About Threads

Threads (Towards Healthy Relationships, Equity, and Dynamic Sexualities) Research Lab (formerly known as the Healthy Relationships Team) is led by Dr. Kamila A. Alexander, an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Our research is focused on advancing sexual and reproductive health equity among marginalized youth and young adults. Our current projects focus on building foundational violence and HIV prevention science.

We are an interdisciplinary team of students and scholars committed to social justice and community-based research.

Threads represents the relationships and connections we make with one another that can determine the health of our society.

Our lab finds ways to tighten those threads or support existing bonds to strengthen the fabric of our communities.

Violence & HIV are globally recognized public health problems affecting millions worldwide.

These pandemics disrupt human connections in all aspects of our society. Our work in the Threads Research Lab aims to uncover, create, and sustain the strong community of fabrics that connects us together and could provide a blueprint for healthy relationships across a spectrum of identities. Using research, we will bring the threads of life, experience, and position to strengthen our health globally.

Our Values

  • Community Engagement

    An engaged community can address violence in all its forms

  • Intersectionality

    Our lives collide and flourish as a result of the multiple strengths and oppressions that exist at the intersection of age, race, gender, and sexuality.

  • Health Equity

    Plain and simple, health equity is a human right deserved by everyone.