Ashley Lacombe-Duncan

Ashley Lacombe-Duncan received her MSW (2010) and PhD (2018) from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Lacombe-Duncan’s macro social work practice experience includes: policy analysis, grant writing, practice-informed research, program development, and program evaluation in community-based and hospital health and mental health settings. Her major research focus centers on healthcare access and health equity, with a particular focus on healthcare access for people who experience multiple forms of intersecting oppressions. Specifically, her research focuses on three main areas: (1) understanding barriers to access to care, including HIV care, for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people; (2) developing/adapting, pilot testing and evaluating interventions to increase HIV care engagement among LGBT people living with HIV; and, (3) advancing LGBT affirming social work practice from an intersectional approach.

As a co-investigator of the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)-funded Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS) and Impactful Research with Diverse Women Living with and at Risk of HIV in Canada and a member of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Trials Network (CTN) Trans People and HIV Working Group, Lacombe-Duncan works to understand issues of access to and experience of healthcare for trans women living with HIV using a community-based participatory research approach. She has participated in several research projects focused on LGBT health in Canada and abroad. Her methodological expertise includes mixed methods and review methodologies (meta-analysis, meta-ethnography). She is interested in teaching courses in social work theory, social justice and diversity, research methods, and macro social work practice.