Tsitsi B. Masvawure, D.Phil., is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the HIV Center. Dr. Masvawure obtained her doctorate degree in Anthropology from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She also holds an M.Sc. in Reproductive and Sexual Health Research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom, an M.Sc. in Sociology and Social Anthropology from the University of Zimbabwe and a B.Sc. Honors in Sociology from the University of Zimbabwe.

Dr. Masvawure co-founded an HIV prevention organization that targets university students in Zimbabwe and, for many years, she was involved in designing, implementing and monitoring gender and HIV program for this age group. She has also served as a gender, HIV and monitoring and evaluation consultant for various civil society groups and funding agencies in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Dr. Masvawure’s research focuses broadly on the intersections of gender, sexuality and HIV in Southern Africa. She is particularly interested in exploring how "youth sexual cultures" affect young women and young men’s dating practices, their sexual choices as well as the meanings that they attach to love, romance and sex. Dr. Masvawure’s research also seeks to better understand how the concept of "risk" is constituted and managed in young women and young men’s romantic and sexual relationships. Dr. Masvawure has presented papers at the International AIDS conference held in Mexico in 2008 as well as at sexuality conferences organized by the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Society and Culture in Peru (2007) and Vietnam (2009).

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