Lance Keene PhD, MSW

Lance Keene is an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Dr. Keene’s research and teaching focus on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. Dr. Keene’s primary research interest includes the sexual and behavioral health of adolescent and young adult sexual minority men of color. Additionally, his research investigates the impact of inequality on this population and seeks to improve their life opportunities. Dr. Keene’s long-term career objective is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate evidence-based interventions to reduce sexual risk behavior, substance misuse, and improve life chances of racial and sexual minority youth and young adults.

As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH) during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, Dr. Keene and CLAFH Director Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos were awarded a 2020 William T. Grant Foundation Mentoring Grant. During his two-year, $110,000 grant, Dr. Keene, in collaboration with Dr. Guilamo-Ramos, is leading the research project, “Multi-dimensional inequality among young sexual minority men of color: Exploring the potential to leverage existing HIV treatment and prevention infrastructure to improve life chances.” This qualitative study explores the experiences and perspectives of Black and Latino sexual minority men (ages 15 to 25) (BLSMM) regarding multiple intersecting dimensions of inequality—i.e., socioeconomic, health, political, and sociocultural and the relationship of these factors to their perceived life opportunity trajectories.

Dr. Keene received his PhD in Social Work from the Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at The University of Chicago, MSW from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and BA in Sociology from Michigan State University.