Research Interests

HIV/AIDS; Global Health; New HIV Prevention Technologies; Community Engagement; LGBTQ Health & Human Rights; Vaccines for Sexually Transmitted Infections; Mixed Methods Research; Community-based Research; Discrete Choice Methods; Training of Global Health Researchers; Health Disparities

Current Research Projects

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Project Grant, 2017-2021, Principal Investigator.
The ‘Phi-Nong’ Project: Development and Pilot Testing of a Culturally Adapted, High-impact HIV Preventive Intervention with Young Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender Women in Chonburi Province, Thailand

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Insight Grant, 2017-2021, Principal Investigator.
"Soft like Silk, Pliable like Bamboo": Practicing Resilience-in-Context--A Multi-Method Study of Resilience with Sexual and Gender Minority Youth in Thailand

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Team Grant, 2012-2018, Principal Investigator.
CIHR Team in Social and Behavioural Research on HIV Vaccines. See “On the Road to MASI” (video)

Education & Training History

• Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, Sociology and Psychiatry, University of California at Los Angeles, 2001
• PhD, Social Work and Psychology, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1999
• MS, Social Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1997
• MSW, Casework, Hunter College School of Social Work, New York, 1990
• AB, Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1981

Honours & Awards

• 2014 Society for Social Work Research Inaugural Fellow
• 2013 – 2018 Canada Research Chair in Health and Social Justice, Government of Canada
• 2010, 2013, 2016 Canadian Who’s Who
• 2012 Council on Social Work Education SOGE Scholarship Award
• 2007 – 2012 Canada Research Chair in Health and Social Justice, Government of Canada
• 2007 – 2011 Early Researcher Award, Ministry of Research and Innovation, Ontario
• 2006 – 2008 RBC Chair in Applied Social Work Research, University of Toronto
• 2001 UCLA Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research
• 1998 – 2000 National Institute on Drug Abuse Pre-doctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center, Ann Arbor, MI
• 1997 Henry J. Meyer Award, University of Michigan Outstanding paper bridging social work and social science
• 1997 Malyon-Smith Award, American Psychological Association, Division 44 Outstanding student paper in psychology
• 1997 Harold and Vivian Shapiro Award, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan
• 1996 Kenneth Payne Student Prize, American Anthropological Association Outstanding paper in anthropology

Videos

Towards Understanding and Trust

On the Road to Masi