John Pachankis, PhD

John Pachankis, Ph.D. is the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Public Health and, secondarily, of Psychiatry and Psychology. As Director of Yale’s LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative, his goals are to: (1) identify the complex reasons that LGBTQ populations experience one of the highest risks for mental health morbidity across all of psychiatric epidemiology and (2) bring effective mental health treatments to LGBTQ people in the US and around the world. His NIH-funded studies span population-based cohorts, clinical trials, and community implementation research. This research first seeks to identify the developmental precursors and biopsychosocial mechanisms of LGBTQ people’s disproportionate mental health burden. These studies then also engage these mechanisms as treatment targets. These treatments have shown efficacy for reducing the co-occurring mental health risks commonly affecting LGBTQ people (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance use disorders) across several randomized controlled trials. He has published 180+ scientific papers on LGBTQ people’s mental health and co-edited the Handbook of Evidence-Based Mental Health Practice with Sexual and Gender Minorities (Oxford University Press). His research has received several awards, has influenced policy, and appears in international media.

You can learn more about his research at https://medicine.yale.edu/lgbtqmentalhealth/