went and interviewed there, I learned that Pacific Oaks was actually, um, started in 1979 by a couple of doctors who, um, uh, felt like the needs of the gay community weren't being met by some other practices, that there was a lot of discrimination. People wouldn't handle HIV positive blood at the time. And it had, you know, uh, blossomed during the AIDS crisis and now still lives on. Um, although with some different directions.

KB:                  Did you ever see yourself kind of going in that direction or even know about this particular specialty?

DA:                  You know, I really didn't know that thi