Faculty

Anthony Silvestre, PhD Associate Professor Co-Investigator, Pitt Men's Study Director, Pennsylvania Prevention Project E-mail: tonys@pitt.edu Phone: 412-624-5080 Fax: 412-383-1513 Address: 400 Keystone 3520 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Education

BA; Kings College; 1969
MA; Pennsylvania State University; 1974
PhD; University of Pittsburgh; 1992

Research Interests

HIV/AIDS, Sexuality, Human Diversity and Public Health, and Sexual Orientation

Research Summary

Dr. Silvestre's research focuses on HIV prevention, particularly infection, compliance with safer-sex recommendations, and rates of infection among gay men.

Dr. Silvestre is a co-investigator for the Pitt Men's Study, which since 1983 has been characterizing the natural history of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in gay and bisexual men.

In addition, he is directing the Pennsylvania Prevention Project, which is studying HIV-prevention knowledge, attitudes, and access to service of people at risk of HIV infection, and of HIV experts throughout the state, excluding Philadelphia. This study, using focus groups and interviews, and funded by the CDC and state Department of Health, is being used to develop an HIV-prevention plan for Pennsylvania. He has also established a system to evaluate existing HIV-prevention programs and HIV testing and counseling sites.

Dr. Silvestre also is the director of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Research on Health and Sexual Orientation. In that role, the Center's focus is encouraging research among its members, consulting with University faculty interested in including sexual orientation in their research, and mentoring students. Dr. Silvestre has an ongoing project collecting oral histories of lesbians and gay men in Pennsylvnia and archiving materials from the Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities. He is also studying diversity and recruiting minorities and women into research.

He teaches a course on Diversity and Public Health and co-directs the School's Certificate Program in LGBT Health.

Recent Publications

• Silvestre AJ, Arrowood S, 2005, Strategies for improving state, county, and city government health and welfare services for LGBT people. in Shankle M., (ed.), The Handbook of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Public Health: A Practitioner's Guide to Service, Haworth Press, Binghamton, NY.
• Friedman, M.S., Koeske, G.F., Silvestre, AJ, Korr, W.S., & Sites, E.W. The impact of gender-role nonconforming behavior, bullying and social support on suicidality among gay male youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2006, 28(5), 621-623.
• Silvestre AJ, Hilton J, Johnson L, Houston C, Jacobson L, Ostrow D; Minority MSM Recruitment into the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study American Journal of Public Health, June 2006.
•  Chenglong Liu, Jacobson LP; Ostrow D; Johnson L; Silvestre AJ; Visscher B: Predictors for Lower Quality of Life in the HAART Era among HIV-infected Men, JAIDS, 42(4):470-7, 2006. 
• Moyer M, Lombardi E, Taylor C, Silvestre AJ: High-Risk Behaviors among Youth and their Reasons for Not Getting Tested for HIV, Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children and Youth, 8:1, 2007.

Last Updated: January 23, 2008