Research Team
Shelley L. Craig, PhD, RSW, LCSW
Shelley L. Craig is a Full Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Dr. Craig’s research focuses on the social determinants of health and mental health and the impact of the service delivery system on vulnerable populations. Her primary specializations are: (1) the needs of sexual and gender minority youth, and subsequent program development and service delivery; (2) the roles and interventions used by health social workers to impact the social determinants of health; (3) developing competent social work practitioners through effective social work education.
As principal investigator she has recently tested several interventions for sexual and gender minority youth, including Strengths-First, a resilience-focused case management program for youth at risk, ASSET, an empowering group model and funded through the Canadian Institute of Health Research, and AFFIRM, an affirmative cognitive-behavioural group intervention. Funding from SSHRC has allowed Dr. Craig to further understand the influence of the media on the resilience and identity of this vulnerable population. Other projects include a HIV prevention intervention for minority youth involved with the juvenile justice system, identified the HIV testing patterns of older Latinas; HIV prevention for Latina transgender sex workers, and the use of mental health services by urban gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Dr. Craig directed an extensive community research plan, as well as developed and established a multi-million dollar comprehensive service delivery system for sexual minority youth and their families. She has also been PI of an international study of LGBTQ students in social work programs.
Dr. Craig is registered and licensed clinical social worker with a particular expertise in delivering effective services for vulnerable populations. Selected experiences over her twenty five years of practice include: Founder and Executive Director of the Alliance for LGBTQ Youth, Executive Director of ALSO for Out Youth; Medical social worker in the emergency care center of a community hospital; and Director of a domestic violence shelter.
Dr. Craig has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: the Inspirational Social Work Leader 2015, Ontario Association of Social Workers; Fellow, the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR); the Excellence in Research Scholarship Award from the Council of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression (CSOGE), National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Student Social Worker of the Year and the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS) National Person of Impact. She is particularly proud that several of her students and mentees have also become Student Social Worker(s) of the Year.
Bio
ResearchGate
Ashley Austin, PhD
Ashley Austin is a Full Professor of the School of Social Work at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Her research and practice interests revolve around reducing disparities in health and treatment for LGBTQ youth and young adults. Dr. Austin's areas of research and professional practice include promoting resilience and well-being among sexual and gender minority youth, transgender affirmative practice, education, and research, and adaptations of empirically supported interventions for marginalized populations. Her recent research and scholarship collaborations focus on addressing notable gaps in the treatment literature through the adaptation of evidence informed cognitive behavioral interventions to meet the unique needs of diverse LGBQT youth and young adults. Dr. Austin was the Primary Investigator for various research projects aimed at giving voice to the diverse needs and experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, as well as a Co-investigator on intervention research studies conducted with LGBTQ youth in Toronto, CA. Dr. Austin has authored multiple publications and presentations aimed at advancing the delivery of transgender affirmative social work education and clinical practice.
Bio
Sandra D'Souza, BSc
Sandra D’Souza is currently in her last year at the University of Toronto Scarborough, pursuing a double major in Health Studies Co-op and Human Biology. She is interested in interventions that aim to diminish inequities in health of vulnerable populations through addressing the social determinants of health. She is extremely enthusiastic about working with the AFFIRM project and looks forward to learning valuable research techniques required for evidence-based practice. In the future, Sandra hopes to pursue graduate studies in an area that would allow her to assist marginalized populations and explore health equity in Canada.
Andrew Eaton, MSW, RSW
Andrew Eaton is a social worker and researcher that has been working with communities living with and affected by HIV/AIDS across Canada, Swaziland, and Australia. Currently completing his Master of Social Work at the University of Toronto, Andrew's research is focused on engaging communities to develop evidence-based and culturally-relevant support services to improve health outcomes and emotional wellbeing.
Lance T. McCready, PhD
Lance T. McCready is an Associate Professor in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He earned his M.A.and Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from the University of California, Berkeley with Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Dr. McCready's research program is concerned with the education, health and well-being of urban youth. His dissertation and subsequent publications focused on "making space" for diverse masculinities in urban education and how the experiences of gay and gender non-conforming Black male students reframe the “troubles” Black males face in urban high schools. His most recent research focuses on the educational trajectories of young black men in Canadian urban centres, and programs and services for ethnic and racial minority males who are underrepresented in North American colleges and universities. Conceptually, he is interested in the ways intersectionality, social determinants of health, and gender relations frameworks can be mobilized to develop more effective programs that promote academic achievement, well-being, school engagement, and access to higher education.
