NIH Grants $35,832 to Study Gender Minority Birthing People

The U.S. National Institutes of Health awarded a five‑figure grant of $35,832 to Pond Ezra, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The funding supports a longitudinal mixed‑methods study titled “Longitudinal Mixed Methods Analysis of Risk and Protective Factors Influencing Psychological Distress in Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Birthing People.” The project will examine how social support and medical care affect the mental‑health trajectories of SGM birthing people throughout the perinatal period.

The grant was announced in February. The Independent Women’s Forum, a center‑right policy organization, criticized the award as “ideological activism,” arguing that federal money should prioritize broader maternal‑health research. Neither the NIH, the university nor Ezra provided comment. Ezra, who uses they/them pronouns, works in the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity lab led by Dr. Jessica Fish and focuses on transgender parenting and related mental‑health outcomes.