David Brennan

Dr. David J. Brennan is a Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (University of Toronto), OHTN Research Chair in Gay and Bisexual Men’s Health and the Director of CRUISElab (www.cruiselab.ca), a social science research lab focused on gay and bisexual men’s health. Dr. Brennan’s research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, and the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CanFAR), has examined the ways in which gay and bisexual men who are marginalized by gender identity, race, age and HIV status access health and social service information online to maximize health and wellness. He has examined the intersection of racism and body image among ethnoracialized gay men, aging and HIV, and resilience among two-spirit gay and bisexual men who are HIV-positive. Espousing community based research principles, he has worked with nearly 40 different community based and AIDS Service Organizations here in Ontario. David has consulted with UNAIDS on how web apps may be useful for gay men in lower income countries. David’s Cruising Counts study (funded by OHTN) was essential in developing new guidelines for online outreach to gay men in Ontario (see http://www.catie.ca/en/resources/cruising-counts-guide?utm_source=tce&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=022416).

Dr. Brennan’s current study, (#iCruise, funded by CANFAR) is examining how young gay men use apps and online spaces for sexual health and has recently also been funded by CIHR to extend the study to gay men throughout the life cycle. Prior to moving to Toronto in 2007, David volunteered and worked in the HIV field since 1983. He served as the social work and bereavement coordinator for the first federally certified AIDS Hospice in the US and the Associate Director of Clinical Services at AIDS Action Committee in Boston. 

Selected Publications
Souleymanov, R., Brennan, D. J., Logie, C., Allman D., Craig, S. L., & Halkitis, P. N. (2019). Pleasure and HIV Biomedical Discourse: The Structuring of Sexual and Drug-Related Risks for Gay and Bisexual Men Who Party-N-Play. International Journal of Drug Policy.

Grace, D., Gaspar, M., Lessard, D., Klassen, B., Brennan, D. J., Adam, B., Jollimore, J., Lachowsky, N., & Hart, T. A. (2019). Gay and Bisexual Men’s Views on Reforming Blood Donation Policy in Canada: a Qualitative Study. BMC Public Health, 19(772), Published Online. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7123-4

Davies, A.W., Souleymanov, R., & Brennan, D.J. (2019). Imagining Online Sexual Health Outreach: A Critical Investigation into AIDS Service Organizations Workers’ Notions of ‘Gay Community.’ Social Work in Public Health, 34(4), 353-369. doi: 10.1080/19371918.2019.1606755.

Gaspar, M., Marshall, Z., Rodrigues, R., Adam, B., Brennan, D.J., Hart, T., & Grace, D. (2019). A Tale of Two Epidemics: Gay Men’s Mental Health and the Biomedicalisation of HIV Prevention and Care in Toronto. Sociology of Health & Illness, 41(6), 1056-1070. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12884

Souleymanov, R., Fantus, S., Lachowsky, N.J., Ceranto, A., Brennan, D.J., (2018). How Bisexual-Identified Men Use the Internet to Seek Sex with Other Men in Ontario: Factors Associated with HIV/AIDS Testing and Condom Use. Journal of Bisexuality, 18(4), 497-515. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15299716.2018.1544959

Brennan, D.J., Souleymanov, R., Lachowsky, N.J., Betancourt, G., Pugh, D., & McEwen, O. (2018).  Providing Online-Based Sexual Health Outreach to Gay, Bisexual and Queer Men in Ontario, Canada: Qualitative Interviews with Multi-Sectoral Frontline Service Providers and Managers. AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 32(7), 282-287. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/apc.2018.0027

Souleymanov, R., Brennan, D.J., George C., Utama, R., & Ceranto, A. (2018). Experiences of racism, sexual objectification and alcohol use among gay and bisexual men of colour.  Ethnicity and Health, 1(17), 1465-3419.  doi: 10.1080/13557858.2018.1439895

Noor, S.W., Adam, B.D., Brennan, D.J., Moskowitz, D.A., Gardner, S., & Hart , T.A. (2018). Scenes as micro-cultures: Examining heterogeneity of HIV risk behaviour among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Toronto, Canada. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 47(1), 309-321. doi: 10.1007/s10508-017-0948-y

Salway, T., Gesink, D., Ibrahim, S., Ferlatte, O., Rhodes, A.E., Brennan, D.J., Marchand, R., & Trussler, T. (2018). Evidence of multiple mediating pathways in associations between constructs of stigma and self-reported suicide attempts in a cross-sectional of adult gay and bisexual men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 47(4), 1145-1161.  doi: 10.1007/s10508-017-1019-0

Gesink, D., Wang, S., Guimond, T., Kimura, L., Connell, J., Salway, T., Gilbert, M., Mishra, S., Tan, D., Burchell, A., Brennan, D.J., Logie, C., & Grace, D. (2017) Conceptualizing geosexual archetypes: Mapping the sexual travels and ego-centric sexual networks of gay and bisexual men in Toronto, Canada. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 45(6), 368-373. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000752

Fantus, S., Souleymanov, R, Lachowsky, N.J., & Brennan, D.J. (2017) The emergence of ethical issues in the provision of online sexual health outreach for gay, bisexual, two-spirit and other men who have sex with men: Perspectives of online outreach workers. BMC Medical Ethics, 18(1), 1-12. doi: 10.1186/s12910-017-0216-7

Brennan, D.J., Bauer, G. R., Bradley, K., & Vilaythong, O. (2017). Methods used and topics addressed in quantitative health research on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Homosexuality, 64(11), 1519-1538. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2016.1247537

Hart, T. A., Noor, S. W., Adam, B. D., Vernon, J. R., Brennan, D. J., Gardner, S., Husbands, W., & Myers, T. (2017). Number of psychosocial strengths predicts reduced HIV sexual risk behaviors above and beyond syndemic problems among gay and bisexual men. AIDS and Behavior, 21(10), 3035-3046. doi: 10.1007/s10461-016-1669-2