Impact Institute at Northwestern University

A huge congrats to the Network Canvas team on receiving the 2025 Richards award 🎉
Their free and open-source program allows researchers to easily design, capture, and export network data. networkcanvas.com (photo by Network Canvas)

Chicago Pride Fest

Visit the Impact Institute at Chicago Pride Fest this weekend!

Stop by our table from 10am - 6pm on Saturday and Sunday to meet our fabulous staff, learn about health research on LGBTQ populations, and participate in some fun activities.

northalsted.com/main-events/...

four half day workshop on design for academics and researchers. Email MSS_education@northwestern.edu to get on the list to be alerted when registration starts.

🎨 Calling all health researchers!
Tired of confusing graphs, chaotic slides, and posters no one reads? 📊📈📉

💡Join us for “Visualizing Health Research” — a hands-on workshop that will give you a toolbox 🧰 to level up your design game. 🧵👇

🧠 Email MSS_education@northwestern.edu to get on email list.

Impact Institute - Northwestern University

We are thrilled to embark on a new chapter of research and community-engaged work that aims to support all individuals, their families, and the world.

Visit us at impact-institute.northwestern.edu.

Northwestern Impact Institute

Introducing the Impact Institute, formerly known as the Institute for Sexual and General Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH)!

The name Impact Institute is a nod to one of our first programs researching the health of #LGBTQ populations.

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour PBS News Weekend live episode, June 7, 2025

“We’re at this formative moment where there is now a community of scientists ready to apply their skills to the health of #LGBTQ Americans and are having their work decimated by NIH cuts. These cuts are unprecedented,” institute director @mustanski.bsky.social tells PBS.

youtu.be/cKcRrcURqRU?...

ISGMH's 2025 postdoctoral showcase. Thurs, Mary 22, 2025. 12:00 pm CT.

Join ISGMH on May 22 for our annual Postdoctoral Fellow Showcase!

This year’s event features exciting LGBTQ health research presentations from 5 postdocs: Emily Esposito, John Guigayoma, @tim-levengood.bsky.social, @jonathanlpzmts.bsky.social, and Mariajosé Paton.

Register today: buff.ly/rUSA6Yh

Conversion Therapy Exposure and Elevated Cardiovascular Disease Risk This cohort study assesses whether exposure to sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts is associated with cardiovascular disease risk in sexual and gender minority young adults assigned ...

Those who experienced conversion therapy to change their sexual orientation and/or gender identity for longer periods of time had worse cardiovascular health indicators.

Read the full paper: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Exposure to conversion therapy is associated with high blood pressure and increased systemic inflammation, according to a new paper from Northwestern researchers @jameskgibb.bsky.social, @mustanski.bsky.social, et al.

Conversion Therapy Exposure and Elevated Cardiovascular Disease Risk This cohort study assesses whether exposure to sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts is associated with cardiovascular disease risk in sexual and gender minority young adults assigned ...

The Supreme Court has decided to hear a case challenging local and state laws banning so-called “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ youth. Our new study in
@JAMANetworkOpen
is first to show these discredited practices increase risk for later heart disease. Free article: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Trump Administration Slashes Research Into L.G.B.T.Q. Health Nearly half of the N.I.H. grants canceled through early May — together worth more than $800 million — addressed the health of sexual and gender minority groups, The Times found.

The Trump administration has scrapped more than $800 million worth of research into the health of LGBTQ people, abandoning studies of cancers and viruses that tend to affect members of sexual minority groups, according to an analysis of federal data by The New York Times.

Cancer mortality rates have been dropping because of NIH and NCI funded research to Universities. Without it there would be no new cancer treatments that save lives.

“Although only a fraction of that promised money had been spent, Birkett had invested years of work into designing and securing funding for the study and had already recruited a community board across each of the five cities where it was poised to launch.” @michellebirkett.bsky.social

NIH Grant Cuts Aren't Saving Money. They're Wasting It. The Trump administration says the canceled funding is about cost efficiency, but data shows that the opposite is happening.

ISGMH Prof. “Michelle Birkett’s $3.8 million grant was ended in the first of its five years. The funding was awarded to understand — and ultimately address — disparities in HIV transmission and substance use among gay men and transgender women,” reports @bloomberg.com.

120 scientist working together to study how to effectively implement programs to end the HIV epidemic! That’s epic!

"We will have more HIV cases": Chicago researcher discusses NIH cuts Leading LGBTQ+ researcher says Trump administration funding cuts could have widespread impact.

"We are on the precipice of being able to end HIV in our country," ISGMH's @mustanski.bsky.social tells @axios.com.

"We have the tools to solve it, ... but if we back off that, if we take our foot off the pedal, we will have more #HIV cases in the United States." www.axios.com/local/chicag...

ADVOCATE researches healthcare inequalities for LGBTQ+ people Northwestern’s ADVOCATE Center, a learning health system for improving health equity for LGBTQ+ patients and people with HIV, first launched in March, expanding upon their program that began in 2022. ...

