Tonda Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN

Principal Investigator
pronouns: she/her/hers

Columbia University
School of Nursing
Executive Director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research, Associate Dean of Global Studies, and Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing (in Psychiatry)

Dr. Tonda Hughes is Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC); previously she was Collegiate Professor and Associate Dean for Global Health in the College of Nursing, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health at UIC. She is currently a tenured professor at Columbia University School of Nursing and a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.  She also holds honorary appointments in Australia (University of Technology-Sydney & Deakin University) and in England (Oxford Brookes University). Dr. Hughes has a distinguished career in substance abuse research focusing on women’s mental health and is an internationally recognized expert in sexual minority women’s health. Her pioneering studies on have received funding since 1999 from the National Institutes of Health and have grown into the world’s longest running longitudinal study of sexual minority women’s health. She has served as Co-Investigator on numerous other funded studies with researchers from major U.S. and Australian institutions, including the University of Melbourne where she was a Visiting Professor from 2009-2014.

Phoenix A. Matthews, PhD, LCP

Co-Investigator
pronouns: they/them/theirs

Columbia University
School of Nursing
Professor of Behavioral Sciences (in Nursing)

Dr. Matthews is nationally and internationally known for their health disparities research with underserved populations. They are a Professor and clinical psychologist with more than 25 years of experience in examining determinants of cancer-related health disparities with a focus on racial/ethnic minorities and other underserved populations. Their recent research focuses on the use of community-based and culturally targeted health promotion interventions to reduce risk factors associated with cancer disparities including smoking cessation treatments. Dr. Matthews has served as the PI of five NIH funded grants and co-investigator for several others and is the author of over 140 peer-reviewed publications.

Wendy Bostwick, PhD

Former Co-Investigator
pronouns: she/her/hers

University of Illinois at Chicago
Associate Professor

Dr. Bostwick’s area of research is health disparities of sexual minority women; currently she is PI of an R21 study of the health effects of microaggressions on bisexual women recruited from the CHLEW study sample using electronic diaries and qualitative interviews. Dr. Bostwick worked on with the CHLEW team a decade ago during her doctoral work in the UIC School of Public Health. Dr. Bostwick’s primary area of interest is bisexual women’s health.

Bethany Everett, PhD

Former Co-Investigator
pronouns: she/her/hers

University of Utah
Assistant Professor of Sociology

Dr. Everett has been part of the study team since 2012 when she was a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at UIC.  Her research uses quantitative methods to examine social determinants of health disparities among sexual minorities; using CHLEW research, she has published papers on unintended pregnancies; sexual identity mobility; and the impact of civil union legislation on depression, stress and drinking in sexual minority populations.

Tim Johnson, PhD

Consultant and Former Co-Investigator
pronouns: he/him/his

University of Illinois at Chicago
Institute for Health Research and Policy
Professor Emeritus of Public Administration

Dr. Johnson's areas of expertise include survey methodology and health behaviors among disadvantaged populations. He has conducted numerous studies designed to validate self-reported health information. His work on nonresponse error has been directed at developing new methods for identifying the effects of nonresponse mechanisms on the quality of survey estimates, as well as the development and testing of new approaches to adjusting for nonresponse bias.

Sharon Wilsnack, PhD

Consultant and Former Co-Investigator
pronouns: she/her/hers

University of North Dakota
Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor (retired)

Dr. Sharon Wilsnack's background includes experience as a substance abuse therapist and treatment program director as well as in research and medical education. Her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees are from Harvard University.  She has published extensively on issues related to women’s use of alcohol and other drugs and has addressed numerous national and international audiences. Dr. Wilsnack co-directed the 20-year National Study of Health and Life Experiences of Women—funded by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism—which the CHLEW study replicated and expanded to focus on sexual minority women.

Cindy Veldhuis, PhD

Research Scientist
pronouns: she/her/hers

Columbia University
School of Nursing

Dr. Cindy Veldhuis (pronounced Veld-hice) is a research psychologist and a recent National Institutes of Health K99/R00 Pathway to Independence awardee. Dr. Veldhuis’ K99/R00 (Dr. Hughes is co-mentor with Dr. J. Pachankis at Yale) takes a novel mixed-methods approach to examining associations between stress and alcohol use among women in same-sex relationships. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2016 and completed her masters (Cognitive Psychology) and bachelors (double major: Theater and Psychology) degrees at the University of Oregon. She recently completed an individual NIH/NIAAA Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Research Fellowship focused on intersectionality in the associations between relationships and alcohol use. In 2019, she was invited to give a talk on the effects of the 2016 election on LGBTQ+ people at the United Nations. She also is PI of an international study on mental health and relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Veldhuis has won multiple awards for her research, including from the American Psychological Association and the Research Society on Alcoholism/NIAAA.

Amelia Talley, PhD

Collaborator
Pronouns: she/her/hers; they/them/theirs

Texas Tech University
Assistant Professor of Psychology

Dr. Talley is a social/personality psychologist who has been working with the CHLEW study team since 2011. Although she does not have an official role on the current grant Amelia regularly attends CHLEW meetings, contributes to manuscripts, and is currently working on the resubmission of an NIH application that proposes to interview the adult daughters of participants in the NSHLEW and CHLEW.

Melanie Wall, PhD

Statistician
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Columbia University
Department of Psychiatry
Professor of Biostatistics in Psychiatry

Dr. Melanie Wall is the director of Mental Health Data Science in the Columbia University department of psychiatry.  Her expertise is in using advanced statistical methods (e.g. longitudinal trajectory modeling, latent variable modeling, structural equation modeling) to better understand risk and protective factors for psychosocial and behavioral health outcomes. She has applied these methodologies extensively on a wide array of psychosocial public health and psychiatric research questions, including those affecting sexual and gender minorities. 

Kelly R. Martin, MEd, MPH

Project Director

Kelly has worked with the CHLEW study team since 2003. After working as public school teacher and then starting an alternative high school with friends from college and serving as the principal/teacher, Kelly Martin began her career in research as the Field Manager for an 8-year longitudinal study on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. She has also worked on colon cancer studies, sleep apnea studies and a clinical drug trial.  She has a master’s degree in educational administration from UCLA and a master’s degree in public health (MPH) from UIC.

Pat Ruch, MA, MBA

Field Coordinator
pronouns: she/her/hers

Pat Ruch has worked in research and coordination across her career from network news research and production, to consumer marketing and university administration. She graduated with master’s degrees in International Studies and Business from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross.