Treena Orchard Ph.D.

Treena Orchard, Ph.D., is an anthropologist, author, and activist in the School of Health Studies at Western University. As an Associate Professor, her work is well-known nationally and globally, especially her research on sexuality, gender, and health among diverse cultural and digital communities. For the last 25 years, she has conducted intensive research with people in sex work, Indigenous communities, individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS, and sexual minority groups across Canada and around the world. An award-winning teacher, Orchard is the author of three books, 60 articles and book chapters, and 75 conference and keynote presentations, and has received over $4 million in research funding.

Regularly featured in local, national, and international media, her writing about dating apps skyrocketed her to viral online fame and paved the way for her memoir, Sticky, Sexy, Sad: Swipe Culture & The Darker Side of Dating Apps. In this thought-provoking and emotionally powerful book, Orchard uses her skills as an anthropologist who studies sexuality and a sex-positive feminist to explore what it feels like to want love while also resisting the addictive pull of platforms designed to make us swipe-dependent. This timely topic has fast become what she's best known for on public (790,000 views), academic (107, 000 readers), and social platforms (6,500 followers). Her dating articles caught the attention of author and influencer Dr. Wednesday Martin, who wrote the foreword to Sticky, Sexy, Sad.

Orchard's research, writing, and trauma-informed, feminist approach to communication is widely cited and shared among top-tier media and thought spaces, including The Social, The National Post, Cosmopolitan, Global TV, Breakfast TV, The Kit, Huffpost, CBC Radio, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and others.