2021 News

“I don’t operate from a scarcity mindset -- I operate from an abundance mindset,” Ricky Hill, Ph.D., said when reflecting on their career trajectory.

Each year, ISGMH’s State of Sexual and Gender Minority Health Symposium convenes researchers, policy makers, community–based organizations, LGBTQ youth, and community members to discuss the health disparities and resiliency of LGBTQ people.

Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) faculty members and co-principal investigators Lauren B. Beach, J.D., Ph.D., and Gregory Phillips II, Ph.D., have secured a five-year R01 grant of $3.2 million from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to evaluate and improve methods of gathering sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity (SSOGI) information.

Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) Director Brian Mustanski, Ph.D., has been recognized as one of the most-cited researchers in the field of public health.

Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) Director Brian Mustanksi, Ph.D., and several ISGMH faculty members ranked among the top NIH funding recipients for public health in 2020.

For the third year, the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH)'s CONNECT Program held the Data Science & SGM Health Equity Paper Competition to stimulate student research at the intersection of data science and SGM health equity.

Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) faculty members led by Gregory Phillips II, Ph.D., received a five-year, $2.7 million grant to study the roles of HIV risk and mental health in alcohol use disparities among sexual minority youth (SMY).

Della Mosley, Ph.D., discussed how to apply the Critical Consciousness of Anti-Black Racism Model as a framework for radical healing as part of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) Current Issues in LGBTQ Health Lecture Series on August 11. Her messaging was warm, yet challenging.

When Brian Mustanski was out for a run recently, a young man in an SUV pulled up next to him. “Faggot!” he yelled out the window, laughing as he drove away.

Howard Brown Health and the EDIT Program at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISMGH) recently received funding for Opportunity Us, a participatory research project examining COVID-19’s impact on Black and Latina women of transgender experience, from the Racial Equity and Community Partnership grants program.

The stress of experiencing discrimination — including transphobia, violence and public policies specifically targeting transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people — is linked to higher rates of heart disease among the TGD population, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).

Elissa Sarno, Ph.D., has been hired as a research assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) and the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Feinberg School of Medicine. Sarno's appointment begins May 1, 2021.

A computer adaptive test (CAT) developed to measure suicide risk can help predict future suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts in LGBTQ youth, according to a new study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology by Northwestern University researchers. The paper was led by Brian Mustanski, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) at Northwestern, and used a CAT developed by the University of Chicago’s Robert Gibbons, Ph.D., who was also a collaborator on the study.

Building on the #BiasInBigData workshop, the CONNECT Research Program of the Northwestern Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) is holding its 3rd annual competition to encourage research and writing at the intersection of data science and health equity in sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations.

Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) faculty member Michael Newcomb, Ph.D., has been awarded a five-year, $9 million U01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the expansion of his 2GETHER study.

Christopher Owens, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a postdoctoral scholar at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH). Owens studies sexual and gender minorities (SGM) who live in rural areas, populations that face unique health disparities and service access challenges compared to their urban counterparts.

The Third Coast Center for AIDS Research selected Gregory Phillips II, Ph.D., as a Winter 2021 Community Collaborative awardee for his work with the Chicago Latinx HIV/AIDS Community Collaborative Project along with Pedro Serrano, M.P.H. and Audrey French, M.D., of the Hektoen Institute/Core Center.

The Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing’s (ISGMH) senior cohort of postdoctoral fellows Casey Xavier Hall, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Elissa Sarno, Ph.D.; and Ashley Kraus, Ph.D., presented at the Current Issues in LGBTQ Health lecture series event hosted on February 16, 2021. ISGMH faculty member and interim Associate Director Kathryn Macapagal, Ph.D., moderated the event and Q&A.

The Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) at Northwestern University is excited to announce the opening of a new research center dedicated to understanding and mitigating health disparities among sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth.

The Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) supports transgender and gender diverse young people who are increasingly under attack in state legislatures across the United States. We affirm every trans young person’s right to experience childhood and adolescence without harassment, demonization, or bullying. We believe that all trans young people deserve support, acceptance, protection, and love.

The Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) at Northwestern University has named Jagadīśa-devaśrī Dācus, Ph.D., L.M.S.W., (he/him) as its new Associate Director. As Associate Director, Dācus will oversee institute operations, provide thought leadership, and develop and implement strategic goals and objectives.

PrEP use in adolescent men who have sex with men (AMSM) fails to reach recommended levels, according to a new paper from Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) researchers.

Michael Newcomb, Ph.D., an Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) faculty member, recently authored a paper introducing the dyadic health model to address the unique relationship stressors of same-sex couples.