“His Gift Saved the Study”: Yale Donor Gives LGBTQ+ Research a Lifeline

For decades, LGBTQ+ individuals have experienced disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide.

Dr. John Pachankis, PhD, who directs the Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative—one of the world’s leading academic centers on LGBTQ+ mental health research—is determined to change that.

His team is testing an online program for LGBTQ+ youth and their parents that’s designed to build empathy. “Family support is the single most important buffer against mental health risks in LGBTQ+ youth,” Pachankis said.

In March 2025, funding for that study and others was cut by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative lost all eight of its federal NIH grants and contracts totaling about $5 million.

“There was no precedent for this,” said Pachankis, the David R. Kessler, M.D. '55 Professor of Public Health, professor of psychology and professor of psychiatry. “The NIH has historically honored its contracts, even as political winds shift. This time, all of our funding was abruptly cut, solely because our work focused on LGBTQ+ people.”

Clinical trials halted midstream, leaving research participants, many of whom were receiving treatment for major depressive disorder or substance dependence, without care. Blood samples collected for a different study—one of the few longitudinal studies to analyze markers of inflammation in the blood of LGBTQ+ individuals and how they might affect mental health outcomes—could no longer be analyzed. “We had to make quick, painful decisions about what we could salvage,” Pachankis said.

He reached out to Jamie Marks, a Yale College alumnus and founder of The Constellation Project, a nonprofit focused on building family support for LGBTQ+ youth. Marks had partnered with Pachankis to recruit participants for the research on the importance of family support and empathy.

“When I told Jamie that the study had been cut, he immediately offered to support the continuation of the work,” Pachankis said. “His gift has saved this study.”

Dr. Kirsty Clark, PhD, MPH ‘16, a former student who continues to collaborate with Pachankis, said she was devastated to learn about the funding cuts. An assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, Clark also is an expert in LGBTQ+ youth mental health.

“It also highlights unique strengths—like community resilience and chosen families—that can inform interventions for everyone.”

Hunter Baldwin, a postgraduate associate with the Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative, heard about the funding cuts at a team meeting. He recalls Pachankis saying, “We just have to put one foot in front of the other, it’s all we can do.”

Pachankis remains hopeful. “What makes me optimistic is the students,” Pachankis said. “I teach a course on LGBTQ+ population health, and year after year, these incredibly bright students choose to devote themselves to this work. Jamie’s gift means they don’t have to give up on their commitment—or their hope.”