Leigh McClarty, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD

Research summary

Dr. Leigh McClarty's research broadly focuses on optimizing public health programming for HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections using a Program Science approach. Through her work, she aims to develop and apply innovative methods for embedding research and learning into programs to generate contextualized knowledge and evidence to improve program outputs and outcomes at the population-level. Dr. McClarty's research program involves work in Manitoba, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ukraine. 

Dr. McClarty leads work on a global Program Science Initiative, which focuses on strategies to optimize programming for priority and criminalized groups who experience persistent inequities in access to and uptake of safe, comprehensive, and inclusive health services. She is particularly interested in developing strategies for fostering long-term partnerships between transdisciplinary researchers and key stakeholders--including community and civil society organizations, program implementers, funders, and government--to support the operationalization of a Program Science approach across various public health topic areas.

Keywords

• HIV and STBBI (sexually transmitted and blood borne infections)
• key and criminalized populations
• Program Science

Dr. Leigh McClarty is an assistant professor in the Institute for Global Public Health (IGPH) and the Department of Community Health Sciences at UM. She works both locally, in Manitoba, and globally, in Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ukraine. 

Her doctoral research focused on characterizing HIV care in Manitoba, with a specific focus on equity in outcomes, service delivery, and uptake. She established the first prospective cohort of people living with HIV in Manitoba and developed a comprehensive HIV care cascade model for the province.

She held a number of academic scholarships as a graduate trainee, including the CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships, University of Manitoba’s Sir Gordon Wu Graduate Student Scholarship, and CIHR Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement. She is also a graduate of the CIHR International Infectious Disease and Global Health Training Program, which involved hands-on shared learning experiences with peers from academic and research institutions in Canada, Colombia, India, and Kenya.

Dr. McClarty's postdoctoral work with IGPH focused on strategies to optimize programming for criminalized populations in sub-Saharan Africa who experience disproportionate risk to HIV and STBBI acquisition and inequities in service coverage along the prevention and care cascades.

Dr. McClarty has also been involved in research with the Manitoba HIV Program since 2011 and currently sits as president on the Board of Directors for Nine Circles Community Health Centre, a provider of low-barrier, culturally safe prevention and comprehensive care services for priority groups in Winnipeg.

Education

Education: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba (2020)

Master of Science (MSc) in Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba (2013)

Bachelor of Science (BSc) with Honors in Microbiology, University of Manitoba (2010)

Awards

2021:

• Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR) Epidemiology and Public Health New Investigator Award

2018:

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement

2014:

• University of Manitoba Sir Gordon Wu Graduate Student Scholarship
• CIHR Doctoral Award – Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship