About the lab
The Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity (SGMHE) Lab, led by Annesa Flentje, PhD, seeks to better understand and improve health disparities among LGBTQ+ people. We study how stressors related to stigma and discrimination – collectively termed minority stress – impact mental and physical health for sexual and gender minority people. Bridging the fields of clinical psychology, molecular biology, epidemiology, and public health, our team conducts translational research investigating the molecular impacts of minority stress and develops new, evidence-based, LGBTQ-affirming mental health interventions to improve outcomes like substance use, mood, and anxiety disorders.