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

GGR433 Built Environment and Health

(previously) CHL5404 Research Methods I

(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
• 2021 – Present: Wellness and the Architecture of Public Health Education

Recent Publications

• Kinitz, D*, Ross L, MacEachen E, Fehr C, Gesink D. “…full of opportunities, but not for everyone”: A narrative inquiry into mechanisms of labor market inequity among precariously employed gay, bisexual, and queer men. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 2024 Apr;67(4):350-363
• Balasa, R*, Khan, M, Gesink, D, Forman, L, & Perez-Brumer, A. Experiences of child sex trafficking identification among Ontario pediatric emergency department healthcare providers: A qualitative study. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2024. 153, 106852
• Dason S*, Maxim M*, Gesink D, Shapiro H, Chan C, Yee, M, Simpson A. Medical students’ perspectives on family planning and impact on specialty choice: a qualitative study. Accepted to JAMA Surgery
• Liu B*, Widener MJ, Smith LG, Gesink D. Integrating coordination of food purchasing into activity space-based food environment research: Toward a household perspective. Health and Place. 2023 Jul:82:103046
• Quelch J, Jackson R, Toombs E, Robinson M, Serghides L, Aker A, Gauvin H, Sinoway C, Barkman L, Mushquash C, Gesink D, Amirault M, Benoit AC. Evaluating facilitators’ experience delivering a stress-reducing intervention for Indigenous women with and without HIV. Health & Social Care in the Community. 2023
• Dason S*, Maxim M*, Gesink D, Shapiro H, Chan C, Yee, M, Simpson A. Medical students’ perspectives on family planning and impact on specialty choice: a qualitative study. Accepted to JAMA Surgery [CA]
• Dharma C*, Guimond T, Salway T, Lachowsky N, Card K, Gesink D. Geosexual Archetype, Preventive Behaviours, and Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Men who Have Sex with Men. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2023 Apr 17 online [CA, SRA]
• Fox LC*, Miller WC, Gesink D, Doherty I, Hampton KH, Leone PA, Williams DE, Akita Y, Dunn M, Serre ML. Progression of a large syphilis outbreak in rural North Carolina through space and time: Application of a Bayesian Maximum Entropy graphical user interface. PLOS One Global Public Health. 2023. 3(5):e0001714 [CA]
• Aker A, Serghides L, Cotnam J, Jackson R, Robinson M, Gauvin H, Mushquash C, Gesink D, Amirault M, Benoit AC. The impact of a stress management intervention including cultural components on stress biomarker levels and mental health indicators among indigenous women. J Behav Med. 2023 Jan 18. [CA]
• Kim SR*, Ene GEV Simpson A, Gesink D, Ferguson SE. Acceptability of bariatric surgery in people with endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia: a qualitative study. Gynecologic Oncology. 2022 Dec 1;169:12-16. [CA]
• Giles M.L, Juando-Prats C, McPherson A.C and Gesink D. (2022). “But, you’re in a wheelchair!”: A systematic review exploring the sexuality of youth with physical disabilities.Accepted to Sexuality and Disability. [CA, SRA]
• Salway T, Rich AJ, Ferlatte O, Gesink D, Ross LE, Bränström R, Sadr A, Khan S, Grennan T, Shokoohi M, Brennan DJ, Gilbert M. Preventable mortality among sexual minority Canadians. Social Science and Medicine – Population Health 2022; 101276. [CA]
• Shuper P, Varatharajan T, Kinitz D, Gesink D, Joharchi N, Bogosh I, Loutfy M, Rehm J. Perceived Influence of Alcohol Consumption, Substance Use, and Mental Health on PrEP Adherence and Condom Use among PrEP-Prescribed Gay, Bisexual, and other Men-who-Have-Sex-with-Men: A Qualitative Investigation. BMC Public Health. 2022 Oct 7;22(1):1875.
• Liu B, Widener MJ, Smith LG, Farber S, Gesink D, Minaker L, Patterson Z, Larsen K, Gilliland J. Time-Geographic Project of Household Food Provision: Conceptualization and a Pilot Case Study. The Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 2023. 113; 3: 675-699 [CA]
• Liu, B*; Widener, M; Smith, L; Farber, S; Gesink, D; Minaker, L; Patterson, Z; Larsen, K; Gilliland, J. Who’s cooking tonight? A time-use study of coupled adults in Toronto, Canada. Time and Society. 2022, Vol. 0(0) 1–28 [CA]
• Rana J*, Burchell AN, Wang S, Logie CH, Lisk R, Gesink D. Community perspectives on ideal bacterial STI testing services for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Toronto, Canada: a qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research. 2022 Sep 23;22(1):1194 [CA, SRA]
• 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. STDs. 2022 Jul 1;49(7):484-489  [CA, SRA]
• Kinitz, DJ., Goodyear, T., Dromer, E., Gesink, D., Ferlatte, O., Knight, R. & Salway, T. “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. 2022 Jun;67(6):441-451[CA]
• 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)
• 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]
• 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]

* denotes student authors, ** denotes community authors