Jessica Fish

Jessica Fish, PhD, is assistant professor in the Department of Family Science in the School of Public Health. She is a human development and family science scholar whose research focuses on the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people and their families. Her overarching goal is to identify modifiable factors that contribute to sexual and gender minority health disparities to inform developmentally-sensitive policies, programs and prevention strategies that promote the health of sexual and gender minority people across the life course.

Dr. Fish directs the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Health (SOGI Health) Lab which studies the socio-cultural and interpersonal factors that shape the development and health of sexual and gender minority youth and adults. The lab seeks to better understand and support the positive development and health of LGBTQ young people.

Recent projects at the SOGI Lab have focused on the social consequences of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+ people, suicidal ideation and substance use among sexual minority adolescents, LGBTQ+ community centers and programs, and LGBTQ family socialization.

Dr. Fish also serves as the principal investigator and Deputy Director for Research and Evaluation for the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center (UMD-PRC). She assists with the center’s investigation of mental health services’ adoption of LGBTQ+ clinical competence training.