News and Announcements

Steven Thrasher, PhD, discussed health disparities and how the United States failed one of his students who was living HIV at a Cambridge Union debate on October 31.

Elizabeth Casline, PhD, joined the Institute as a research assistant professor. Casline is a child and adolescent clinical psychologist and implementation scientist who specializes in LGBTQ youth mental health care.

The innovative online HIV prevention program Keep It Up! was chosen by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for inclusion in the newly launched HDPulse Interventions Portal.

Ado Rivera, MD, PhD, joined the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing faculty. Rivera is a quantitative methodologist who works as a team scientist across several research projects.

Professor Cindy Veldhuis discusses the gaps in queer women's healthcare in Chicago's LGBTQ newspaper, the Windy City Times.

Associate Director Jagadīśa-devaśrī Dācus received the Outstanding Commitment in Education award from Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs during LGBTQ+ History Month.

People assigned male at birth who belong to a sexual or gender minority group were twice as likely to use methamphetamine following an HIV diagnosis.

Gregory Phillips II, PhD, has been named the new director of Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Epidemiology (MS Epi) program.

ISGMH trainee Will Liem was awarded the Ethics and Artificial Intelligence Research Grant to develop generative AI tools for sex education geared towards LGBTQ+ teens.

Original works by four local Chicago LGBTQ+ artists are now on display at ISGMH, which commissioned the works as part of its ARTGASM mini residency program.

The SILOS Project will examine the social and structural factors leading to racial/ethnic differences in HIV transmission and substance use among young men who have sex with men and transgender women.

Public health campaigns for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should shift to sex-positive messaging, researchers say.

Northwestern’s Institute for Sexual and Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) came out to support the LGBTQ+ community at the 2024 Chicago Pride Fest on June 22-June 23.

Northwestern University Professor Brian Mustanski, PhD, has been appointed to the Advisory Committee to the Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Monica Bertagnolli.

The PrEP4Teens sexual health initiative will bring artwork to public spaces across Chicago.

Former postdoctoral fellow alithia zamantakis, PhD, was promoted to research assistant professor at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing on October 1.

Transgender women and Black gay and bisexual men in Chicago are nearly twice as likely to contract syphilis at some point in their lives as white gay men.

The second annual Summer Intensive Program in Intersectional BIPOC SGM-focused HIV Science was held at Northwestern University from July 31 to August 11, 2023.

Congratulations to Cindy Veldhuis, PhD, for winning the 2023 NIH Sexual & Gender Minority Early-Stage Investigator Award!

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) designated ISGMH’s SMART Sex Ed program as an evidence-informed intervention for HIV prevention.

A five-year, $3.2 million grant from National Institute of Mental Health will support a health communication and media strategy designed to lay the groundwork for an effective rollout of a future HIV vaccine among young people.

The Northwestern University Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) is thrilled to welcome Joshua Schrock, PhD, MPH, as a new research assistant professor.

Madison Shea Smith, PhD, joined Northwestern University's Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) and Department of Medical Social Sciences as a research assistant professor on July 1.

ISGMH convened scientists, policymakers, community organizations, and LGBTQ+ community members to discuss the inclusion and advancement of LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM fields on May 30 in Washington, DC.  

PrEP4Teens, a sexual health campaign for adolescents, recently received $310,000 in funding to increase awareness of PrEP in Chicago.

Network Canvas will develop a new cloud-based version of their research tool with support of a $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.