FOCUS
Kristefer Stojanovski’s research examines structural causes to health disparities among ethnic, racial, sexual, and gender minorities. During his doctoral program, Kristefer intends to continue this work domestically and internationally.
MORE ABOUT KRISTEFER
Kristefer Stojanovski is a doctoral student in health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan. Kristefer has extensive experience in conducting a variety of academic and applied research studies in the areas of public health, mental health, and criminal and social justice, both domestically and globally. Kristefer holds dual master’s degrees in epidemiology and health management and policy from the University of Michigan. He has also worked as a consultant with county and state governments in the United States, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and other non-governmental organizations in the Balkans. He is an Associate Member of the European Academic Network on Roma Studies, and has presented and published his work in international conferences and peer-reviewed journals. Mr. Stojanovski is a former Fulbright grantee to Macedonia and has been awarded numerous early-career researcher awards.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — MAY 2019
Systems Science Approaches to Visualize, Model, and Explore Stigma’s Role in Socially Patterning HIV Risk Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men (GBMSM) in Europe
The objective of my dissertation was to portray how HIV risk among European gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) is socially patterned by structural stigma (i.e., policies) to improve public health’s conceptualization, estimation, and quantification of stigma’s role in perpetuating HIV. Using Complex Systems Theory, my dissertation found that HIV risk emerges from a dynamic process influenced by numerous interacting factors and feedback loops shaped by stigmatizing policies and norms. In totality, my dissertation expounded on how HIV risk emerged from the amalgamation of stochastic and heterogenous factors that interact, in concert, to socially pattern HIV disparities among European GBMSM—indicating the complex nature behind HIV risk.
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