Dr. Alicia K. Matthews spoke to a room of about 40 students at
the University of Illinois at Chicago campus about health
disparities among LGBTQ individuals Thursday as part of a UIC
Pride for the national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Health Awareness Week. Matthews is a Associate Professor in the
Department of Health Systems Science at UIC whose research
interests are centered around examining the factors associated
with physical and mental health disparities among members of
marginalized social groups. Since 2006 Matthews has also been a
principal investigator at Howard Brown Health Center. The
purpose of this discussion for Matthews was to “help the next
generation of scholars” address these issues in their own
communities and to highlight the fact that there are “so many
great things going on in the West Side” related to LGBTQ health.
Liz Thomson, assistant director of the UIC Gender & Sexuality
department, was excited at the prospect of using this discussion
to bring together those from the we