UIC NURSE-RESEARCHER NAMED TO CHICAGO'S GAY/LESBIAN HALL OF
FAME
Tonda Hughes, associate professor of nursing at the University of
Illinois at Chicago, has been named to Chicago's Gay and Lesbian
Hall
of Fame for her outstanding contributions during more than 10 years
of
research and advocacy in lesbian health.
Her work has influenced public policy at both the local and national
level.
Hughes, who is also director of research for the UIC Center of
Excellence in Women's Health, is conducting what is believed to
be the
first-ever longitudinal study of lesbian health under a $1.5 million
grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The study is examining changes over a three-year period in drinking
patterns and the factors that influence those changes.
"Understanding factors that increase or buffer lesbians' risk of
heavy
drinking and alcohol-related problems will permit the development
of
more culturally relevant prevention and intervention strategies,"
Hughes said.
Early studies of lesbians' and gay men's drinking patterns are flawed
because they were based on individuals recruited from gay bars,
Hughes
said. "It's not surprising that these studies found high rates of
alcohol abuse and alcoholism."
Her own earlier work, also funded by the NIH, suggests that lesbians
who drink do so at levels similar to those of heterosexual women.
However, lesbians appear more likely to have been treated for
alcohol-related problems or to be in recovery.
In addition, lesbians report high rates of some risk factors, such
as
depression, that may increase their overall risk for heavy drinking
or
drinking-related problems.
Hughes' pioneering research began in 1992, when, in collaboration
with
the Chicago Lesbian Community Cancer Project, she helped initiate
and
conduct the first lesbian health needs assessment in the city. Since
then she has published or edited numerous articles in professional
journals, as well as book chapters and government monographs.
She has lectured all over the world on lesbian health issues and
currently serves on advisory boards for Chicago's Office of Gay
and
Lesbian Health, the Gay and Lesbian Needs Assessment committee of
the
Oak Park/River Forest Community Foundation and the Women's Health
Research Program in the Howard Brown Health Center.
Hughes has served as a consultant on lesbian health issues to several
federal agencies and contributed to the Institute of Medicine's
report
in 1999 on lesbian health research priorities and the 2001 Healthy
People document on the subject.
For her work, Hughes has received awards from the Chicago Lesbian
Community Cancer Project; Sigma Theta Tau, the international nurses'
honor society; the Illinois Nurses Society on Addictions; and the
National Nurses Society on Addictions. In 2001 she was made a fellow
of
the American Academy of Nursing, the profession's highest honor.
Hughes and other nominees will be inducted into the Hall of Fame
at a
ceremony to be held Oct. 21 at the Chicago Cultural Center.
The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, established in 1991, is
the
world's only known municipally sponsored hall of fame that honors
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
Its
purpose is to recognize the achievements of these individuals, their
contributions to the development of the city and the help they have
received from others. Those inducted into the Hall of Fame are
individuals, organizations or friends of the community.
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