԰AV

Andrea Krüsi

Assistant Professor
Criminology

BIOGRAPHY

Andrea Krüsi (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology at ԰AV. She leads a research program at the intersection of criminal law, policing and public health. Her research focuses on how criminal laws, policing and stigma interact with structural vulnerabilities (e.g. racialization; poverty; im/migration status) to shape experiences of gender-based violence, HIV/STI risks, and access to healthcare in criminalized and marginalized populations, including sex workers, women living with HIV and people who use criminalized substances.

Krüsi’s research is grounded in principles of community-based research and draws on critical social science scholarship, including the intersectionality paradigm.  She uses multiple research techniques, including qualitative/arts-based methods and longitudinal cohort data from two longstanding cohort studies of sex workers and women living with HIV. Dr. Krüsi’s research is guided by a community advisory board, as well as longstanding collaborations with numerous community organizations including PACE Society, WISH, CAAN (Community Alliances & Networks), Health Initiative for Men (HIM), Afro-Canadian Positive Network of BC, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, West Coast LEAF and Pivot Legal Society.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Sex work policy; criminalization of HIV; critical public health; gender; policing; critical perspectives; qualitative and methods; community-based participatory approaches.

EDUCATION

  • MSc (԰AV)
  • PhD (UBC)

Note for potential graduate students:

Professor Krüsi is accepting new MA, PhD and Postdoctoral students and is available to serve on committees. Applicants with research interests at the intersection of criminal law, policing and public health, including sex work policy, the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure and evolving approaches to the criminalization and policing of substance and housing encampments through an intersectional gender lens are encouraged to inquire by emailing professor Krüsi at andrea_krusi@sfu.ca.  

Selected Publications

  • Pearson, J., Machat, S., McDermid, J., Goldenberg, S., Krüsi, A. Impacts of sex work criminalization and censorship for indoor workers: exploring how barriers to online advertising shape occupational health and safety. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. 2024.
  • Koenig B, Murphy A, McDermid J, Johnston S, Knight R, Gilbert M, Shannon K, Krüsi A. Intersecting Barriers to Reporting Violence Among Men and Non-Binary Sex Workers Under End-Demand Criminalization in Canada. Social Science and Medicine – Qualitative Research in Health. 2023 December;4. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2023.100311
  • Krüsi A & Shannon K. (2022). The Intersecting Social and Structural Contexts of Navigating HIV Risk and Access to Care among Women. Marrow M, Hankivsky O, Varcoe C. (ed). Women’s Health in Canada: Challenges of Intersectionality. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
  • McDermid, J., Murphy, A., McBride, B., Wu, S., Goldenberg, S. M., Shannon, K., & Krüsi, A. How client criminalisation under end-demand sex work laws shapes the occupational health and safety of sex workers in Metro Vancouver, Canada: A qualitative study. BMJ Open. 2022; 12(11), e061729. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061729
  • Erickson M, Shannon K, Ranville F, McBride B, Elwood Martin R, Kinvig K, Pick N, Krüsi A, on behalf of the SHAWNA Project. “They look at you like you’re contaminated”: How HIV-related stigma and power dynamics shape HIV care access for incarcerated women living with HIV in a Canadian setting. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2022 Sep 1. DOI: 10.17269/s41997-021-00562-z.
  • McBride B, Goldenberg S, Murphy A, Wu S, Mo M, Shannon K, Krüsi A. Protection or police harassment? Impacts of punitive policing, discrimination, and racial profiling under end-demand laws among im/migrant sex workers in Metro Vancouver. Social Science Medicine – Qualitative Research in Health. 2022 Feb 11; 2(1):100048. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100048.
  • Krüsi A, D’Adamo K, Sernick A. (2021). Criminalised interactions with law enforcement and impacts on health and safety in the context of different legislative frameworks governing sex work globally. Goldenberg S, Morgan Thomas R, Forbes A, Baral S. In Sex Work, Health, and Human Rights – Global Inequities, Challenges, and Opportunities for Action.
  • Mawdsley A, Ranville F, Gurney L, Borden B, Pooyak S, Shannon K, Krüsi A. Indigenous Women Voicing Experiences of HIV Stigma and Criminalization through Art. International Journal of Indigenous Health. 2021; 16(2):267-290. DOI: 10.32799/ijih.v16i2.33903.
  • Krüsi A., Ranville F., Gurney L., Lyons T., Shoveller J., Shannon K. Positive sexuality: HIV disclosure, gender, violence and the law—A qualitative study. PLoS ONE. 2018 Aug 24;13(8):e0202776. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202776
  • Krüsi A, Rhodes T, Taylor C, Kerr, T, & Shannon, K. ‘They won’t change it back in their heads that we’re trash’: The intersection of sex work related stigma and evolving policing strategies. Sociology of Health & Illness. 2016 Sep;38(7):1137-50. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.12436
  • Krüsi A, Pacey K, Bird L, Taylor C, Chettiar J, Allan S, Kerr, T, Montaner, JS, Shannon, K. Criminalisation of clients: reproducing vulnerabilities for violence and poor health among street-based sex workers in Canada—a qualitative study. BMJ Open. 2014 Jun 2;4(6):e005191. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005191

Selected Awards

  • Outstanding Academic Performance (OAP), Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 2018-2023
  • Scholar Award, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, 2018
  • Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal for Academic Excellence in the Faculty of Health Sciences, ԰AV 2008

Professional Development

  • Media Training, Media Relations, Faculty of Medicine, UBC, 2023
  • Transitioning to Online Teaching: A Blended Approach, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, UBC, 2021
  • Instructional Skills Workshop, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, UBC, 2018

Selected Grants

  • 2024-2028 Evolving Criminal Legal System Approaches, Women, Substance Use and Violence, Canadian Institutes of Health Research- Project Grant. (Principal Investigator)
  • 2022-2024 Mapping the Pathway of Blood Collected from HIV-positive People in a Clinical Setting: Implications for Public Health Surveillance, Consent, and Criminalization (Co-Investigator, PI: Dr. Alex McClelland)
  • 2021-2025 Navigating Sex Work Spaces: COVID-19 and Beyond – An Arts-Based Participatory Research Project to Delineate Pathways beyond Criminalization, Vancouver Foundation Participatory Action Research Investigate Grant. (Principal Investigator)
  • 2021-2025 Impacts of Structural and System-level Interventions on HIV/STI and Overdose Epidemics among Sex Workers. Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Shira Goldenberg.