She is a leading scholar on LGBTQ health disparities and is nationally and internationally recognized. Her current work is focused on improving LGBTQ health through policy change.. She was the initiator and primary author of the first nursing White Paper denouncing reparative therapy, which was adopted as policy by the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISPN). Dr. Hein co-chairs the LGBTQ Expert Panel of the American Academy of Nursing , serves on the Advisory Board of the Harriet Hancock LGBT Center in Columbia, SC and is Vice President for External Affairs of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality, where she works to build interprofessional relationships with other organizations that also support LGBTQ health equality.