William Fisher

Dr. William Fisher

Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Research Professor- Social and Personality Psychology

Email: fisher@uwo.ca

Testimony before the Canadian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, Ottawa

  • Bio

  • Publications

  • Research

Biographical Information

William Fisher is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Western Ontario, and he is Co-Founder and Research Affiliate of the Centre for Health, Intervention, and Prevention at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Fisher received his BA at Tel Aviv University and his M.S. and Ph.D. at Purdue, he has been a Health Canada National Health Scientist, and he is a Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Dr. Fisher is an associate editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, a consulting editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior, and serves on the editorial board of Health Psychology. He has been awarded the Hellmuth Prize for Research and the Pleva Award for Excellence in University Teaching, and has published over 200 papers on basic models of the social and psychological determinants of health behavior, including human sexual and reproductive health risk and preventive practices, sexual function and dysfunction, and chronic disease and diabetes self-management. Dr. Fisher’s research has been supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health for the past two decades.

Selected Publications

Fisher W.A. Steben M Sexually transmitted infection: At the junction of biology and behavior. In C Puckall (Ed.), Human sexuality. Research and theory. Oxford University Press, in press.

Fisher, W. A., Fisher, J. D., & Kohut, T. (2009). AIDS exceptionalism? The social psychology of HIV prevention research. Social Issues and Policy Review, 3, 45-77.

Fisher, W. A. (2008). Barriers and behaviours in blood glucose monitoring. US Endocrine Disease, 51-53.

Fisher, W. A., McIntyre-Smith, A., & Sand, M. (2008) Erectile dysfunction: The couple context. In I. Goldstein (eds.), In C. Carson, R. Kirby and I. Goldstein Textbook of Erectile Dysfunction, 2nd Edition, London: Informa.

Fisher, W. A., & Black, A. (2007). Contraception in Canada: A review of method choices, characteristics, adherence and approaches to counseling. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 176(7), 953-961.

Fisher, W. A., Rosen, R. C., Eardley, I., Sand, M., & Goldstein, I. (2005). Sexual experience of female partners of men with Erectile Dysfunction: The Female Experience of Men's Attitudes Towards Life Experiences (FEMALES) study. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5:675-684.

Fisher, W. A., Rosen, R. C., Mollen, M., Brock, G. et al. (2005). Improving the sexual quality of life of couples affected by erectile dysfunction: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of vardenafil. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5, 699-708.

Fisher, W. A., Singh, S. S., Shuper, P. A., Carey, M., Otchet, F., MacLean-Birne, D., Dal Bello, D., & Gunter, J. (2005). Characteristics of women undergoing repeat therapeutic abortion. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 172, 637-641.

Fisher, W.A., & Fisher, J.D. (2003). The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model: A general social psychological approach to understanding and promoting health behavior. In J. Suls & K. Wallston (Eds.), Social psychological foundations of health. London: Blackwell.

Fisher, W.A., & Barak, A. (2001). Internet pornography: A social psychological perspective on Internet sexuality. Journal of Sex Research, 38(4), 1-11.

Fisher, W.A., & Fisher, J.D. (1999). Understanding and promoting sexual and reproductive health behavior. In R. Rosen, C. Davis, & H. Ruppel (Eds.), Annual Review of Sex Research, Volume IX, pp.39-76; Mason City, IA: Society for the Scientific Study of Sex.

Fisher, W.A., Dervaitis, K.L., Bryan, A.D., Silox, J., & Kohn, H. (2000). Sexual health, reproductive health, sexual coercion, and partner abuse indicators in a Canadian obstetrics and gynaecology outpatient population. Journal of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, 22, 714-722.

Fisher, W.A., Sand, M., Lewis, W., & Boroditsky, R. (2000). Canadian Menopause Study - I: Understanding women’s intentions to utilize hormone replacement therapy. Maturitas, 37, 1-14.

Fisher, W. A. (1998). Fear and loathing on the research trail. In G. Brannigan, E. R. Allgeier, & A. R. Allgeier. The sex scientists. New York: Longmar.

Fisher, J.D., & Fisher, W.A. (1992). Changing AIDS risk behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 455-474

Research

Dr. Fisher’s research involves conceptualizing and testing basic models of the social and psychological determinants of health related behaviours, including human sexual and reproductive health risk and preventive practices, sexual function and dysfunction, and chronic disease and diabetes self-management. Recent work focuses on determinants of HIV preventive behaviour, interventions to promote safer sex and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV+ persons, contraceptive utilization, male and female sexual function, the impact of pornography on behavior, and research concerning of the pharmacotherapy of male and female sexual dysfunction.