Q & A: Meet Tin Vo, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream

Dr. Tin Vo’s longstanding interest in social justice and the social determinants of health first led them to a career in public health, where they focused on program planning, evaluation, and research. But they reached a point where they wanted to tackle the social determinants of health in a more direct, hands-on way. This led Vo to complete a PhD in social work at Wilfrid Laurier University. We asked Vo about the evolution of their career prior to joining U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work this summer, their past and current research, and what most excites them about teaching.  

Your undergraduate degree was in molecular biology and genetics. What were your early career aspirations?

Well, I wanted to help cure HIV. Just a small ambition! I worked my way through four years of lab bench research, and at the end of my degree realized that I enjoyed working with humans much more than with bacteria and proteins.

What made you choose public health next?

I debated between a master’s in public health and a master’s in social work. I wanted to address the social determinants of health through community development and social justice work, and I thought health might be the better route because my education so far had focused on human health.

Can you describe your career as a public health practitioner?

My master’s in public health focused on a social justice approach to health promotion, and through my studies I fell in love with program evaluation. After graduation, I went into the field designing and evaluating public health programs across the spectrum of public health, from infectious diseases and chronic disease prevention to substance use and mental health. It was fun and interesting, but after about five years I didn’t feel as challenged as I wanted to be.

What led you to a PhD in social work?

At the time, I was working closely with social service agencies and mental health providers, and I noticed that social workers were implementing concrete, tangible strategies to address the social determinants of health. I thought, “What if I merge social work and public health going forward?”

What was the focus of your PhD?

I chose a subject that related to my lived experience. I was interested in how homophobia, transphobia, racism, and other systems of oppression impact people’s wellbeing, so I looked at how discrimination in 2SLGBTQ+ leisure spaces affects individuals’ mental health and sense of belonging. These spaces – like queer sports leagues, social groups, clubs and bars, and virtual platforms – are often assumed to be inclusive. But they’re not always, and people can experience discrimination based on their gender identities, race and/or disabilities. I conducted a bi-national survey across Canada and the US of more than 500 people around their experiences of discrimination in these spaces, their mental health, and their social wellbeing. I also interviewed a little more than 20 participants to dive deeper into their experiences.

What were your main findings?

The research participants fell into three mains groups based on how they experienced the queer spaces: as welcoming, hostile, or somewhere in between these two. Not surprisingly, the people who felt welcomed had more positive mental health, and negative mental health for those who described the spaces as hostile. Individuals with disabilities tended to experience the most discrimination – often revolving around inaccessible queer spaces.

Why are queer leisure spaces important?

Queer and trans spaces are vital to the wellbeing of queer and trans folks, as it’s very unsafe for queer and trans folks in general society today with the harmful, discriminatory public policies alongside violent interpersonal incidents. They need places to escape, where they can find community and the social support that’s going to be helpful when they inevitably face challenging experiences.

How do you plan to build on this research at FIFSW?

I’m in the early stages of building my research program. I’m interested in continuing to explore how we create inclusive queer and trans spaces of care in community and postsecondary settings. I’m also building on my postdoctoral research, which focused on the sexual health of queer and trans men in Canada and Australia. I am also working with community partners to develop a project that explores how intergenerational engagement between queer and trans youth and older adults shapes identity formation, loneliness, and belonging in northern Ontario.

What made you take this full-time role at FIFSW after all your years of practice?

This position is focused on community-based social work research and practice, something that’s been important to me throughout my career. In program evaluation, I always prioritized program users’ perspectives. I do the same thing in my research – involving the people that are directly affected by the research at every stage. Also, I fell in love with teaching during my doctoral studies. I started my PhD thinking that I’d go back into public health practice, but it really excited me to see the light bulb moments happen in the classroom. It brought me a lot of joy.

What do you enjoy most about teaching?

Most of my teaching will be about program evaluation and research methods. I’m a research nerd, and I love getting learners to think about how to work with communities in research and how to choose and use the best methods to answer their questions. To make the learning meaningful, I attempt to integrate more practical, case-based learning to allow learners to build useful research skills that they can apply in their future career. A lot of students enter social work with the mindset of being a clinician, and so research may not be top of mind. I hope that I can help them see, by the end of their degree, how valuable research is, especially as we think about evidence-informed practice. Even if they choose not to engage in research activities, I want them to understand where it comes from, and how to use it.

Q&A by Megan Easton; Photo by Jim Moore