Sonja Mackenzie, DrPH, MSc
Biography
Dr. Mackenzie's work seeks to understand the effects of social discrimination - in particular at the intersection of poverty, racism, homophobia and gender inequalities - on health and well being among urban populations of women and girls, LGBT youth, and African American men and women. Her work draws on qualitative research methods at the nexus of public health, sociology and sexuality studies, with a specific focus on participatory methods, including Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Dr. Mackenzie is currently Co-Investigator on an ethnographic research project in Oakland and San Francisco, entitled "Reframing the Down Low," investigating the social context of HIV vulnerability among bisexually active African American men. This project additionally seeks to trace the socio-spatial context of incarceration for sexual identities and practices.
Dr. Mackenzie is interested in building new theoretical frameworks for understanding - and addressing - the social and structural contexts of HIV vulnerability. Her current work also examines the emergence and effects of HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories as counter-narratives, namely resistant discourse circulating in the public domain, with a particular interest in contributions of rhetorical strategies of resistance for social movements and community mobilization for health equity. This work builds on Mackenzie's dissertation research, a qualitative investigation of HIV/AIDS "conspiracy theories" and social/sexual inequalities among a sample of HIV-negative and HIV-positive African American men and women in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a long-standing focus on sexuality and health among youth, Dr. Mackenzie has conducted qualitative research with LGBT youth on perceptions of the relationship between queer youth health and discrimination.
Dr. Mackenzie enjoys working to translate science into practice, and is currently doing so as a Technical Assistance Provider to the National AIDS Fund's Generations III Project, in which she supports community based organizations in designing evidence-based HIV prevention programs working with women and families across the United States. She has designed, evaluated and implemented HIV prevention and harm reduction interventions with HIV-positive and at-risk populations, with a focus on gender and power. For the past 16 years, Dr. Mackenzie has conducted advocacy, public policy, and research - alongside ongoing activism - in the struggle for resources, health and equity with communities living with HIV/AIDS in the Bay Area and across the United States. In particular, Dr. Mackenzie's research is influenced by her long-standing work with the Oakland-based organization Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases (WORLD), as well as former work with the San Francisco Needle Exchange (a site by and for youth) and the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC) Queer Youth Organizing Project.
Dr Mackenzie is passionate about teaching and building forms of critical pedagogy and transdisciplinary inquiry. As a Predoctoral Fellow at the Alcohol Research Group and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Health Equity Institute, she has advanced her research interests and training in creating innovative methodologies and theoretical frameworks for understanding health and the body. She has taught the graduate seminar in Research Methods in the Department of Sexuality Studies at SFSU, as well as served as Instructor for doctoral seminars in leadership and public health at the UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. Dr. Mackenzie received her Doctorate in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008, and her MS in Health and Social Behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2000.
Publications
Frye V, Fortin P, Mackenzie S, Edwards L, Mitchell S, Valverde E, Garfein R, Metsch L, Latka M. Managing identity impacts associated with disclosure of HIV status: A qualitative investigation. AIDS Care. 2009 Aug;21(8):1071-8.
Mizuno Y, Purcell DP, Mackenzie S, Tobin K, Wunch T, Arnsten JH, Metsch LR. Acceptability of A-CASI by HIV-positive IDUs in a multisite, randomized, controlled trial of behavioral intervention (INSPIRE). J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2007 Nov; 46(S2): S48-S54.
Mitchell SG, Edwards LV, Mackenzie S, Knowlton A, Valverde E, Arnsten JH, Santibanez S, Latka MH, Mizuno Y. Participants' descriptions of social support within a multisite intervention for HIV-seropositive injection drug users (INSPIRE). J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2007 Nov; 46(S2): S55-S63.
Neuhauser L, Richardson D, Mackenzie S, Minkler M. Advancing transdisciplinary and translational research practice: Issues and models of doctoral education in public health. Journal of Research Practice 2007 Nov; 3(2): Article M19.
Latka MH, Metsch LR, Mizuno Y, Tobin K, Mackenzie S, Arnsten JH, Gourevitch MN. Unprotected sex among HIV-positive injection drug using women and their serodiscordant male partners: Role of personal and partner influences. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2006 Jun;42(2):222-8.
Mackenzie S. 2000. Scientific silence: AIDS and African-Americans in the medical literature. American Journal of Public Health. 90(7): 1145-1146
