As we close out 2022, we are proud to share some key highlights of The Fenway Institute’s important work this year.
We achieved a great deal this year through the collaborative efforts of our Fenway Institute faculty, staff, and colleagues. This included widespread dissemination of our work, success in grant-making for new work, and advancing the goals of our strategic plan. Some key highlights include:
Seven new faculty members joined The Fenway Institute: Brittany Charlton, Erica Dommasch, Calvin Fitch, Allegra Gordon, Whitney Irie, Amelia Stanton, and Carl Streed. These new faculty bring extensive and broad expertise to The Fenway Institute on a range of issues related to sexual and gender minority populations and those impacted by HIV. For more information, visit here.
Successful grant-making led to over $7 million in new funding, representing a total of 9 new grants. These include some exciting new projects in both the clinical research and education and training areas, examples include:
- The Fenway Institute will participate as a research site in the new cycle of the Adolescent Trials Network (ATN) for HIV/AIDS interventions, working to develop and test innovative strategies to prevent HIV in younger populations.
- Fenway Health, alongside Harvard Medical School, was chosen by the American Medical Association Foundation to join as the next institution(s) for their LGBTQ+ Fellowship Program.
Highlights of our research studies this year include:
- The initiation of our PURPOSE-2 trial, studying Lenacapravir, a PrEP modality that may be able to be given as a subcutaneous injection twice a year.
- The completion of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-funded study to assess the impact of training community health center staff in the provision of culturally-appropriate care for sexual and gender minority people.
- The successful end to two major efficacy trials: HPTN 083 which led to the licensure of long-acting cabotegravir for HIV PrEP, and the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial.
We continue to strive for transformation of health systems and social services through education, outreach and dissemination of our work:
- An Inaugural “Advancing Excellence in Sexual and Gender Minority Health Education: a Train-the-trainer Course for All Healthcare Professionals” with almost 150 participants from 30 states and 6 countries.
- Targethiv.org published eleven multimedia intervention toolkits from our HRSA e2i grant, providing guidance for improving health outcomes among people with HIV, in four focus areas: transgender women, Black men who have sex with men (MSM), behavioral health integration into HIV primary care, and identifying and addressing trauma.
- Fenway Institute Faculty authored more than 130 peer reviewed publications and received more than 1,100 media hits including interviews such as one featuring Medical Research Director Ken Mayer with The Washington Times about the monkeypox outbreak; Alex Keuroghlian with The New York Times about the Texas Governor’s push to investigate medical treatment for trans youth and Sean Cahill with Cancer Health about improving cancer outcomes for LGBTQIA+ patients.
- The Fenway Institute hosted the Judy Bradford Memorial LGBTQIA+ Women’s Health Forum featuring Dr. Tonia Poteat, and panelists Mary Anne Adams (ZAMI NOBLA) and Shaunya Thomas (Lesbians of Color Symposium Collective, Inc.).
And finally, congratulations to several of our faculty and staff on receiving promotions, being appointed to committees, or finishing educational or training programs!
- Amy Ben-Arieh (Director of Research Compliance) was invited to serve on the Board of Directors of the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs. She also contributed an Ethical Research Oversight Course (EROC) module to Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research; pragmatic strategies for IRBs seeking to adopt a more equitable lens in research ethics review.
- Michael Boroughs (Fenway Institute Faculty) was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor at a CPA-accredited doctoral training program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Windsor with a plan to be on sabbatical in New Zealand next year where he will work with a collaborator on a joint research project on bisexual health.
- Sarah Mitnick (Director of Program Operations) received her Masters of Business Administration degree from Boston University.
- David Pantalone (Fenway Institute Faculty) began a 3-year term on the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Professional Practice and Standards (2022-25), the body that develops and recommends standards and guidelines for psychologists in the U.S. Additionally, he was appointed as a Fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (2022).
- Kevin Smith (Clinical Research Operations Manager) earned his PhD in Health Behavior from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The title of his dissertation was: “Coming Out Kinky: A Mixed-Methods Study to Inform the Design of a Health Communication Campaign Promoting Disclosure of Kink Identity to Physical Healthcare Providers.”