Tanya L. Sharpe

Dr. Tanya Sharpe is a community-engaged researcher, who is passionately committed to the development of culturally responsive approaches and sustainable opportunities that allow Black communities to thrive in the face of homicide victimization. Over her 20-year career, Dr. Sharpe’s innovative and community-directed contributions have not only shaped and advanced the field of homicide research, but have created an essential seminal paradigm that considers the interplay between the chronic traumatic experiences of anti-Black racism and homicide. She has used this ground-breaking framework to develop culturally appropriate interventions, tools of measurement, impactful policy and best practices designed to assist Black survivors of homicide victims in the management of their grief and bereavement. Dr. Sharpe is currently an Associate Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) at the University of Toronto (U of T), the FIFSW Endowed Chair in Social Work in the Global Community, and the Founder and Director of The Centre for Research & Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (The CRIB). Her work has been published extensively in referreed scientific journals spanning the disciplines of social work, sociology, criminology, public health, children and youth, Black studies, and trauma, and has been cited over 1,140 times in publications (h-index 19). Through this, and her more than 30 local and international plenary talks on the disproportionate impact of homicide on Black communities, Dr. Sharpe has inspired broad and impactful change in research, policy and practice, and achieved tangible and meaningful outcomes for victims and survivors of crime.