“Affirming Care” – Congratulations to UPMC Award for Commitment to Excellence in Service (ACES) Honoree Kristen Eckstrand, MD, PhD
We are delighted to congratulate Kristen Eckstrand, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), who has received a 2023 UMPC Award for Commitment to Excellence in Service (ACES) for her outstanding achievement in increasing inclusivity for LGBTQIA+ people at UPMC. The prestigious ACES award, received by less than 1% of UPMC staff annually, honors individuals who routinely go above and beyond.
Dr. Eckstrand is medical director of multiple outpatient programs at UPMC Western Behavioral Health, including the Services for Adolescent and Family Enrichment (SAFE) Program—which provides mental health treatment services to children and adolescents involved with the juvenile court system due to problematic sexual behaviors—and Services Aimed at Fire Education and Treatment for Youth (SAFETY), an outpatient program that provides treatment for children and adolescents who exhibit fire-setting behaviors, and their families. Dr. Eckstrand is additionally medical director of LGBTQIA+ Health Quality of the UPMC Wolff Center, which helps UPMC health care providers to deliver the best patient care through advanced education, best practices, leadership development, and problem-solving in quality and safety.
Dr. Eckstrand’s nomination describes her numerous contributions to enhancing inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people at UPMC through improved clinical care and medical education. Since arriving at UPMC as a psychiatry resident, Dr. Eckstrand has made important and highly visible contributions to advance health care for LGBTQIA+ individuals, including working to develop the Affirming Provider Designation for physicians, updating the Health Plan's medical policy to further align with new standards of affirming care, and making multiple efforts both locally and nationally that resulted in UPMC's recognition as a leader on the Healthcare Equality Index and the Corporate Equality Index. In terms of her outstanding approach to learning, “Dr. Eckstrand is regularly recognized at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for the way she makes space for medical students. And she has committed herself to reflecting on and, as appropriate, revisiting decisions that might change with new information; she believes that doing something the same way we have always done it does not always result in the best outcomes.”
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Eckstrand!