Bio
Lauren B. McInroy, PhD, RSW
Lauren B. McInroy is a Research Coordinator and Course Instructor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She is also a fully qualified primary/junior level educator. Lauren’s research interests include vulnerable children and adolescents, LGBTQ+ populations, and the developmental and social implications of offline and online media engagement and participation by youth and young adults. She is also particularly interested in digital research methodologies, online fandom cultures and communities, and online social advocacy movements and campaigns. Lauren’s doctoral research considered the impacts of participation in online communities (particularly online fandoms) on the identity development, resilience, and positive adjustment of LGBTQ+ young people. She has been a Royal Bank of Canada Graduate Fellow in Applied Social Work Research, received a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and held an Ontario Graduate Scolarship.
ResearchGate
Academia.Edu
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Leslie R. Shade, PhD
Leslie Regan Shade is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Her research focus since the mid-1990’s has been on the social and policy aspects of information and communication technologies (ICTs), with particular concerns towards issues of gender, youth and political economy. Dr. Shade's research promotes the notion of the public interest in ICT policy; publications, community outreach and student supervision have as their goal the promotion of a wider popular discourse on information and communication policy issues and media reform in Canada and internationally for a diverse public and policy audience. This includes an ongoing commitment to building participatory scholar-activist networks.
Bio
Alex Wagaman, PhD
Alex Wagaman is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University. Alex received her MSW and PhD from Arizona State University, and her BSW from Winthrop University. She has over ten years of practice experience in the areas of homelessness, neighborhood and community organizing, anti-oppression youth education, and state-level evaluation research. Alex combines these experiences through her research which focuses on LGBTQ youth, community-based practice with LGBTQ youth, participatory action research, and social empathy as a framework for youth empowerment and social justice.
Bio
Shelley L. Craig is a Full Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Dr. Craig’s research focuses on the social determinants of health and mental health and the impact of the service delivery system on vulnerable populations. Her primary specializations are: (1) the needs of sexual and gender minority youth, and subsequent program development and service delivery; (2) the roles and interventions used by health social workers to impact the social determinants of health; (3) developing competent social work practitioners through effective social work education.
As principal investigator she has recently tested several interventions for sexual and gender minority youth, including Strengths-First, a resilience-focused case management program for youth at risk, ASSET, an empowering group model and funded through the Canadian Institute of Health Research, and AFFIRM, an affirmative cognitive-behavioural group intervention. Funding from SSHRC has allowed Dr. Craig to further understand the influence of the media on the resilience and identity of this vulnerable population. Other projects include a HIV prevention intervention for minority youth involved with the juvenile justice system, identified the HIV testing patterns of older Latinas; HIV prevention for Latina transgender sex workers, and the use of mental health services by urban gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Dr. Craig directed an extensive community research plan, as well as developed and established a multi-million dollar comprehensive service delivery system for sexual minority youth and their families. She has also been PI of an international study of LGBTQ students in social work programs.
Dr. Craig is registered and licensed clinical social worker with a particular expertise in delivering effective services for vulnerable populations. Selected experiences over her twenty five years of practice include: Founder and Executive Director of the Alliance for LGBTQ Youth, Executive Director of ALSO for Out Youth; Medical social worker in the emergency care center of a community hospital; and Director of a domestic violence shelter.
Dr. Craig has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: the Inspirational Social Work Leader 2015, Ontario Association of Social Workers; Fellow, the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR); the Excellence in Research Scholarship Award from the Council of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression (CSOGE), National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Student Social Worker of the Year and the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS) National Person of Impact. She is particularly proud that several of her students and mentees have also become Student Social Worker(s) of the Year.
