Rachel Di Iorio

Rachel Di Iorio is a PhD candidate in Translational Medicine at Queen’s University and a member of GHIRL. She completed an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biology at York University in 2022 and a Master of Science in Translational Medicine at Queen’s University in 2025. Her research focuses on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, contraceptive stigma, gender norms and participatory approaches to intervention development in Tanzania.

Her work asks how young people experience the social meanings attached to contraception and sexual health, and how interventions can be adapted with—rather than simply delivered to—the communities they are intended to serve. Her Kilimanjaro research has used participatory methods to examine stigma-reduction workshops and youth-centred reproductive-health programming, linking lived experience with the design of interventions that are more locally relevant and responsive.

Rachel’s research development has been supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Queen’s Graduate Dean’s Doctoral Field Travel Grant, the Mitacs Globalink Research Award, the Government of Canada Global Skills Opportunity Award and Queen’s graduate funding. Her work has been presented through research days, symposia and conference platforms, including a scheduled oral presentation at the Canadian Conference on Global Health in October 2026.

Her community work has included coordinating health-promotion programming with Queen’s Correctional Services Volunteers and tutoring biology for youth experiencing homelessness through Youth Without Shelter Toronto. Across research and service, she brings a consistent interest in health equity, youth participation and the social conditions that shape whether people can act on health information and choices.