PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 16, 2024
Contact: Eli Duffy
Communications & Development Manager
eduffy@glma.org
WASHINGTON, DC - The Lesbian Health Fund (LHF), a fierce advocate for promoting the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ women and girls, is excited to unveil the recipients of its 2024 grant program. The Lesbian Health Fund is a program of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality.
Since its inception in 1992, LHF has funded 134 research projects, awarding over $1.2 million in grants. These grants are crucial catalysts to larger, multi-million dollar studies funded by federal agencies. And today, LHF remains the only research fund dedicated solely to advancing the understanding of the unique health needs of LGBTQ+ women and girls.
Over the past three decades, the LHF community has evolved to reflect the growth and increased visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. While progress has been made, LHF remains committed to prioritizing research conducted by and for LGBTQ+ women and girls, striving to address the ongoing disparities that persist within this population.
The 2024 grant cycle underscores LHF and GLMA's steadfast dedication to meeting the unique health needs of LGBTQ+ women and girls. This initiative aims to specifically empower communities impacted by sexism, misogyny, transmisogyny, and misogynoir, all while embracing an anti-oppressive framework to advance health justice.
Congratulations to the 2024 Lesbian Health Fund Recipients:
Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, MPH, LICSW, MSW (she/her)
Co-Director of Research in the Division of Gynecology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Instructor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School
Proposal: De-Gendering Reproductive Health – A Pilot Study
Madeleine Miller, BS (she/her)
Doctoral student in the Health Psychology and Clinical Science program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Danielle Berke, PhD (she/her)
Associate Professor of Psychology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center
Proposal: An Implementation Pilot Trial of DBT Delivered in a Black-Transgender-Woman-Led Community Based Organization
Annie Nickell, MA (she/her)
Clinical psychology PhD candidate at the University of North Dakota
Elleh Driscoll, MS (she/her)
Clinical psychology PhD program graduate student at the University of North Dakota
Proposal: Investigating Adaptations of a Campus Self-Defense and Sex Education Intervention to Reduce the Risk of Sexual Assault for Bisexual Women and Nonbinary Students at Rural Colleges
“This year's grantees exemplify the innovative and inclusive approaches necessary to advance health outcomes for LGBTQ+ women and girls,” said Carey Candrian, PhD (she/her), VP of the Lesbian Health Fund. “Their projects address critical issues, including gender-inclusive and equitable health data collection, community-based mental health initiatives, and crucial research on sexual violence prevention for LGBTQ+ women and girls, a field that remains largely underexplored. LHF is proud to announce this year's grantees and is committed to advancing research on the distinctive health challenges faced by LGBTQ+ women and girls, a demographic that has historically been neglected in health studies.”
Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, MPH, LICSW, MSW discusses the healthcare system impacts of this funding on LGBTQ+ women and girls:
“Reproductive healthcare and health information often assume that individuals are cisgender and heterosexual by default. While it is possible to remove these gendered assumptions, in recent years, there has been a backlash against the idea of degendering “women’s health” information. While people may be bothered by the concept of removing explicitly gendered terminology from health information, this research is designed to test the hypothesis that most people do not notice or mind when this is done in practice. Our secondary hypothesis is that sexual and gender minority individuals born with a uterus and ovaries will find inclusive health materials more relevant to them while cisgender, heterosexual women will find no difference between explicitly gendered and inclusive information.”
Madeleine Miller, BS, and Danielle Berke, PhD, highlight how this funding will support community-based initiatives for LGBTQ+ women and girls:
“Support from the Lesbian Health Fund will facilitate the implementation of a dialectical behavior therapy skills group delivered within a Black, transgender-woman led, community-based organization – The Brooklyn GHOST (Guiding and Helping Others Survive Transition) Project. The community organization partner provides support for transgender and non-binary people of color throughout New York City. Our proposed project aims to address the mental health needs of community members by implementing a transdiagnostic, evidence-based, group intervention within the community space. The project will also serve as a blueprint for conducting community engaged implementation science with transgender women and other racially marginalized sexual and gender minorities. As such, this project is positioned to chart a path for mental health resource allocation and overcoming longstanding issues of access to evidence-based mental health care for LGBTQ+ individuals.”
Annie Nickell, MA, and Elleh Driscoll, MS, emphasize the importance of this funding for sexual violence prevention among LGBTQ+ women and girls:
“Everyone deserves to have access to relevant and effective resistance training for sexual violence prevention. This funding from the Lesbian Health Fund will help address research gaps surrounding LBGTQ+ women, girls, and nonbinary assigned female at birth (AFAB) individuals who are at a significantly higher risk for experiencing sexual violence, but whose experiences remain vastly understudied in comparison to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This funding will support implementation of a sexual assault resistance program that will be adapted specifically for bisexual women and nonbinary AFAB individuals, aiming to reduce the high rates of sexual assault among these groups, as well as to improve their subjective experience in sexual violence programming. It is our mission that future resistance training and prevention programming can be confidently offered to all those who identify as LGBTQ+ and backed by these research efforts for years to come.”
We look forward to seeing the progress and achievements of these remarkable grantees throughout the year. You can learn more about the details of this year's grants here.
About the Lesbian Health Fund:
Since its inception in 1992, the Lesbian Health Fund has awarded more than $1 million in grants, supporting research and initiatives that aim to improve the health of LGBTQ+ women and girls. The LHF is committed to promoting research and services that improve the overall health, wellness, and quality of life for all individuals in the LGBTQ+ community. www.lesbianhealthfund.org
About GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality
GLMA is a national organization committed to ensuring health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities and equality for LGBTQ+ health professionals in their work and learning environments. To achieve this mission, GLMA utilizes the scientific expertise of its diverse multidisciplinary membership to inform and drive advocacy, education, and research. www.glma.org