Our new ADVOCATE Center improves healthcare and health equity for LGBTQIA+ people and people living with HIV through research, practice, and policy.

“We’re gonna keep the lights on and keep doing good work,” center co-director Dr. Sumanas Jordan told @thedailynu.bsky.social. buff.ly/YJr3giK

Trump administration axes more than $125M in LGBTQ health funding, upending research field The administration’s cancellation of hundreds of grants is dismantling the LGBTQ-focused research field, built out of nothing over a quarter century.

The NIH has canceled more than 270 grants, totaling at least $125 million, focused on LGBTQ health in recent weeks.

Trump administration axes more than $125M in LGBTQ health funding, upending research field The administration’s cancellation of hundreds of grants is dismantling the LGBTQ-focused research field, built out of nothing over a quarter century.

In the past month, the NIH terminated many ISGMH grants focused on HIV prevention, LGBTQ health, and training early career scholars. The effect on our institute has been devastating.

Director @mustanski.bsky.social spoke to @nbcnews.com about the impact. www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...

Current Issues in LGBTQ Health. ADVOCATE CENTER LAUNCH AND PANEL DISCUSSION. ADVOCATE from research to practice to policy. MONDAY, MARCH 31 | 12PM CT. Northwestern Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing.

Join ISGMH as we celebrate the launch of our new ADVOCATE Center on Monday, March 31!

RSVP today: buff.ly/cnLKzUW

Congrats to Joli Robinson, @centeronhalsted.bsky.social & alithia zamantakis, Ph.D. @nufeinbergmss.bsky.social @isgmh.bsky.social on ARCC Partnership Development Grant: Building Capacity for a Community Based Research Partnership for LGBTQ Health and Wellbeing!

The ISCI team is hiring. Join ISCI as the Project Director -- leads ISCI’s project and personnel management, develops and implements project plans, and provides scientific and technical leadership. Apply now.

The HIV Implementation Science Coordination Initiative (ISCI) at Northwestern is now hiring an experienced Project Director to help drive impactful implementation science research in a collaborative environment.

Position details: buff.ly/3XcCgvX

The Supreme Court may hinder access to this HIV prevention, gay sex drug. Why? The only way to combat stigma around sex and HIV is to strive for common ground and understanding.

“Stigma against PrEP is shaped by homophobia, racism and transphobia, and a moral argument about who deserves to have sex and who does not,” ISGMH's alithia zamantakis tells @usatoday.com about the HIV prevention medication.

A Grad Turns Research Into Real Change for LGBTQ+ Health Jonathan López Matos realizes a childhood ambition as an NIH-funded postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern University.

Alumnus Jonathan López Matos explains how his Ph.D. in Psychology helped him reach his dreams of becoming a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing @isgmh.bsky.social www.gc.cuny.edu/news/grad-tu...

Chicago Tonight Watch/Listen Live | Chicago News | WTTW Watch and listen to Chicago Tonight live on your mobile device, streaming to your smart TV, or on your computer.

ISGMH’s alithia zamantakis will appear on @wttw.bsky.social this evening to discuss the impact of recent executive orders on transgender individuals.

Tune in to "Chicago Tonight" at 5:30pm CT: news.wttw.com/content/chic...

Northwestern Prison Education Program. Intersecting Identities: LGBTQIA+ Populations, Victimization, and the Criminal Legal System. Hosted by Dr. Veronica Gonzalez. Featuring Dr. Marquis Bey, Dr. Gregory Phillips, Bryant Jackson-Green, Susana Avalos, and Kris Rosentel. January 14th, 2025. 6:00 pm CT. bit.ly/npepjusticefellows. Mellon Foundation.

TOMORROW, join the Northwestern Prison Education Program for a virtual panel on LGBTQIA+ populations and the criminal legal system featuring ISGMH’s Gregory Phillips II.

The panel starts at 6pm CT here: bit.ly/npepjusticefellows

Come see me discuss some new work from Policing the Rainbow on January 16! You can join virtually or in person.

ISGMH presents Current Issues in LGBTQ Health. Policing the Rainbow: LGBTQ Experiences with and Attitudes Toward the Police. With Stefan Vogler. January 16, 12 - 1pm CT.

Join ISGMH for our first Current Issues in LGBTQ Health lecture of the year!

On January 16, @svogler.bsky.social will present exploratory findings on the relationship between police contact and #LGBTQ people’s health using data from a national sample.

Register today: buff.ly/4h0ASEs

Happy 2025! Ready for my year of #LGBTQ research and work at @isgmh.bsky.social

#FUNDING: Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) 2025 #CommunityResearch #HealthEquity Seed Grants
👉 Community Research Capacity-Building $3K, 6 mos
👉 Partnership Development $8K, 12 mos
👉 Research Pilot $30K, 24 mos (info session 1/29)

Deadline: 4/22/25
bit.ly/ARCCgrants