2012 SOGE Scholarship Award Winners

The winners of the 2012 Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression (SOGE) Scholarship Award are Lea Tufford, Peter A. Newman, David J. Brennan, Shelley L. Craig, and Michael R. Woodford for a paper submitted on their 2012 APM accepted panel presentation, Research With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations: Navigating the Ethics Review Process. The SOGE Scholarship Award honors excellence in scholarship that contributes to knowledge about sexual orientation and gender expression, including individual and systemic issues, curriculum materials, faculty growth opportunities, and the experiences of individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or two-spirit.

Lea Tufford is a PhD candidate at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. Her dissertation research examines decision making and the therapeutic alliance during suspected child maltreatment. Lea has been a clinician for the past 15 years in community mental health, employee assistance programs, and now in private practice. Her clinical areas of specialization include grief, addictions, depression, and work with couples. Her research interests include cross cultural competency, clinical social work practice, psychotherapy process research, application of neuroscience to social work practice, clinical applications of mindfulness, and qualitative research.
 
 
 
 
 
Peter A. Newman is a professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Health and Social Justice. He was a NIMH postdoctoral fellow at UCLA in psychiatry and sociology, and a former clinical social worker in the San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS Program. Newman's program of research is on the cutting edge of the fault lines between social science and biomedicine, centered on advancing new HIV prevention technologies that are grounded in the experiences of most at-risk populations, particularly sexual minorities, in low- and middle-income countries. Newman has authored over 70 peer reviewed publications and was recently awarded a $3.5 millon grant for the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative Team in Social and Behavioral Research on HIV Vaccines, an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers and community-based organizations in Canada, India, South Africa, and Thailand.               
 
 
 
 
 
David J. Brennan is an assistant professor of social work at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. He has been a clinical social worker in the HIV/AIDS and health care field since 1983. Dr. Brennan’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and he has been awarded an Ontario HIV Treatment Network Scholarship award to support his program of research. Dr. Brennan’s research focuses on: the health and well-being of marginalized gay, bisexual, two-spirit and other men who have sex with men; body image and eating attitudes and behaviors among queer men, particularly examining these issues for racialized queer men in Toronto; the psychosocial needs of older adults living with HIV; the impact of several factors on HIV risk for gay and bisexual men including the role of a history of childhood sexual abuse, optimistic beliefs about HIV treatment, and the role of intimacy and pleasure in sexual risk behavior. He is currently involved in work to examine how we measure sexual orientation in population based health studies as well as the resiliencies, strengths, and assets that gay and bisexual men have that prevent them from becoming infected with HIV.
 
 
 
Shelley L. Craig is an assistant professor at Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. Dr. Craig’s research and practice experience focus on the social determinants of health and mental health and the impact of the service delivery system on vulnerable populations, particularly urban gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) youth.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Michael R. Woodford is an assistant professor with the School of Social Work, University of Michigan, where he teaches macro practice courses. His research addresses the health, well-being, and social inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. His current work examines the relationship between discrimination and health outcomes among LGBT college students. Concern for subtle forms of mistreatment, such as hearing the phrase “that’s so gay” and the effects of witnessing discrimination are central to this work. Professor Woodford also studies the nature of contemporary sexual prejudice and endorsement for LGBT civil rights. To foster ethical and competent social work practice with the LGBT community, part of this research delves into sexual prejudice among social work faculty and students. Earlier work examined participatory policymaking and the development of social policies that enhance the well-being of marginalized groups.