Advancing health equity for all communities
The Impact Institute at Northwestern University conducts research on the health of LGBTQ populations. We are committed to improving lives through pioneering research, data-driven evaluation, and evidence-based implementation strategies that promote health for all. Building on more than a decade of community-engaged work, the Impact Institute leads scientific innovations that advance health knowledge, transform healthcare delivery, and support thousands of individuals and families.
Our health education initiatives and community education efforts are among the nation’s top evidence-based interventions for HIV prevention.
A randomized controlled trial of our relationship-education and HIV-prevention program for gay and bisexual men found that the program decreased the occurrence of sexually transmitted infections and sexual risk behaviors. Read about the findings.
As public health departments, HIV service providers and researchers alike continue to work toward ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S., we should all take into consideration the positive and protective influences that romantic partnerships can provide young sexual minority men.”
We provide healthcare systems with tools to deliver high-quality care through improved patient data collection and analysis. Our faculty developed a model to achieve meaningful improvements in healthcare delivery and health equity by capitalizing on the powerful potential of electronic medical records (EMRs) and community partnerships. Learn how the model works.
We use implementation science to identify the best strategies for administering effective health interventions in ways that meet community needs and are cost-efficient. We provide assistance to public health departments and community-based organizations that want to offer new evidence-based health services and programs. Our data analysts then evaluate and report on program successes, allowing us to work together to improve health for all.
Since 2015, we have provided many thousands of free HIV and STI tests to Chicagoans who are at the highest risk of an HIV diagnosis.
We are dedicated to sharing our study data with researchers across the United States who can uncover additional health findings that lead to better understanding and outcomes. Our evidence-based HIV prevention interventions are made available to health departments, clinics, and researchers to implement in their communities. Access data from our longitudinal study on HIV and substance use among young adults.
I was what you'd call 'at-risk' in many regards when I began participating [in Institute studies]. The interviewers were sometimes the only people who gave me kind attention. I got free testing, which may have saved my life many times. I would never have gotten tested if it weren’t free.”
We center the health and wellbeing of youth and young adults in much of our work. Our hands-on research has uncovered vital insights about relationships, physical and mental health, substance use, intimate partner violence, and resilience in these populations.
“These studies and programs have reached tens of thousands of young people across the country. We hear from youth all the time about how meaningful it is for them to contribute to our research. For us, our science is a way to make important discoveries while caring for and supporting our communities.”
Through robust training programs, we have equipped dozens of postdoctoral scholars and medical students with experience and skills needed to advance health equity through their careers as public health researchers, healthcare providers, and scholars.
The highly interdisciplinary experience of my [postdoctoral] training has helped me expand my theoretical and methodological skillset, while also offering many meaningful mentorship opportunities.”
Graduate of our postdoctoral training program
Our research offers actionable evidence for lawmakers and advocates working to advance public health. Our recent study on conversion therapy found that individuals who experienced attempts to change their sexual orientation had worse cardiovascular health indicators compared to their peers. These findings underscore the need for public health and policy interventions to enforce and strengthen bans on conversion therapy.