Our Goal
To improve the measurement of stigma—negative attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes that people have—and interventions that respond to stigma as a threat to both mental health and suboptimal individual and population-level HIV outcomes in the US and around the world.

CHIMES—the Center for HIV and Mental Health Stigma Elimination Strategies—is a joint collaboration between researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Emory Rollins School of Public Health, building on more than a decade of work in stigma and HIV research funded by the NIMH, NINR, NIAID, USAID, CDC, amfAR, and MAC AIDS Foundation.

At CHIMES, we are committed to:

✔ Advancing stigma measurement to better understand its impact on mental health and HIV outcomes. 

✔ Designing and evaluating stigma interventions to dismantle structural barriers and improve health equity. 

✔ Building a global network of emerging and established researchers to expand research capacity and accelerate progress in stigma mitigation. 

The meaning behind our logo:

Collaboration is at the heart of our mission…  joining together to foster engagement between and among communities, emerging and established researchers, and advocates to support the fruition and application of research for improved health outcomes. 

CHIMES logo

The specific aims for CHIMES are:

Aim 1: Build local and global capacity to measure and respond to stigma as a risk for both suboptimal mental health and HIV outcomes.

Aim 2: Improve the measurement of stigma to better study the impact of attribute-specific and intersectional stigmas on mental health and HIV.

Aim 3: Increase the quantity and quality of interventions addressing stigma and structural determinants of risk in the domestic and global HIV response.

Aim 4: Support the proliferation of science in measuring and responding to stigma and structural determinants of HIV among diverse emerging scientists.

The Organizational Structure diagram details the four (4) cores of CHIMES, including the Administrative, Measurement, Intervention, and Developmental cores. The Administrative core fosters engagements across both the Measurement and Intervention cores, which share cross-cutting themes including population, trauma/violence, economic insecurity, life course approach, and community engaged research. Each core supports a number of activities, resource developments, and consultation services. Specifically, the Measurement core offers advanced analytics support through consulting and mentoring services; access to a stigma measures library of attribute-specific and intersectional stigmas; and directed mentorship program for early-stage investigators. The Intervention core offers consulting services for the development of new research applications and protocols; support in research design and program development; access to a repository of tools and resources; and community-engaged conversations enabling idea generation, dissemination of findings, and collaboration. The Developmental core is situated as the backbone of CHIMES' services, offering technical support in skills development and grant writing, providing opportunities for small grants and networking events, and facilitating and advancing community-engaged research initiatives.