Tonda L. Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN
Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing & Founding Executive Director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research
Columbia School of Nursing
New York, New York, USA
Dr. Tonda L. Hughes is a pioneering global health researcher and academic leader whose work has fundamentally advanced the science of sexual and gender minority health. Her research focuses on women’s mental health and substance use, with a particular emphasis on sexual minority women’s health—an area in which she is internationally recognized as a leading expert. She holds the Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing endowed chair at Columbia University School of Nursing and is the founder and Director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research, the first center of its kind within U.S. nursing. She also holds an interdisciplinary appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Columbia University College of Medicine, reflecting the broad relevance of her scholarship to behavioral health and health equity.
Dr. Hughes is Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois Chicago and has held honorary or visiting professorships across the world, including in England (Oxford Brookes University), Australia (University of Melbourne, Deakin University, University of Technology Sydney), and Chile (Pontificia Universidad Católica), as well as visiting roles at U.S. institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University.
Since 1999, Dr. Hughes' research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her signature contribution is the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study—a landmark longitudinal cohort and the longest-running study of sexual minority women’s health. With more than 300 peer reviewed publications and extensive national and international presentations, she has generated foundational evidence on mental health, substance use, and health disparities among sexual minority women. Dr. Hughes has consulted with multiple U.S. federal agencies and advised researchers globally, including colleagues in Australia, Canada, Chile, India, New Zealand, Thailand, and in Europe and Africa.