Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Dionne Gesink PhD

Research Interests

• Social Epidemiology
• Sexual Health
• Mental Health and Wellness
• Spatial Epidemiology
• Community Based Participatory Research
• Mixed Methods
• Knowledge Exchange and Translation

Primary Teaching Responsibilities

CHL5404 Research Methods I

GGR433 Built Environment and Health

(previously) CHL5129 Introduction to Mixed Methods Research for Public Health

Current Research Projects

My research investigates the social epidemiology of sexual health, including the spatial movement of diseases and ideas through social/sexual networks. My ideas emerge from a transformative, relational paradigm. I use mixed methods to investigate sexual health as a complex system, with connections to physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health. The projects I am involved with are often community based and consider culture. I have worked with Indigenous, marginalized, and hard-to-reach communities, as well as the general population, to develop effective interventions that transform sexual health at individual, community, and provincial levels.

• 2016 – Present: The Geography of Sex (www.geographyofsex.ca)
• 2021 – Present: Wellness in the Architecture of Public Health Education

Representative Publications (Previous 5 Years)

• Wang S*, Widener W, Burchell AN, Grace D, Gesink D. Spatial access to sexual health clinics measured through a novel accessibility score in Toronto, Canada. Accepted to STDs. [CA, SRA]
• Yakubovich, A., Bartsch, A., Metheny, N., Gesink, D., O’Campo, P. Housing interventions for women experiencing intimate partner violence: a systematic review of the quantitative evidence on effectiveness. The Lancet Public Health. 2021: Nov 24 (online) [CA]
• Yakubovich, A, Heron, J., Metheny, N., Gesink, D., O’Campo, P. Measuring the Burden of Intimate Partner Violence by Sex and Sexual Identity: Results From a Random Sample in Toronto, Canada. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2021. [CA]
• Kinitz, DJ., Goodyear, T., Dromer, E., Gesink, D., Ferlatte, O., Knight, R. & Salway, T. (in press). “Conversion therapy” experiences in their social contexts: A qualitative study of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression change efforts in Canada.Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. [CA]
• Goodyear T, Kinitz DJ, Dromer E, Gesink D, Ferlatte O, Knight R, & Salway T. “They want you to kill your inner queer but somehow leave the human alive”: Delineating the impacts of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression change efforts. The Journal of Sex Research.Apr 2021 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2021.1910616 [CA]
• Rana, J; Guiang, CB; Lisk, R; Shahin, R; Brunetta, J; Mitterni, L; Grewal, R; Tan, DHS; Gilbert, M; Yeung, A; Kwag, M; Logie, CH; Bacon, J; Gesink, D; Burchell, AN. Survey of Health Care Providers’ Practices and Opinions Regarding Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men, Sexually Transmitted Diseases: February 2021 – Volume 48 – Issue 2 – p 94-102 [CA]
• Salway T*, Gesink D, Ferlatte O, Rich AJ, Rhodes AE, Brennan DJ, Gilbert M. Age, period, and cohort patterns in the epidemiology of suicide attempts among sexual minorities in the United States and Canada: detection of a second peak in middle adulthood. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2021;56(2):283-294. [CA]
• Gesink D, Salway T, Connell J*, Kimura L*. STI Knowledge and Attitudes Among Sexual Minority Men During Ongoing STI Epidemics in Toronto, Ontario: A Qualitative Study. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2020 Oct; 47(10):658-662 [PA, SRA]
• Salway T, Ferlatte O, Gesink D, Lachowsky N. Prevalence of exposure to sexual orientation change efforts and associated sociodemographic characteristics and psychosocial health outcomes among Canadian sexual minority men. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2020 Jul;65(7):502-509. [CA]
• Gesink D, Salway T, Kimura L*, Connell J*, Widener M, Ferlatte O. The Social Geography of Partner Selection in Toronto, Canada: A Qualitative Description of “Convection Mixing”. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2020 Jul;49(5):1839-1851. [PA, SRA]
• Jüni P, Fothenbühler M, Bobos P, Thorpe K, da Costa B, Fisman D, Slutsky A, Gesink D. Impact of Climate and Public Health Interventions on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospective Cohort Study. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2020 May 25;192(21):E566-E573. [CA, SRA]
• Burchell AN, Lisk R, Yeung A, Rana J, Bacon J, Brunetta J, Gilbert M, Gesink D, Grewal R, Guiang CB, Kwag M, Logie CH, Mitterni L, Shahin R, Tan DH. Community-Directed Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Interventions Among Men Who Have Sex With Men: Protocol for an E-Delphi Study in Toronto, Canada. JMIR Res Protoc 2019;8(7):e13801
• Salway T, Gesink D, Lukac C, Roth D, Ryan V, Mak S, Wang S, Newhouse E, Hayden A, Bharmal A, Hoyano D, Morshed M, Grennan T, Gilbert M, Wong J. The spatial-temporal epidemiology of the syphilis epidemic in British Columbia, 2005-2016. Sex Transm Dis 2019;46(9):571-578. [CA]
• Gesink D, Whiskeyjack L***, Guimond T. Perspectives on Restoring Health, Shared by Cree Women, Alberta, Canada. Health Promotion International. 2019 Jun 1;34(3):454-461. [PA, SRA]
• Lys C*, Gesink D, Strike C, Larkin J. Social Ecological factors of Sexual Subjectivity and Contraceptive Use and Access among Female Youth in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The Journal of Sex Research. 2018 Nov 30:1-10 [CA, SRA]
• Butt, Z; Mak, S; Gesink, D; Gilbert, M; Wong, J; Yu, A; Wong, S; Alvarez, M; Chong, M; Buxton, J; Tyndall, M; Krajden, M; Janjua, N. Applying core theory and spatial analysis to identify Hepatitis C Virus infection ‘core areas’ in British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Viral Hepatitis. 2018. E-pub.
• Tustin J*, Crowcroft N, Gesink D, Johnson I, Keelan J, Lachapelle B. User-driven comments on a Facebook advertisement recruiting Canadian parents in a study on immunization: Content Analysis. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 2018 Sep 20;4(3):e10090 [CA]
• Butt Z, Shrestha N, Gesink D, Murti M, Buxton JA, Gilbert M, Balshaw R, Wong S, Kuo M, Wong J, Yu A, Alvarez M, Samji H, Roth D, Consolacion T, Hull MW, Ogilvie G, Tyndall MW, Krajden M, Janjua NZ. Effect of opioid substitution therapy (OST) and mental health counselling on HIV risk among HCV infected individuals. Clinical Epidemiology. 2018;10:1127-1145 [CA]
• Salway T*, Gesink D. Constructing and expanding gay suicide narratives. Qualitative Health Research. 2018;28(11):1788-1801 [CA, SRA]
• Gesink D, Wang S, Guimond T, Kimura L, Connell J, Salway T, Gilbert M, Mishra S, Tan D, Burchell A, Brennan D, Logie C, Grace D. Conceptualizing Geosexual Archetypes: Mapping the sexual travels and ego-centric sexual networks of gay and bisexual men in Toronto, Canada. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2018 Jun. 45(6) 368-373. [PA, SRA]
• Lys C*, Gesink D, Strike C, Larkin J. Body Mapping as a Youth Sexual Health Intervention and Data Collection Tool. Qualitative Health Research. 2018 Jan 1. epub [CA, SRA]
• Ferlatte O, Salway T, Samji H, Dove N, Gesink D, Gilbert M, Oliffe JL, Grennan T, Wong, J. 2018. An application of syndemictheory to identify drivers of the syphilis epidemic among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2018. 45 (3); 163 – 168 [CA]

* denotes student authors, ** denotes community authors