UCLA Center for LGBTQ Advocacy, Research & Health

The UCLA Center for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Research & Health, or C-LARAH (LARAH is derived from the Latin word “hilaris,” meaning cheerful) is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of sexual and gender minorities. We are committed to sharing our expertise — in public health, including epidemiological methods, developing and testing bio-behavioral interventions, program design and analysis, health policy initiatives and implementation science — with community based organizations and other academic institutions.

In addition, C-LARAH is devoted to recruiting and training a community of diverse scholars from underrepresented minority groups and fostering a welcoming, inclusive and intellectually-enriching environment where all students, postdocs, staff and faculty feel supported and can achieve their full potential.  

We work directly with members of the LGBTQ+ community and are able to draw upon expansive local, national, and global relationships with state and city public health departments, academic researchers and scientists, healthcare providers, community-based organizations, consumer groups, advocacy foundations, and funding agencies.

Our familiarity and experience working with the LGBTQ+ community and allied organizations well-equips us to inform policymakers of the most effectual ways to reach members of this historically marginalized population and how to serve them holistically through all social determinants of health and justice.

Mission

To maintain an interdisciplinary, research-driven, evidence-based platform used to carry out public policy initiatives that improve the health and social well-being of sexual and gender minorities. We engage our local and national community, as well as global partners, through cross-culturally informed scholarship, advanced academic training, and civic advocacy. We are deeply invested in intercultural competence and the importance of intersectionality of identities and lived experience; we are committed to conducting research to advance LGBTQ+ racial/ethnic health disparities.

Ways You Can Help

Community volunteers are a life-giving component of C-LARAH.  Please explore ways you can participate and join C-LARAH’s mission as a donor, volunteer, research participant or advocate.

Make a Donation. Your gift will ensure that sexual and gender minorities, and particularly those of us who identify as trans, racial/ethnic minorities, and living with HIV, have access to life-saving health and wellness programs today, and can live openly and authentically, and be healthy.  No gift is ever too small and every penny will help! Please click here to donate today.

Volunteer. Individuals interested in volunteering their time with C-LARAH should notify us via email at LGBTQ@ph.ucla.edu or visit our center website and select “contact” to send us a direct message.

Participate in Research. We are currently recruiting volunteers to participate in research that is testing a variety of behavioral and biomedical programs to improve the health and wellbeing of sexual and gender minorities. If you are interested in potentially joining one of these programs as a participant, please email us at LGBTQ@ph.ucla.edu or call/text us at 310.825.2155 to learn more.

Employment Opportunities. We are always looking for talented and dedicated people to join our team; individuals who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as racial and ethnic minorities, are strongly encouraged to apply. For a summary of our current job opportunities, please visit our center website and select “jobs.”