• Welcome to the HIV Prevention Lab

  • Our Mission

    The mission of the HIV Prevention Lab is to conduct rigorous basic and applied research that can be used to prevent HIV transmission and promote positive sexual and mental health among vulnerable populations and people living with HIV.

  • Our Team

    Dr. Trevor Hart is the director of the HIV Prevention Lab and a current recipient of an Ontario HIV Treatment Network Endgame Leader Chair Award. The HIV Prevention Lab is staffed by Dr. Hart’s research team, consisting of a graduate student, a full-time lab manager, a research coordinators, a research assistant, and two post-doctoral fellows.

The HIV Prevention Lab stands in solidarity with the University’s Indigenous community and ongoing efforts by the Yellowhead Institute to change the name of Ryerson University. The reference to Ryerson University’s namesake, Egerton Ryerson, serves to glorify Canada’s colonial history and further perpetuates the intergenerational trauma of Indigenous peoples. We encourage students, faculty, and staff to read the open letter written by Indigenous students at X University.

With Pride Month upon us, this is also an important time to acknowledge and highlight the health disparities and inequities that exist within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. A recent Canadian research report highlights the unique experiences of Indigenous trans, two-spirit, and non-binary people that negatively impact their health and wellbeing, particularly high rates of violence, harassment, and social exclusion. Importantly, the report also highlights the unique strengths and resiliency of Indigenous trans, two-spirit, and non-binary individuals and communities. As a part of Pride Month, we encourage community members to stand in solidarity with and advocate for the racialized, trans, non-binary, and two-spirit members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community who continue to experience disproportionate levels of discrimination, oppression, and marginalization.

Statement on Anti-Racism Action

The HIV Prevention Lab acknowledges the violent and tragic history of racism and colonialism as well as the ongoing oppression of Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour. We also acknowledge that both science and academia are complicit in these systems of racism and oppression.  We commit to respond with anti-racist action, including:
  1. Actively recruiting and supporting Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour in our lab.
  2. To conduct research examining the role of racism and colonialism in the lives of people who are Black, Indigenous, and/or other people of colour.
  3. To conduct intersectional analyses that examine how racism and colonialism interact with other oppressive systems such as homophobia and sexism in the lives of gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men who are Black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour.
  4. To mandate training among lab members on anti-racism and anti-colonialism, and to mandate that we discuss how to implement this knowledge to improve our research and clinical practices.

Studies with ongoing recruitment

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Engage

The Engage Cohort Study is Canadian collaboration between researchers and community-based organizations on HIV and sexual health among gay, bi, ...
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Sexual Confidence – RCT

This study tests the efficacy of a novel integrated HIV prevention intervention that combines the most empirically supported treatment for ...
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Completed Studies

The Not So Micro Study

***Recruitment has ended for this study*** “You’re cute for a Brown guy.” Termed ‘microaggressions’, these statements reflect the subtle and ...
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Project THRIVE+

Project THRIVE+ (Project THRIVE Plus) is a 10 session individual cognitive behavioural therapy treatment to reduce trauma-related distress and increase ...
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GQ Arousal Study

Erectile dysfunction has been associated with considerable mental health problems and is particularly prevalent among gay men. Psychological treatment protocols ...
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GPS Implementation Science

GPS is a peer-delivered sexual health promotion and HIV prevention counselling program. The GPS program has 4 components: information provision ...
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Gay, Bi, Queer Men’s Sexual Pain Study

Pain when bottoming (i.e., receptive anal intercourse; when your partner inserts their penis or an object into your anus) is ...
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Positive Sleep Study

Insomnia is a problem for approximately 75% of people living with HIV, which is much higher than the 6% to ...
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GPS: Gay Poz Sex

This study provided preliminary data on the effect size of a sexual health promotion program for HIV-positive gay, bisexual, and ...
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