Biography

Dr. Robb Travers holds a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Winnipeg , an MA in Community Psychology ( University of Toronto ) and a PhD in Public Health Sciences ( University of Toronto ). Dr. Travers maintains an active community-based research program that seeks to understand HIV ‘risk behaviours' in broader social context and the development and impact of interventions at various levels (individual, community, and structural/societal). He is also interested in factors that impede emotional well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth as well as people living with HIV/AIDS. He is an advocate for community-based research approaches as a tool of community empowerment and social change.

Dr. Travers and his research partners have been awarded a number of grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to examine 1) social exclusion, poverty and HIV vulnerability among transgender people in Ontario; 2) access barriers to sexual health services for diverse groups of youth in Toronto; 3) strategies for strengthening the capacity of university-based research ethics boards to better understand community-based research.

Dr. Travers is also actively engaged in a number of other research projects examining:

•  the impact of homophobia and transphobia on the well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth

•  issues facing HIV+ immigrants, refugees and undocumented individuals to the Kitchener-Waterloo region

•  issues facing LGBT immigrants, refugees and undocumented individuals to Canada

•  criminalization and mandatory disclosure of HIV status and its impact on people living with HIV

•  the impact of HIV-related stigma on well-being and broader health outcomes

•  developing capacity-building models to encourage community groups to understand and take part in community-based research

Dr. Travers holds additional appointments as:

•  Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto

•  Associate Scientist, The Ontario HIV Treatment Network,

•  Associate Research Scientist, Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital ( Toronto )