Dr Anthony Smith

I specialise in social research in the field of HIV prevention and sexual health. I am a qualitative health researcher and sociologist and have worked at the Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH) since 2018, where I completed my PhD (2018-2022). I am currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at CSRH. In this role I work as a project coordinator within the NSW PRISM project to investigate HIV stigma amongst gay and bisexual men, and on an NHMRC-funded project exploring how to expand the Gay Community Periodic Survey to priority populations. In addition to working at CSRH, I am an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Curtin School of Population Health, and an associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute (UNSW).

My program of research is primarily focused on how communities and health professionals engage with HIV prevention, care, and surveillance. My research aims to better shape health policy, care, and service delivery that recognises, affirms, and supports individuals and communities to live well. I particularly focus on LGBTQ+ populations, particularly gay and bisexual men, along with community-based organisations and professionals serving these populations. Beyond a focus on HIV, sexual health, and LGBTQ+ communities, I am interested in the sociology of health and illness, pharmaceutical studies, critical public health, data justice, and the sociology of gender and sexuality.

I am currently involved in the following projects:

• Guest editor of 2024 special issue of Health Sociology Review - Matters of Time in Health & Illness (with Dr Mia Harrison and Dr Sophie Adams)
• The HIV PRISM Partnership (The HIV Prevention Research Implementation Science Monitoring Partnership) - Project coordinator of Stigma Qualitative Study, led by Scientia Prof. Carla Treloar
• Gay Community Periodic Survey NHMRC Partnership Project - Project coordinator of qualitative arm, led by Prof Martin Holt and Prof Christy E. Newman
• Responding to monkeypox virus among gay and bisexual men in Australia (RE:MPXV) - Principal investigator of qualitative study
• Evidencing and Implementing Interventions in a Viral Elimination Era - Project coordinator of PrEP case study
• Tracking our communities' responses to monkeypox (MPX) outbreak (TraX Study) - Associate Investigator
• Sex and Gender Health Policies in Health and Medical Research - Advisory group member

My past research projects include:

• PrEP in Practice: clinician perspectives on prescribing PrEP in Australia
• Trust in Digital Health
• 'Waiting to be seen: social perspectives on trans health' special issue of Health Sociology Review (Guest co-editor)
• my health, our family: documenting stories of family life in the context of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C
• Enhancing Tasmanian Health Professionals’ Capacity for LGBTI-Inclusive Care (University of Tasmania)
• Understanding disparities in PrEP Access