Meet the TWIRI Team

TWIRI has a large network of team members with different positionalities, roles and locations across Canada. We represent a multidisciplinary, collaborative team including community leaders, activists and members; service providers (community, social, medical, and otherwise); and academic researchers. Some of our core team members who often work across projects are listed below. Please know we have many more contributors, though, and are always looking for more folks to support our mission!

Co-Founder of TWIRI

Mona Loutfy (She/They)

Dr. Mona Loutfy is a Professor, Infectious Diseases Specialist and Senior Clinician Scientist at Women’s College Hospital and the University of Toronto. She launched the Women HIV and Health Research Program at the Women’s College Research Institute in 2006 to carry out social justice research related to women, reproductive health, stigma, retention in care and HIV and other STBBIs. She works from a community-based research model involving the people that her research will affect at all stages. In 2017, Mona received a CIHR Foundation Grant for her Research Program with the launching of the TWIRI as one of the objectives.

Assistant Professor

Ashley Lacombe-Duncan (She/Her)

Ashley (she/her) received her MSW (2010) and PhD (2018) from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Her community-based interdisciplinary research agenda advances two overarching areas: (1) Sexual and reproductive healthcare access among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (trans), queer and other sexuality and gender diverse (LGBTQ+) people and women living with HIV, with a substantive focus on trans women living with HIV; and, (2) Social ecological, intersectionality and multi-level stigma theoretical approaches applied to understand and address LGBTQ+ and women living with HIV’s health in local and global contexts. Lacombe-Duncan’s work informs interventions to remove multi-level barriers and increase access to intersectionally affirming healthcare.

Co-Lead at TWIRI

Asya Gunduz (She/Her)

Asya Gunduz is a community incubator, trans activist and researcher who has an M.A. in Gender Studies at the University of Gothenburg. Currently working as policy lead on trans and gender diverse HIV prevention at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, she has had more than 6 years of experience in front-line and administerial roles at sexual health clinics, peer-to-peer navigation programs and NGOSs in Turkey, Sweden and Canada. She is one of the initiators of LubunTo, a recently fledging community for LGBTI+ people from Turkey living in Toronto. She is co-chair of the Trans Women and Gender Diverse People HIV/STBBI Research Initiative (TWIRI) as well as co-vice chair at the Board of Maggie's Toronto, a sex worker justice organization. Her intersectional endeavours are rooted in anti-colonialism, refugee advocacy and GIPA/MEPA.

Research Manager at WHRP

Angela Underhill (She/Her)

Angela Underhill is a PhD candidate in the Family Relations and Human Development program at the University of Guelph. She is also the Research Manager of the Women HIV and Health Research Program at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Canada and the Trans Women and Gender Diverse People HIV/STBBI and Health Research Initiative. Angela is an interdisciplinary, feminist scholar and educator who focuses on intersectional and queer feminist research approaches to advance social inclusion and equitable care, particularly as it relates to sex, gender, and sexual and reproductive health. Angela believes community-based research is essential to contributing to meaningful, sustainable and positive change for people.

Director of Research and Programs at Women's Health in Women's Hands

Wangari Tharao (She/Her)

Wangari Tharao is the Director of Research and Programs at Women’s Health at Women’s Hands, a community health centre that provides primary healthcare services for African, Caribbean, Black, Latin American and South Asian women in Toronto and surrounding areas. She is also a community based researcher, with a focus on research that bridges knowledge generation, programmatic and policy practice to support effective actions on HIV. Wangari is also a recognized HIV advocate and has co-founded several provincial, national and international networks including, the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO), the Canadian HIV/AIDS Black, African and Caribbean Network (CHABAC) and the African and Black Diaspora Global Network on HIV and AIDS (ABDGN) to support Black populations living in Canada and other developed countries mount effective responses to HIV/AIDS

Assistant Professor

Carmen Logie (She/Her)

Dr. Carmen Logie is an Assistant Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital, and Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation Early Researcher (2016-21). Carmen conducts community-based global research (Canada, Jamaica, Haiti, Swaziland, Lesotho, Uganda) focused on the social contexts that shape wellbeing. She is particularly interested in understanding and addressing intersectional stigma associated with multiple marginalized identities, including race and ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity and expression, HIV, poverty, sex work, and substance use. Carmen has been working on mixed-methods community-based research initiatives with trans women living and affected by HIV in Canada, Jamaica, Swaziland and Lesotho for the past decade.

Ian Armstrong (They/Them)

Family Physician

Dr. Ian Armstrong is a family physician with a clinical focus on HIV care, transgender health, and sexual health. They joined the Transgender Women HIV Research Initiative in 2019. He is interested in addressing gaps in knowledge about HIV drug-hormone interactions and treatment satisfaction, so that trans women and non-binary folks can make fully informed decisions about their health. They also see patients in the Hassle Free Men & Trans Clinic, and the CAMH Adult Gender Identity Clinic.

Summer Student

Ananya Inaganti (She/Her)

Ananya is an undergraduate student at Western University studying Health Sciences and Biology. Ananya is interested in sexual and reproductive health and is passionate about championing for equitable access to healthcare for all. As a summer student at WCH she is eager to learn more about community-based research!

Past Members

Cofounder of TWIRI

Yasmeen Persad (She/Her)

Yasmeen is the trans woman and activist who sparked TWIRI. As the co-founder and co-lead of TWIRI, Yasmeen advanced federally-funded community-based participatory research projects aimed at improving the health and lives of trans women living with and affected by HIV. These studies include an ongoing clinical study evaluating potential drug-drug interactions between feminizing hormone therapy and medications used to treat HIV in trans women, a study to adapt a women’s health care model for trans women, and a pilot intervention designed to increase providers’ gender-affirming HIV prevention, care knowledge, and competency (the Transgender Education for Affirmative and Competent HIV and Healthcare – TEACHH Initiative). In addition to all her TWIRI work, , Yasmeen is also a pillar in the Toronto community and she supports and sustains a thriving community of trans people of colour in part through her role as an educator and trainer at the 519, an LGBTQ+ community centre and hub in Toronto. Needless to say, Yasmeen has served an incredible term as the TWIRI Co-Chair and we were especially fortunate to have her guide our work for six years. We are so grateful to Yasmeen for her leadership and we celebrate her contributions to TWIRI!

Research Coordinator

Harshita Iyer (She/Her)

Harshita was the research coordinator for the Trans Women HIV Research Initiative. She received her MSc in International Migration, Public & Social Policy at the London School of Economics (2020) and her BA in economics and gender studies at McGill university (2018). She has worked in the AIDS service sector and gender-based violence sector in Peel Region and the Greater Toronto Area. She has research interests in health and social policy, health equity, and the social determinants of health with a focus on immigrant and trans women in Canada.