Dr. Ryan Wade is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work. Professor Wade's work includes a broad focus on social determinants of health, structural and community-level racism, the racial patterning of sexual/social networks within LGBTQ communities, and health disparities among gay/bisexual men. He is particularly interested in identifying social and structural factors that contribute to poor mental and sexual health outcomes among young gay/bisexual men of color. Professor Wade grounds much of his research in minority stress theory, intersectionality, and ecological systems theory.
At present, Professor Wade is investigating a phenomenon known as Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD), as experienced by gay/bisexual men of color on mobile apps and websites used for dating and sexual networking. He is using mixed methods to develop, validate, and refine a multidimensional scale of RSD. He is also using quantitative methods to examine the association between RSD sub-scales and indicators of psychological wellbeing.