Malvina N. Skorska, Ph.D.
Background I am currently an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus in Toronto, ON, Canada. I am focused on teaching courses related to social psychology and psychotherapy. I am also engaged in various research projects related to my Areas of Interest. Specifically, I'm interested in neuroimaging or correlational research projects related to sex, gender, sexual orientation, hormonal influences, sexuality, and mental health. In 2022, I started a Master's in Counselling Psychology degree to acquire clinical training to complement my clinical research. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto Mississauga and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health from 2017-2023, I learned to process images of the brain taken via MRI to derive various structural and functional features (e.g., cortical thickness, surface area, resting state fMRI). The neuroimaging research focused on cross-cultural examinations of sex and gender in Thailand, and investigation of brain structure and function in relation to age and sexual orientation in adolescents who experience gender dysphoria. I completed a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy degree) specializing in Social/Personality Psychology from the Department of Psychology at Brock University in October 2016. The focus of my dissertation was on biological/physical characteristics (e.g., height, facial structure, birth weight) related to sexual orientation. Investigating these characteristics helps us to gain an understanding of the development of sexual orientation, which is one of the fundamental aspects of our sexuality. In my free time I enjoy running, going to the gym, hiking, skiing, reading, traveling, and exploring Toronto. |
Media Interviews/Appearances
Dr. Justin Lehmiller's Sex and Psychology Podcast episode 189, "What asexuality is, and isn't," originally aired May 9, 2023
Dr. Justin Lehmiller's Sex and Psychology Podcast episode 188, "Where does our sexual orientation come from?," originally aired May 2, 2023
A documentary on New Zealand’s TVNZ1, “Why Am I Gay?” originally aired November 8, 2022, directed by Dr. Angelo Tedoldi
BBC News World Service Sounds’ CrowdScience episode, “Why Am I Gay?,” originally aired October 7, 2022
Brain Canada, July 27, 2021, "Your brain on hormones: Understanding the effects of hormone therapy on brain development"
Dzien Dobry TVN, “Przelomowe badania na temat orientacji seksualnej” originally aired January 25, 2018, interview with Marcin Sawicki
PsyPost, November 14, 2016, “Study: Gay men tend to be shorter than heterosexual men” by Eric W. Dolan
Slate magazine, August 3, 2015, “Where’s the scientific research into how sexual orientation develops in women?” by Megan Cartwright
CBC’s “The Nature of Things: Survival of the Fabulous” originally aired November 28, 2013, directed by Bryce Sage
Collaborators
Over the years, I have had amazing opportunities to collaborate with great labs, some of which I continue to collaborate with:
-Dr. Doug VanderLaan's (my postdoc supervisor) Biopsychosocial Investigations of Gender Lab on projects related to sex, gender, sexual orientation, brain structure and function, and cross-cultural studies in Thailand
-Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai (my postdoc co-supervisor) on projects related to sex, gender, sexual orientation, and brain structure and function
-Dr. Anthony Bogaert's (my MA, PhD, and postdoc supervisor) Human Sexuality Lab on projects related to development of sexual orientation, including immunological influences
- Dr. Gordon Hodson's Brock Intergroup Attitudes Scholarship Lab on projects related to prejudice and essentialism, as well as prejudice and pornography
- Dr. Lori Brotto's UBC Sexual Health Laboratory on a psychophysiology project related to asexuality