
PhD (Indiana U)
MA (San Francisco State U)
AA (City College of San Francisco)
BS (Indiana U)
Associate Professor Christopher M. Fisher works in the areas of Sexual and Public Health. Christopher takes a leading role in research on young peoples' sexual health and wellbeing. A major focus of the work is on adolescent sexual health knowledge, behaviours and educational experiences (both formal and informal). His current work centres on the National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health in Australia, using predominately quantitative population survey methods but also including qualitative work. Previous work has looked at the role of youth development professionals in Non-Govermental Organisations (e.g., youth groups) in providing sexual health information (qualitative and quantitative) as well as adolescent perspectives on promoting sexual health (qualitative). He has also conducted population-based research in LGBTIQ health (quantitative) and HIV prevention and care (mixed methods evaluation). Christopher uses a diverse range of methods for asking and answering empirical and theoretical questions including a range of statistical analysis techniques, qualitative methods, and community-based participatory research approaches. He supervises several PhD students using both qualitative and quantitative methods covering a range of topics including trans and gender diverse experiences of health and cancer care, sex education, queer health promotion through life writing, and preventing sexual assault in regional contexts. Christopher has developed and taught postgraduate coursework on qualitative research methods as well as teaching research methods (undergraduate), health promotion theory (undergraduate and postgraduate), health promotion methods and evaluation (undergraduate), biostatistics (postgraduate), sexual health (undergraduate and postgraduate) and community-based participatory research (postgraduate). Dr. Fisher currently serves as the Graduate Research Coordinator at ARCSHS and is the Course Coordinator for the new Graduate Certificate in Sex, Health and Society. Christopher is a Senior Visiting Fellow at The Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales and maintains a Director Emeritus role at the Midlands Sexual Health Research Collaborative and Adjunct position in Health Promotion at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health in the USA. Dr. Fisher has held previous appointments at Curtin University as Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion, Collaborative for Evidence, Research, and Impact in Public Health (CERIPH), University of Nebraska Medical Center as Assistant Professor in Health Promotion, Social & Behavioral Health, as Research Coordinator at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion and Associate Instructor in Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University andat San Francisco State University as an Instructor in Human Sexuality.
Current major research activities:
National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health (lead investigator)
A nationally recurring survey funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health, this project examines the sexual health knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and educational experiences of young people in Australia. Past reports can be found here.
Australian Survey of Health and Relationships 3 (associate investigator)
This large national survey provides critical data on sexual health and relationships of Australians. More details can be found here.
Recent publications:
Recent reports:
My Research Supervision
Rosalind Bellamy (ARCSHS)
Emily Corbett (ARCSHS)
Sandra Connor (La Trobe Rural Health)
June Low (Kyoto University)
My Teaching
Current:
Course Coordinator for the Graduate Certificate in Sex, Health and Society (La Trobe University)
Past:
Have developed and taught a number of subjects, both undergraduate and postgraduate, including: Health Promotion, Advanced Theories, Community-Based Participatory Research, Qualitative Methods, Human Sexuality, Applied Research and Biostatistics, Health Behaviour and Research and Evaluation Methods.