Bio
ResearchGate
Ashley Austin, PhD
Ashley Austin is a Full Professor of the School of Social Work at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Her research and practice interests revolve around reducing disparities in health and treatment for LGBTQ youth and young adults. Dr. Austin's areas of research and professional practice include promoting resilience and well-being among sexual and gender minority youth, transgender affirmative practice, education, and research, and adaptations of empirically supported interventions for marginalized populations. Her recent research and scholarship collaborations focus on addressing notable gaps in the treatment literature through the adaptation of evidence informed cognitive behavioral interventions to meet the unique needs of diverse LGBQT youth and young adults. Dr. Austin was the Primary Investigator for various research projects aimed at giving voice to the diverse needs and experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, as well as a Co-investigator on intervention research studies conducted with LGBTQ youth in Toronto, CA. Dr. Austin has authored multiple publications and presentations aimed at advancing the delivery of transgender affirmative social work education and clinical practice.
Bio
Sandra D'Souza, BSc
Sandra D’Souza is currently in her last year at the University of Toronto Scarborough, pursuing a double major in Health Studies Co-op and Human Biology. She is interested in interventions that aim to diminish inequities in health of vulnerable populations through addressing the social determinants of health. She is extremely enthusiastic about working with the AFFIRM project and looks forward to learning valuable research techniques required for evidence-based practice. In the future, Sandra hopes to pursue graduate studies in an area that would allow her to assist marginalized populations and explore health equity in Canada.
Andrew Eaton, MSW, RSW
Andrew Eaton is a social worker and researcher that has been working with communities living with and affected by HIV/AIDS across Canada, Swaziland, and Australia. Currently completing his Master of Social Work at the University of Toronto, Andrew's research is focused on engaging communities to develop evidence-based and culturally-relevant support services to improve health outcomes and emotional wellbeing.
Lance T. McCready, PhD
Lance T. McCready is an Associate Professor in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He earned his M.A.and Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from the University of California, Berkeley with Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Dr. McCready's research program is concerned with the education, health and well-being of urban youth. His dissertation and subsequent publications focused on "making space" for diverse masculinities in urban education and how the experiences of gay and gender non-conforming Black male students reframe the “troubles” Black males face in urban high schools. His most recent research focuses on the educational trajectories of young black men in Canadian urban centres, and programs and services for ethnic and racial minority males who are underrepresented in North American colleges and universities. Conceptually, he is interested in the ways intersectionality, social determinants of health, and gender relations frameworks can be mobilized to develop more effective programs that promote academic achievement, well-being, school engagement, and access to higher education.
Bio
Lauren B. McInroy, PhD, RSW
Lauren B. McInroy is a Research Coordinator and Course Instructor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She is also a fully qualified primary/junior level educator. Lauren’s research interests include vulnerable children and adolescents, LGBTQ+ populations, and the developmental and social implications of offline and online media engagement and participation by youth and young adults. She is also particularly interested in digital research methodologies, online fandom cultures and communities, and online social advocacy movements and campaigns. Lauren’s doctoral research considered the impacts of participation in online communities (particularly online fandoms) on the identity development, resilience, and positive adjustment of LGBTQ+ young people. She has been a Royal Bank of Canada Graduate Fellow in Applied Social Work Research, received a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and held an Ontario Graduate Scolarship.
ResearchGate
Academia.Edu
Leslie R. Shade, PhD
Leslie Regan Shade is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Her research focus since the mid-1990’s has been on the social and policy aspects of information and communication technologies (ICTs), with particular concerns towards issues of gender, youth and political economy. Dr. Shade's research promotes the notion of the public interest in ICT policy; publications, community outreach and student supervision have as their goal the promotion of a wider popular discourse on information and communication policy issues and media reform in Canada and internationally for a diverse public and policy audience. This includes an ongoing commitment to building participatory scholar-activist networks.
Bio
Alex Wagaman, PhD
Alex Wagaman is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University. Alex received her MSW and PhD from Arizona State University, and her BSW from Winthrop University. She has over ten years of practice experience in the areas of homelessness, neighborhood and community organizing, anti-oppression youth education, and state-level evaluation research. Alex combines these experiences through her research which focuses on LGBTQ youth, community-based practice with LGBTQ youth, participatory action research, and social empathy as a framework for youth empowerment and social justice.
Bio
