In the heart of San Francisco, Arayasirikul (Uh-ray-uh-sir-e-cool) spent nearly a decade researching the intersection of multiple, marginalized identities, and serving sexual and gender minoritized communities of color on the frontlines of HIV prevention, care, and research. As a medical sociologist who is Thai-American, queer, and nonbinary, Arayasirikul (they/them) brings authentic lived experiences to their research. To understand their academic goals coming to UCI, Arayasirikul answers a few questions for the UCI community:
How do you view public health?
Throughout the history of infectious diseases, the disproportionate impact on minoritized groups is profound. Not only to have access to health care but also to be provided culturally and linguistically appropriate care is a major challenge for minoritized communities, but especially for those who live at the intersection of minoritized race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. As a medical sociologist, I understand social determinants of health through the lens of power in order to situate systemic oppression as a motor of inequities in health. Sexual and gender minoritized communities especially face discrimination, stigma, violence and oppression that impact their health service utilization let alone their ability to live safely, outloud, and in public. It is my goal to ensure that we never forget that working toward social justice is in the critical path of achieving health equity. I strive to challenge our community of scholars to interrogate their own work and positionality with an anti-oppressive standpoint as we train future generations of public health professionals and scholars, build programs and interventions, and develop policy recommendations.
Sexual and gender minoritized communities especially face discrimination, stigma, violence and oppression that impact their health service utilization let alone their ability to live safely, outloud, and in public.
– Sean Arayasirkul, PhD
What drew you to UCI Public Health and the Southern California region?
I received my bachelor of arts in Asian American studies at UCLA and my doctorate in sociology from UC San Francisco – my communities but especially my research are deeply embedded within California. Having grown up in Orange County, I am in search of opportunities to address health inequities through collaborating with communities, organizations, and movements in community-engaged public health research. I come from the standpoint that we can always do more to honor and create meaningful partnerships with communities. We all have a role in developing and supporting systems of accountability to the communities we serve and belong to. Public health scholarship is not solely built inside the walls of the ivory tower; public health is brought to life in the neighborhoods and streets where we live, work and play.
What are your current research areas and opportunities for collaboration?
My research portfolio can be broadly described in two areas. First, the development and implementation of systems-informed interventions – or interventions embedded in mobilizing clinics, communities, and public health departments – and stigma reduction interventions that center around digital technology, homegrown approaches, and emancipatory public health.
Second, the investigation of social determinants of health, with a specific focus on the impact of intersectional forms of oppression (e.g. homophobia, transphobia, trans-misogyny, misogynoir), discrimination, stigma, and violence. All of my research is community-engaged and leverages structures of in situ knowledge production and lived expertise. For example, I am currently an awardee of an NIAID New Innovator’s Award to measure and assess the impact of intersectional stigma on HIV prevention and care continua outcomes among the national House and Ballroom community. As a current member of the House of Saint Laurent, frequent walker and winner of the category “Best Dressed,” and a former Father of the House of Infiniti, I bring my lived expertise to the mobilization of my communities in order to improve public health science. I am a proponent of the value orientation that there should be no science about us, without us.
As a community-grounded researcher, I am most excited about joining and playing an active role in the sexual and gender minoritized communities within the UCI faculty, student body, and community-at-large. It is a goal of mine to establish a center focused on advancing the health of LGBTQ+ people. I truly look forward to and welcome any collaborators, but especially students interested in this work, as I begin my journey at UCI!
