Melissa Perri

Melissa Perri (MPH) is a PhD Candidate in the Social and Behavioural Health Sciences program in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and a Course Instructor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. Her program of research focuses on the intersections of gender, housing, and harm reduction. She works to understand how gender-blind programs perpetuate harm for women and gender diverse people. Her work advocates for the need to integrate gender-transformative ideologies to guide the development and implementation of such programs. Her dissertation specifically looks to understand how engagement in housing and safer supply (program where individuals with opioid use disorders and are at risk of overdose prescription opioids) influences women’s sense of ontological security (i.e., sense of stability, identity, relationships, and aspirations for the future). She is currently affiliated with the University of Toronto and the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital.