Research

Research Focus

Econometric and epidemiologic methods

Transgender and intersex health equity

Medicare and Medicaid policy

Chronic disease, HIV care, and mental health

Intersectional analysis, researching with communities

You can download my full CV here (PDF) or explore selected highlights below.

Dissertation Findings:

What my research found
(and why it matters)

April, 2026

I've been studying how transgender Medicare beneficiaries develop chronic conditions and receive care for their chronic conditions.

While many have been doing this by gathering stories and studying cases of individuals, I am approaching these questions quantitatively for the first time, using the “big data” of insurance claims.

Here are the top four things from my research I want people to remember:

Trans people get sicker, sooner.

1

Trans people develop chronic conditions (heart disease, kidney disease, COPD) at higher rates and earlier in life than comparable cisgender people. Decades of stigma and stress take a measurable toll on the body.

Trans people use more healthcare
(and not just for gender-affirming care.)

2

Trans Medicare beneficiaries are more likely to use every kind of care: doctor's visits, emergency rooms, hospitalizations, dialysis, home health, and nursing facilities. This is about chronic disease, not transition-related care.

The care trans people receive is worse
and more fragmented.

3

Trans beneficiaries are less likely to receive recommended medications (including statins for heart disease and diabetes) and more likely to bounce between providers without coordination.

Providers who see more trans patients give them better care.

4

They don't become better doctors overall, they specifically learn how to care for trans people well. Concentrated experience matters. We are not yet at a point where trans-competent care can “dissolve” into the general healthcare system and come out equitable on the other side.

Why this matters to everyone

“We all do better when we all do better.”
- Paul Wellstone

Trans people are not all young, and that will (wonderfully) only become more true over time.

Our aging infrastructure (nursing homes, home health agencies, hospice care) is not prepared to care for trans people with dignity. A heart attack is devastating for the person and those close to them, but it is also enormously costly (costs that, for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, are borne by all of us.)

Equitable care isn't just the right thing to do from a moral, ethical, and public health perspective. It's also the fiscally responsible thing to do.

Trans people have been

naming these problems

for a long time.

Now, for the first time,

we have the quantitative data

to back them up.

Publications

Peer-reviewed Publications

  1. Babbs G, Offiaeli K, Hughto JMW, Balkan E, Wilson IB, Shireman TI, Meyers DJ.  Intersectional HIV disparities among transgender Medicare beneficiaries of color. In press at AIDS.

  2. Babbs G*, Breslow AS*, Cavic E, Thomas I, Progovac AM, Restar A, Sims GM, Zelaya DG, Hanna DB, Datta D, Reopell R, Golub S, Alpert J, Cook BL, Garrett-Walker J. The trans care paradox: mental health disparities among transgender and nonbinary patients in a trans-protective environment. In press at theAmerican Psychologist.

  3. Babbs G, Balkan E, Flores R, Hughto JMW. National policy changes impacting transgender populations and their implications for researchers and public health. American Journal of Public Health. 2026. 116(4). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2025.308386.

  4. Breyer C, Babbs G. Coming together in uncertain times: Using collaborative autoethnography to strengthen intergenerational LGBTQ+ solidarity.  Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 2026. 47(2). DOI: 10.1080/01612840.2026.2632179.

  5. Milando CW, Polka E, Grady ST, Brand C,  Mueller SC, Handricken K, Babbs G, Canate T, Sinha A, Friedman A, Senier L,  Heiger-Bernays W, Fabian MP, Schlezinger JJ, Scammell MK. Communication recovery in the classroom: A mixed-methods evaluation of a pilot program. Frontiers in Education.2026. 11. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2026.1717954

  6. Babbs G*, Breslow AS*, Cavic E, Thomas I, Gibaldi I, Progovac AM, Restar A, Sims GM, Alpert J, Cook BL, Fiori KP, Levano S, Chambers EC. Disparities in documented screening and odds for health-related social needs among transgender patients in an urban safety-net healthcare system. Health Affairs Scholar.2026. 4(1). DOI: 10.1093/haschl/qxaf226. 

  7. Koma JW, Khong K, Freitas Dias A, Babbs G, Rosenthal M, Charlton B, Huskamp HA, McDowell A, Fung V. Unmet mental health need and barriers to care among transgender and cisgender adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2025. 70(5). DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2025.108246.

