Arjee Restar is a social epidemiologist and health equity advocate, and an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Her research examines the behavior, social and structural determinants of health, particularly in transgender and nonbinary communities.

Restar works to expand the field of transgender of health, building research environments that produce scholarship on the health prirotities of transgender and nonbinary individuals. Along with her research on gender-inclusive healthcare in the U.S., she has contributed to and led studies on the lived experiences of cisgender gay and bisexual men and transgender women living with HIV in the Philippines. Her work includes advocating for institutional policies and practices that dismantle systems of oppression, inequality and inequity. 

Before joining the University of Washington, Restar was a research fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and a health policy researcher with both the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and amfAR, the Foundation of AIDS Research. 

Restar was born in the Philippines and speaks fluent Tagalog. She holds a Ph.D. in behavioral science and social sciences from Brown University, a master’s in public health from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in biology and philosophy from Pace University.

Courtesy of Jack Holbrook

Pronouns: She/her

Languages: English and Tagalog

Expertise: Transgender and nonbinary health, health policy, social epidemiology, behavioral, social, and structural determinants of health, substance use and mental health, behavioral economics, gender-affirming care, HIV/AIDS

Location: Seattle, Wash.

Email: restar@uw.edu 

Twitter: @Dr_ArjeeRestar