Family physician Justin Schweitzer, DO, is the director of LGBTQ health at Cooper University Hospital in Collingswood, New Jersey. After opening LBGTQ health centers at multiple hospital systems, Schweitzer’s goals are straightforward: to provide high-quality, culturally competent health care for LGBTQ people in southern New Jersey.

Schweitzer’s caseload includes over two dozen people on a long-acting injectable for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV. He has also referred an ever-growing number of people living with HIV to Cooper’s HIV clinic for their specialty care. Some of those folks are using a long-acting injectable to treat HIV.

Whether to prevent or to manage HIV, Schweitzer calls long-acting injectables “a real game changer.” He said injectables provide stigma-free convenience.

“Some patients choose to go on an injectable because, to them, it’s less of a daily reminder about what conditions they may or may not have,” he explained. “You show up, you get your shot and you can forget about it until the next shot is due.”

Schweitzer stressed the benefits of new and better options, especially options that make adherence easier and more convenient. 

“You’ll know if a patient is compliant because they got their injections,” Schweitzer explained. “Versus if the patient is prescribed an oral daily pill, they may or may not take it daily. Some patients like oral pills, and others don’t. It’s nice to give patients the options to stay on top of their health.”

In addition to being the primary health care provider for the people in his care, Schweitzer remains evangelical about why LGBTQ-centric health care leads to better outcomes.

“I’ve been an attending for 13 years,” Schweitzer explained. “And over the years, as an out gay physician, “I often hear the same stories from patients, which is that they saw a doctor and felt like they were dismissed.”

The quest for affirming health care can be especially tricky for transgender people who often encounter mistreatment and discrimination, even in health care settings. Schweitzer cited the U.S. Transgender Health Survey, which polled 92,000 trans folks, almost half of whom reported a negative health care experience in the past year.

“A lot of trans patients especially, they’ve been deadnamed or misgendered, and they just don’t go back,” he said. “So now, when they come through our doors, it’s almost like this breath of fresh air for them, that they can come in and we accept them for who they are.”

And as long as LGBTQ people are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS, a big part of Schweitzer’s job is putting South Jersey on an HIV-free path. That includes injectable and oral PrEP for those at risk for HIV. It also includes managing the primary health care needs of his HIV-positive caseload.

“Part of my job at Cooper is to, hopefully, make all of the offices LBGTQ-friendly and affirming,” Schweitzer explained. “But we also live in the real world. You can’t force physicians and staff members to potentially do something that they might not want to do. But I think change happens over time, and what we’re seeing, at least in South Jersey, is these health care centers where patients are more comfortable going to. They know that they’ll get the health care that they’re looking for.”

All the while, Schweitzer remains bullish on the future of injectable HIV therapies, including even longer-lasting formulations, which he predicts are on the horizon.

“It’s been great to see these long-acting medicines that give patients options to take control of their health,” Schweitzer said. “And from what I understand, I think a twice-yearly injectable may be available in the next few years.”