About
Lara B. Gerassi, MSW, PhD, is an associate professor in the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Gerassi holds an MSW and PhD from the Brown School of Social Work in Washington University in St. Louis. Her research aims to enhance the wellbeing of people who are involved in the sex trade, and is strongly informed by her clinical experiences with survivors of intimate partner violence and sex trafficking. Dr. Gerassi uses community-engaged research approaches to increase the methodological rigor of her studies and translate knowledge into practice and policy. She strives to use an anti-oppressive, intersectional approach that promotes social justice for individuals who trade sex across a spectrum of agency and victimization.