  8. Babbs G, Dai D, Boskey ER, Balkan E, Hughto JMW.  Challenges and Best Practices Using Claims Data to Study Gender-Affirming Surgery in Transgender and Gender-Diverse Populations. American Journal of Public Health.2025. 115(10). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2025.308187.

    1. Babbs G, Dai D, Boskey ER, Balkan E, Hughto JMW. Babbs et al. Respond. American Journal of Public Health. 2026. 116(2):186-187. DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2025.308363

  9. Stetten NE, Kelly PJA, Shireman TI, Balkan E, Babbs G, Alpert AB, Wolfe HL, Meyers DJ, Hughto JMW. Understanding provider treatment approaches for the provision of gender-affirming hormones in the current US political climate. American Journal of Public Health. 2025. 115(10). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2025.308143

  10. Babbs G, Hughto JMW, Hughes LD, Shireman TI, Meyers DJ. Chronic conditions and health care use comparison between transgender/gender diverse and cisgender Medicare beneficiaries. Transgender Health. Published online June 4, 2025. DOI:10.1089/trgh.2024.0231011-2020. 

  11. Babbs G, Offiaeli K, Hughto JMW, Hughes LD, Shireman TI, Meyers DJ. Cardiovascular health disparities at the intersection of race and gender modality in Medicare: insights from a quantitative intersectional study.  JAMA Health Forum. 2025. 6(8). DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.3014

  12. Balkan E, Babbs G, Meyers DJ, Kelly PJA, Yee K, Pletta DR, Shireman TI, Alpert AB, Hughto JMW. Estimates of gender-affirming surgery for transgender and gender-diverse Medicare beneficiaries.  JAMA Network Open. 2025. 8(5). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.8072

  13. Hughto JMW, Varma H, Yee K, Babbs G, Hughes LD, Pletta DR, Meyers DJ, Shireman TI. Characterizing disparities in the HIV care continuum among transgender and cisgender Medicare beneficiaries. AIDS Care. 2025. 37(3). DOI:10.1080/09540121.2025.2453831

  14. Babbs G*, Mulcahy A*, Ellison J, Varma H, Pletta DR, Yee K, Hughes LD, Shireman TI, Hughto JMW. Chronic conditions among transgender Medicare beneficiaries: variation by race/ethnicity and Medicaid dual-enrollment. Disability and Health. 2025. 18(2). DOI: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2024.101764

  15. Babbs G*, Alpert AB*, Sanaeikia R, Ellison J, Hughes LD, Herington, Dembroff R. Doing justice: Ethical considerations identifying and researching transgender and gender diverse people in insurance claims data.  Journal of Medical Systems. 2024. 48(96). DOI: 10.1007/s10916-024-02111

  16. Babbs G, Hughto JMW, Shireman TI, Meyers DJ. Emergency department use among transgender and cisgender Medicare beneficiaries in 2011-2020. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2024 Feb 12; 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.8209

  17. Babbs G, Weber S, Abdalla S, Cesare N, Nsoesie EO. Use of machine learning methods to understand discussions of female genital mutilation/cutting on social media PLOS Global Health. 2023 Jul 25;3(7):e0000878. DOI:10.1371/journal.pgph.0000878 

  18. Hughto JW, Varma H, Babbs G, Yee K, Alpert A Hughes LD, Ellison J, Downing J, Shireman TI. Disparities in health condition diagnoses among aging transgender and cisgender Medicare beneficiaries, 2008-2017. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2023 Mar 13; 14;  DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1102348

  19. Babbs G, Raifman JR, Wolfe HL, Lipson SK. (2023) Sexual and gender minority university students report distress due to discriminatory health care policies. Stigma and Health. DOI: 10.1037/sah0000459

Under Review

  1. Babbs G, Ganguli I, Bilinski A. Reproducibility in Biomedical Research: A Systems Prescription. Under conditional acceptance at the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

  2. Stanley BJ, Babbs G, Hughto JMW, Meyers DJ. Mental health therapy utilization among transgender Medicare beneficiaries, 2011–2019. Under revise and resubmit at Medical Care Research and Review.

  3. Babbs G, Hughto JMW, Shireman TI, Trivedi AN, Meyers DJ. Differences in receipt of quality chronic disease care between cisgender and transgender Medicare beneficiaries.