Northwestern Opens New Research Center Dedicated to Helping Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Thrive
THRIVE Director Michael Newcomb, Ph.D., and Associate Director Kathryn Macapagal, Ph.D.
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 Center for Translational Health Research and Interventions Advancing Equity for Sexual and Gender Minorities—or THRIVE—conducts cutting-edge translational research that spans the spectrum from basic science discovery to intervention development and implementation.
THRIVE is led by Director Michael Newcomb, Ph.D., and Associate Director Kathryn Macapagal, Ph.D. The center’s core faculty also include Christina Dyar, Ph.D.; Ricky Hill, Ph.D.; Dennis Li, Ph.D.; David Moskowitz, Ph.D.; and Brian Mustanski, Ph.D.
“The unifying theme that brings the work of THRIVE’s faculty, staff, and postdoctoral fellows together is translational science promoting the health of SGM youth. Our work spans the entire translational spectrum, starting with conducting basic observational studies, like the RADAR and FAB400 cohorts that aim to understand health disparities. We then look to turning those findings into interventions that help mitigate disparities, like with our 2GETHER project, and to finally seeing those interventions through the various steps of the implementation process as in our Keep It Up! project,” said Newcomb.
Building on a Strong Foundation
The new center builds upon ISGMH’s largest research program and now houses all projects previously under the IMPACT program umbrella, which was originally founded by ISGMH Director Brian Mustanski in 2008 and became one of three main research programs at ISGMH in 2015.
THRIVE combines unique and diverse expertise across various SGM health topics and research methodologies. Its faculty and staff are national leaders in research on SGM adolescent and young adult sexual health and HIV/STI prevention, bisexual health, queer women’s health, alcohol and drug use, mental health, and romantic relationships and intimate partner violence. Their research methods expertise includes longitudinal cohort studies, qualitative and mixed methods, intervention development, randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, eHealth and technology-based intervention approaches, and implementation science.
Faculty members boast an impressive history of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and various other organizations and foundations. THRIVE’s current externally funded projects amount to nearly $50 million in total costs, with an additional $17.5 million in pending awards expected by center investigators.
Collaborating Locally and Internationally Driven by its commitment to SGM youth, THRIVE will prioritize four key activities both in its home city of Chicago and across the globe.
- Collaboration with academics from across Northwestern University, as well as institutions across the United States and around the globe, to support translational research on the health of SGM youth
- Engagement with the SGM community in Chicago and beyond to drive novel research questions
- Training the next generation of SGM scholars, including diversifying the pipeline of scholars from underrepresented groups
- Competing for large NIH projects and center grants to expand research
Supporting Investigators with Research Cores
Critical to the success of THRIVE’s mission are three research support cores that gather ISGMH’s expertise on study participant recruitment, web- and application-based health intervention creation, and data management.
“Formalizing these research cores allows us to harness the knowledge of our team members to support our research initiatives, rather than siloing expertise within individual projects. These three cores are really just the beginning, and I look forward to establishing additional cores that can support research as we expand into new topic areas and methods,” said Newcomb.
The Recruitment and Retention Core, led by Krystal Madkins, M.P.H., has an extensive background supporting research with varying study designs including cross-sectional, case-control, longitudinal, cohort, and interventional or randomized controlled trials.
The Research Application Design and Development Core, led by Rana Saber, M.S., M.S.L., is dedicated to the research, development, and evaluation of mobile phone, smartphone, sensor and web-based health interventions and the use of technology to enhance the capacity and efficiency of research.
The Data Management and Analytics Core, led by Dan Ryan, M.S., provides investigators with research services that ensure and maintain data quality and integrity, use statistical analysis to answer scientific research questions, and support the dissemination of key findings.
Looking Toward a Bright Future
“Establishing this new center opens opportunities for THRIVE to expand the scale its work, fund an administrative infrastructure required to support that work, and train up-and-coming researchers from diverse personal and research backgrounds,” said Newcomb. “I’m excited to lead THRIVE and help guide our immensely talented faculty, staff, and postdocs in creating a brighter future for sexual and gender minority youth.”