Organization marks anniversary with new leadership, continued growth, and the release of Liberating Healthcare, a book documenting 50 years of LGBTQ+ health equity.
Howard Brown Health, one of the nation's leading LGBTQ+ healthcare providers, celebrates its 50th anniversary. For five decades, Howard Brown Health has stood at the forefront of LGBTQ+ healthcare-built through community and sustained by a relentless belief that everyone deserves affirming, high-quality care.
Now serving over 40,000 patients a year across Chicago, Howard Brown Health enters its 50th year as both a legacy institution and a forward-facing health leader. Building on a foundation of medical, dental, behavioral, youth, sexual, and aging adult care, the organization now operates seven clinics offering services that promote health and well-being-regardless of who you are, where you live, or your ability to pay. Under the leadership of new CEO Dr. Travis Gayles, a nationally respected physician and health equity advocate, Howard Brown Health is charting a bold new chapter. Dr. Gayles brings deep public and private sector experience, a track record of combating health disparities, and a commitment to ensuring that affirming care becomes the standard, not the exception.
“Howard Brown Health's story is one of courage, community and care. For fifty years, this organization has led with compassion and conviction-meeting people where they are and building systems that affirm who they are,” said Dr. Travis Gayles, CEO, Howard Brown Health. “As we look ahead, our charge is clear: to grow, to innovate, and to ensure that our care reaches everyone who needs it. We are not here to simply survive-we are here to thrive, together.”
In its earliest years, Howard Brown Health helped reshape national public health policy by proving Hepatitis B could be sexually transmitted. When the AIDS epidemic devastated the LGBTQ+ community in the 1980s, the organization was one of the only institutions in Chicago providing compassionate, comprehensive treatment-while also advancing life-saving research. Through grief and activism, the organization emerged as a model of resilience. In the decades that followed, Howard Brown Health expanded its reach well beyond crisis response-establishing a full primary care infrastructure and extending services to historically underserved communities across Chicago.
“Howard Brown Health is celebrating a legacy shaped by courage, resilience, and community power. This milestone didn't happen by chance-it was made possible by decades of collective investment from those who believed that everyone deserves to be cared for with dignity,” said Maliyah Arnold, Board Chair-Elect, Howard Brown Health. “Our founders laid the groundwork. Our community carried it forward. And our mission remains as urgent and essential as ever.”
To honor and preserve the organization's rich and sometimes turbulent history, Howard Brown Health has compiled Liberating Healthcare, a 500-page book written by journalist Tracy Baim. Based on over a year of archival research and interviews, the book offers a look at the organization's evolution-from its radical beginnings and AIDS-era activism to internal challenges, staff unionization, and today's growth into a nationally recognized FQHC. Liberating Healthcare is now available to supporters via donation here.
“This anniversary is more than a celebration-it's a reflection of who we've been and a vision for where we're going,” said Katie Metos, VP of External Relations, Howard Brown Health. “The release of Liberating Healthcare brings that journey into focus: the radical beginnings, the grief and grit of the AIDS crisis, the community built through every challenge. As we carry that history forward, we remain a partner in care-in sickness and in health, in joy and in protest. Together, we are creating a future where everyone can grow old with pride, with support, and with the care they deserve.”
Looking ahead, Howard Brown Health is deepening its impact and expanding its reach. The organization is actively scaling up telehealth, building new academic partners, and reducing behavioral health wait times-bringing affirming care to more people in more communities than ever before. With new leadership, a clear vision, and fifty years of experience to build on, Howard Brown Health is forging the next era of healthcare-rooted in LGBTQ+ liberation-where affirming, high-quality care is not only sustained, but expanded to meet the needs of all, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to live well, live fully, and be seen.
About Howard Brown Health:Howard Brown Health is a federally qualified health center serving more than 38,000 adults and youth at seven health centers across Chicago. Howard Brown Health offers a range of key services including primary medical care, HIV/STI prevention and youth services. As the Midwest's largest LGBTQ+ health center, Howard Brown Health continually provides health care services and programs to all patients, regardless of their health insurance coverage status and ability to pay.
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SOURCE Howard Brown Health
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