Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
 Callen-Lorde Logo | |
| Type | health center |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York City, United States |
| Location |
|
CEO | Patrick McGovern |
Key people | Demetre C. Daskalakis, MD, MPH Serena Chang, MD |
| Website | callen-lorde |
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center is a primary care center located at 356 West 18th Street in New York, New York, with satellite locations in Brooklyn and The Bronx. It also provides comprehensive mental health services at Brooklyn Community Health Center. Callen-Lorde is dedicated to providing medical health care to the city's LGBTQ population without regard to ability to pay. It is named in honor of Michael Callen and Audre Lorde.
Their facilities offer a variety of services, including dental care, HIV/STD testing and treatment, mental health services, women's health services, transgender hormone therapy, and medical case management support. Callen-Lorde is also home to the Health Outreach to Teens (HOTT) program, which serves youth between the ages of 13 and 24 in an on-premises clinic and a fully equipped medical van.[1] The Cecilia Occupational Inclusion Network (COIN) Clinic, founded by late transgender icon Cecilia Gentili, is also housed within Callen-Lorde.[2]
History
Callen-Lorde is the only primary care center in New York City created specifically to serve LGBTQ communities.[3] Its grassroots heritage dates back nearly 50 years to the St. Mark's Community Clinic and the Gay Men's Health Project,[4] two volunteer-based clinics that provided screening and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases. These clinics merged in 1983 to form Community Health Project, a mostly volunteer-staffed, episodic care program housing the nation's first community-based HIV clinic.[5] The center has grown both in size and scope since these early days: from a 2,500 square-foot space inside of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on West 13th Street that primarily worked with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, into a comprehensive primary care center housed in more than three locations, including the 6-floor, 27,000 square-foot 18th Street facility that it moved into in 1997.[6]
In 2007, it was among over 530 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $30 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.[7]
In 2015, during National Health Center Week, Callen-Lorde was one[8] of 266 health centers[9] selected for Affordable Care Act funding as a federally qualified health center, for providing primary care to a medically underserved population. In a proclamation announcing these awards, President Obama declared, "This week, as we recognize the 50-year anniversary of the first community health centers being established in America, let us remember that health care is not a privilege for the few among us who can afford it, but a right for all Americans -- and let us recognize the vital role health centers across our country play in carrying us toward greater health for our people."[10]
In 2016, Callen-Lorde opened a new center in the Bronx, at 3144 3rd Avenue, in the South Bronx neighborhood.[11] Their Brooklyn location would open in 2020 after an $18.2 million, 25,000-square-foot facility was constructed in Downtown Brooklyn, located at 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension.[12]
Former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD)[13] Dr. Demetre Daskalakis started to serve as chief medical officer of Callen-Lorde in February 2026.[14] He had resigned alongside at least three other former CDC senior officials in August 2025, following news of CDC director Susan Monarez's ouster by the Trump administration.[15][16][17] In an interview the following day with The Advocate, he had said, "The CDC you knew is over" and "Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged."[18]
See also
- Michael Callen and Audre Lorde, for whom the organization is named.
References
- ↑ "Health Outreach to Teens (HOTT)". Callen-Lorde. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
- ↑ Bellamy-Walker, Tat (2021-04-07). "Cecilia Gentili and Callen-Lorde Launch Free Clinic for Sex Workers". Gay City News. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
- ↑ "Home". Callen-lorde.org. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ Brass, Perry (11 July 2013). "A Prophecy Before Our Time". Nypl.org. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ↑ "About Us". Callen-lorde.org. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ "New Home for Gay/Lesbian Health Center". The New York Times. 12 January 1997. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ Roberts, Sam (6 July 2005). "City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ↑ "New York FY2015 New Access Point Awards". Bphc.hrsa.gov. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ "Archive-It - News Releases". Archive-it.org. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ "Presidential Proclamation -- National Health Center Week, 2015". Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ "Callen-Lorde Community Health Center". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
- ↑ "Callen-Lorde Expands LGBTQ-Oriented Care in Brooklyn Through PCDC Financing". Primary Care Development Corporation. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
- ↑ Datz, Todd (September 18, 2025). "Harvard Chan alum who resigned from CDC leadership shares grave concerns about the state of public health". Harvard T.H. Chan. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
- ↑ Gaffney, Theresa (3 December 2025). "Former CDC official returns to local health care after resigning". Stat. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
- ↑ Payne, Daniel; Cirruzzo, Chelsea; Cooney, Elizabeth (August 27, 2025). "CDC Director Susan Monarez is ousted as her lawyer says 'she will not resign'". Stat. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
- ↑ Sun, Lena H.; Diamond, Dan; Weber, Lauren (August 27, 2025). "CDC director ousted, top officials resign after RFK Jr. push to change vaccine policy". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
- ↑ Constantino, Annakin Kim (August 27, 2025). "CDC Director Susan Monarez ousted, four other leaders quit health agency". CNBC. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
- ↑ Wiggins, Christopher (August 29, 2025). "RFK Jr.'s damage to the CDC is 'past the point of no return,' Dr. Demetre Daskalakis warns". The Advocate. Retrieved August 29, 2025.