Everybody Hates Me: Let's Talk About Stigma

Laura Ferguson is an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California, the director of the Program on Global Health & Human Rights and the director of research at the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health. Her research focuses on understanding and addressing health system and societal factors affecting health and the uptake of health services, as well as how attention to human rights can improve health outcomes. She collaborates with a range of United Nations agencies as well as foundations, universities and non-governmental organizations. She is also an associate editor for the journal Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. Learn more about her research here and follow her on Twitter.

We talk about the social and structural forces that cause harm, such as laws and policies that criminalize sex work and same-sex sexual practices, that limit rights and produce barriers to health care access. Laura shares her experience working on changing these social and structural contexts of discrimination, including engaging judges in conversations with persons who are negatively impacted by laws. Laura details actions everyone can take to create a more just world.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

 Elder Valerie Nicholson, of Mi’kmaq, Haida, Gypsy and English descent, is a storyteller and researcher, an advocate and an artivist.  She works at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS as a co-principal investigator and community-based researcher, and brings her knowledge back to her communities. She is an HIV Older for the Weaving Our Wisdom (WOW) study, and actively works with the Canadian Coalition to Reform the Criminalization of HIV and the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. She is an Elder for Camp Moomba, YouthCo , First Directions and Yuusnewas. In 2018 Elder Valerie received the CAHR Red Ribbon Researchers Award and in 2019 the CANFAR Excellence in Research Award. You can follow her on Twitter.

Elder Valerie is a change warrior and stigma slayer. She discusses the importance of language in breaking down stigma and in empowerment, and discusses the stigma experienced by Indigenous peoples, people living with HIV, and people who use drugs (and those at the intersection of these experiences). Elder Valerie invites persons to self-educate and then have conversations with people with lived experience.  She discusses the importance of focusing on positive healthy actions (rather than interventions) and opening up mind, body, heart and spirit.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr. Ayden Scheim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health. He is also an Affiliate Scientist in the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital (Toronto) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. He studies the impacts of social, policy, and healthcare environments on the health of stigmatized populations. In particular, he conducts community-engaged research with transgender populations and people who use drugs, both domestically and globally. You can learn more about his research here and follow him on Twitter.

Dr. Scheim discusses the varying ways that stigma and discrimination toward trans persons, persons who use drugs, and racialized persons show up to shape the everyday lives of people in ways that challenge basic humanity and harm health.  We discuss the backlash following progress on human rights. Ayden shares how everybody has a role in reducing stigma, providing practical tips for engaging in personal reflection and growth, community engagement, political activism and shifting our interpersonal interactions. 

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr Nitika Pant Pai is Associate Professor at McGill University’s Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Epidemiology and a Physician Scientist at the MUHC Research Institute. She has been working in diagnostics for 20 years in the United States, Canada, South Africa, and India, with a focus on point of care diagnostics for HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, HPV, and bacterial sexually transmitted infections. She develops and incorporates digital innovations, implementation science, Bayesian diagnostics, and artificial intelligence to generate innovative digital diagnostic solutions to plug health service delivery gaps in diagnostics. In 2015, she founded a social enterprise, Sympact-X, funded by the Government of Canada, to take her innovations to scale, for social impact, both nationally and internationally. Her website is nitikapantpai.com.

In this podcast we talk about Nitika's journey to becoming an epidemiologist, Gandhian philosophy, and her experiences as a 'disruptor' entrepreneur. Nitika describes how diagnostics can take people from the unknown to the known, and the ways in which stigma surrounding HIV and tuberculosis can play a role in the forefront or the background. We also discuss patriarchy and the need to dismantle inequitable power systems.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr. Amrita Daftary is an Assistant Professor of Global Health at York University and a social and behavioural global health researcher. Dr. Daftary examines health care seeking and caregiving practices for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV.  Her projects are based in a number of global settings, particularly South Africa, India, and Canada. Learn more about her research here and you can follow her on Twitter.

Dr. Daftary discusses TB and how this preventable and curable illness still affects more than 10 million persons each year and 1-2 million die from it. She talks about the fear and stigma that act as both drivers and consequences of TB. TB can affect anybody, but it most impacts communities facing other social inequities such as poverty, overcrowded living conditions, and persons who are undernourished. Her work applies a social justice lens to raise the voice of people living with TB, aligning with the calls rooted in the disability rights slogan 'nothing about us, without us!'

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr. Patrick Sullivan, Professor of Epidemiology at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, has spent two decades investigating HIV.  He implements innovative technology – mobile phones, tablets, text messaging, and online tools – into HIV and AIDS care and research. Find out more about Patrick's work at PRISM Health and learn more about his research here. You can find Patrick on Twitter as well as PRISM,  @EmoryCFAR, @EmoryEPI, and @EmoryRollins.

In this podcast, Patrick shares his work addressing racial and sexual orientation disparities in the HIV pandemic. He discusses PrEP stigma, racism, HIV-related stigma, and the barriers of accessing HIV prevention services in rural areas. Patrick also discusses the science behind reducing stigma, U=U, and what we can all to do support people when they disclose PrEP use or living with HIV.  You can also learn about his favourite karaoke songs and insights on mentorship.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Dr. Julie Pulerwitz is the director of the Population Council’s HIV and AIDS program, where she provides leadership for a portfolio of research that generates evidence to inform HIV programs and policies around the world. Among her contributions, Dr. Pulerwitz is known for her conceptual and methodological work developing tools to measure power in sexual relationships (the SRPS), and gender norms / attitudes (the GEM Scale). The measures have led to a body of work documenting the global salience of these issues, and have helped shape HIV and gender-based violence prevention programs worldwide. Learn more about her research here.

Dr. Pulerwitz describes how HIV information, and even medication, are not sufficient to eradicate stigma. She explains how stigma is intertwined with other social inequalities--related to gender, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, poverty, among others--and these need to be addressed alongside stigma. Engaging all persons as agents of change, documenting both inequalities and resilience, and community engagement, will contribute to better health and quality of life outcomes.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.

Chris Beyrer MD, MPH, is the Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a Professor of Epidemiology, International Health, Health, Behavior and Society, and Nursing. He serves as Director of Johns Hopkins Training Program in HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Science and as Founding Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights. He is the Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and of the University’s Center for Global Health. You can learn more about his research here and follow Chris on Twitter. He has extensive experience in conducting international collaborative research  in HIV/AIDS and in health and human rights.

In this podcast we chat about the importance of human rights to health. Chris shares stories from the beginning of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the United States, and from his HIV practice and research around the globe, including Thailand, Myanmar and Russia. Chris leaves us with a message of compassion and a call to action.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs. 

Dr. Daniel Buchman is a Bioethicist and Independent Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto,  a member of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, and an Affiliate Scientist in the Krembil Research Institute at the University Health Network. You can follow him on Twitter here and learn more about his work here.

Daniel shares his journey to becoming a bioethicist. He discusses the issues with focusing on brain imaging to understand substance use, and the stigma experienced by people who use substances. He also talks about the need to believe people, and really listen, and the epistemic injustice of who is wronged in their capacity as a knower. Daniel also reminds us of this great song by Leonard Cohen and how there is beauty in imperfection.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs. 

Dr. Kenneth Mayer is Medical Research Director and Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute. He is also a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; a Professor, Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard School of Public Health; and an Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of the International AIDS Society. Find out more about Dr. Mayer's work here.

In this podcast we talk about the impact of non-affirming environments on health outcomes among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, and the intersection of LGBT stigma with HIV-related stigma and racial discrimination. Dr. Mayer describes the education and training work that The Fenway Institute does to optimize healthcare with LGBT persons. He provides multiple ways to intervene in stigma, ranging from becoming comfortable talking about sexual orientation and gender identity, self-awareness of power dynamics, to structural and political changes.

Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.