This spring, the CTSG had the pleasure of hosting International Visiting Research Fellow Dr Tom Carpino, Hock Fellow at the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University. Dr. Carpino was hosted by by Dr Liam Wignall, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, and member of CTSG.

 

Dr Carpino’s work explores the intersections of global infectious diseases, stigma, and health equity, with a particular focus on sexual minorities and diverse sexual practices. Dr Carpino presented on his work, Sex and Syndemics, to the CTSG with excellent feedback from those who attended. He also gave a similar talk for the LGBTQ research group at Nottingham Trent University where Dr Wignall is a Visiting Research Fellow.

A bald man with glasses standing in front of a powerpoint. The powerpoint has various logos, including the NIH and CDC.

Dr Carpino led a research conversation at the University of Brighton on the current state of academic research and research funding in the US (and beyond) into areas of sexuality, gender, and inequalities, drawing on his own experiences of having awards from the National Institute of Health withdrawn. Dr Caprino has been vocal about the need to support research on marginalized groups to address societal inequalities. This led to fruitful discussions about funding pathways in the UK and EU.

 

Using the benefits of in-person discussion and collaboration, Drs Wignall and Carpino have successfully submitted two academic articles exploring the kink activity of fisting. These papers explore demographics of people who engage in the activity, alongside key overlaps with sexual risks and sexual health. Dr Wignall has also invited Dr Carpino to collaborate on his annual community survey of gay and bisexual men who engage in kink, exploring a range of different kink activities moving forward.

 

While there were plans for Dr Carpino and members of the CTSG to develop potential courses for the New England Public Health Training Center and the Centre for Disease Control, funding withdrawals within the US meant that these plans have had to be postponed; however, we are hopeful that we will be able to develop courses in the future. There is a continued need to educate about the importance of sex and sexuality for general health and wellbeing – alternative pathways, such as Seed Talks and Pint of Science, are instead being explored.

A bald man with glasses standing in front of a powerpoint slide. The slide says 'Sexual Wellness & Syndemics: Lessons learned from Mpox: Tom Carpino, PhD, MPH'

 

Finally, Dr Carpino took some time to explore the city of Brighton and the University. He was enamored by the seagulls (in particular how big they are) and how queer, diverse and liberal Brighton is as a city. Dr Carpino said, “Thank you so much to the University and CTSG for making this trip possible – it’s been a great experience to visit the city and work on exciting research with Dr Wignall. I hope to continue developing the connections made. I’ll definitely miss walking along the Brighton seafront and chatting about sex research!”

 

We would like to thank Dr Carpino for visiting and wish him the best of luck with his new postdoc position.