David J. Kinitz, PhD
Assistant Professor
(Courtesy)
Health Behavior and Health Promotion
Biography
Dr. David J. Kinitz (he/him) is a social and behavioral health scientist whose research examines how social, political and economic systems shape health inequities, with particular attention to LGBTQIA+ communities, labor market conditions and social welfare policy. His community-engaged research draws on critical qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches to understand how structural conditions influence health and well-being across the life course.
Dr. Kinitz completed his PhD at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Prior to joining The Ohio State University as an assistant professor in the College of Social Work, he was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he worked with The PRIDE Study, a national longitudinal study of LGBTQIA+ health in the United States. He continues to collaborate with The PRIDE Study and scholars across the U.S. and Canada.
Dr. Kinitz is an externally funded researcher leading projects focused on Medicaid, job quality and working conditions, and the health and well-being of older adults. Across this program of research, he is particularly interested in how employment, education and training, economic insecurity and social welfare systems operate as structural determinants of health. His work aims to generate evidence that informs policies and interventions to advance health equity.
In his teaching and mentorship, Dr. Kinitz emphasizes the connections between social theory, structural conditions and population health. He teaches SOCWORK 5025: Social Determinants of Health through the College of Social Work and mentors students pursuing research in LGBTQIA+ health, social issues, and employment and working conditions.
Education
- Postdoctoral Scholar
- LGBTQIA+ Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, 2025
- PhD
- Public Health Sciences: Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 2023
- MSW
- Social Work, York University, 2015
- BSW
- Social Work, Lakehead University, 2014
- SSW
- Social Service Worker, Fleming College, 2011
Research interests
LGBTQIA+ health, LGBTQIA+ employment, Job quality, Poverty, Social welfare, Healthcare access, Critical social theory, Qualitative methodology, Mixed-methods, Social determinants of health, Community-based research and the Socioeconomics of aging.
Select publications
- Kinitz, D. J., Tran, N. K., Shahidi, F. V., Soltani, S., Bryant-Lees, K. B., Flentje, A., ... & Lunn, M. R. (2026). Association of employment quality with depression among sexual and gender minority adults: a retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, 58.
- Kinitz, D. J., Tran, N. K., Shahidi, F. V., Maslak, J. T., Flentje, A., Lubensky, M. E., ... & Lunn, M. R. (2025). Associations of minority stress and employment discrimination with job quality among sexual-and gender-minority workers. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 51(3), 214.
- Kinitz, D. J., Ross, L. E., MacEachen, E., & Gesink, D. (2025). ‘How can you worry about employment and survival at the same time?’: employment and mental health among precariously employed cisgender and transgender sexual minority adult men in Toronto, Canada. Culture, health & sexuality, 27(7), 884-899.
- Kinitz, D. J., Shahidi, F. V., Kia, H., MacKinnon, K., MacEachen, E., Gesink, D., & Ross, L. E. (2025). Precarious employment: A neglected issue among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 22(1), 376-392.
- Kinitz, D. J., Ross, L. E., MacEachen, E., Fehr, C., & Gesink, D. (2024). “… full of opportunities, but not for everyone”: A narrative inquiry into mechanisms of labor market inequity among precariously employed gay, bisexual, and queer men. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 67(4), 350-363.
- Kinitz, D. J., Shahidi, F. V., & Ross, L. E. (2023). Job quality and precarious employment among lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers: a national study. SSM-Population Health, 24, 101535.
- Kinitz, D. J., Salway, T., Kia, H., Ferlatte, O., Rich, A. J., & Ross, L. E. (2022). Health of two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people experiencing poverty in Canada: a review. Health promotion international, 37(1), daab057.
- Kinitz, D. J., & Salway, T. (2022). Cisheteronormativity, conversion therapy, and identity among sexual and gender minority people: A narrative inquiry and creative non-fiction. Qualitative Health Research, 32(13), 1965-1978.
- Kinitz, D. J., Goodyear, T., Dromer, E., Gesink, D., Ferlatte, O., Knight, R., & Salway, T. (2022). “Conversion therapy” experiences in their social contexts: A qualitative study of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression change efforts in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 67(6), 441-451.
- Kinitz, D. J. (2022). The emotional and psychological labor of insider qualitative research among systemically marginalized groups: Revisiting the uses of reflexivity. Qualitative Health Research, 32(11), 1635-1647.