Scholar Profile

Laura Sinko, PhD, MSHP, RN is an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing at Temple University College of Public Health. She is a former child and adolescent mental health nurse and is currently a practicing sexual assault nurse examiner in Philadelphia. Dr. Sinko’s research focuses on promoting healing after gender-based violence (e.g., sexual assault, intimate partner violence, child abuse), with a particular emphasis on social, cultural and structural influences of recovery across the lifespan. Her work has been conducted domestically in both the campus and community setting as well as internationally through a multinational gender-based violence research collaborative called MiStory. Dr. Sinko is also interested in the role of restorative justice as it relates to sexual harm and has received a certificate in Restorative Justice Implementation and Leadership from the University of San Diego. Dr. Sinko is passionate about creative research translation as well as research that is trauma-informed and healing-centered. She has expertise in both narrative and photography-based qualitative methods and has organized multiple community exhibitions to share her research findings as well as the healing journeys of the survivors she has interviewed. Ultimately, Dr. Sinko is interested in leveraging creative, survivor-centered research to bridge the gap between survivor lived experience, the scientific community, and policy makers. By amplifying these perspectives, Dr. Sinko’s goal is to create a more supportive healing world for survivors of violence and abuse.