Detail

Keywords

HIV; Homeless Persons; Homosexuality; Mental Health; Occupational Health; Public Health; Social Discrimination; Social Stigma; Vulnerable Populations

Research group(s)

• Grabovac Group
  Head: Igor Grabovac
  Research Area: Our group within the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine focuses on health behavior and preventive measures in vulnerable populations (LGBTIQ+, homeless, refugees and displaced people among others).
  Members:
  Honja Hama
  Katrin Schäfer
  Lisa Lehner
  Tobias Fragner (né Schiffler)
  Hanna M. Mües
  Igor Grabovac

Research interests

My research focus encompasses a variety of public health topics, mostly concerning the health and well-being of marginalized, underserved, stigmatized, socioeconomically disadvantaged, or otherwise so-called vulnerable populations that are disproportionately affected by the exceeding inequalities, exacerbated in the current context of war, cost-of-living and energy crises, as well as various infectious disease outbreaks. While there is no finite list of which groups may be considered among “vulnerable populations”, these might include migrants and refugees, sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQIA+ people), older adults, people experiencing homelessness, people living with chronic or terminal illnesses, children, as well as racial and ethnic minorities. Evidence from the past decades of research in various disciplines has clearly shown that social inequalities both engender and perpetuate adverse health outcomes (such as higher morbidity and mortality, poorer quality of life, mental health, and overall well-being), either through direct psychological and physiological processes or as the result of barriers in access to health and care services due to cultural, economic, and social discrimination or other exclusionary mechanisms, which is what my research aims to both elucidate and improve.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

Our multidisciplinary team (physicians, nurses, medical anthropologists, social scientists, psychologists, exercise and nutrition scientists) uses a variety of clinical medical tests such as body impendance analysis, accelerometer monitoring, heart variability, 24h ECG monitoring, cardiac stress testing, hand strength measuring. We also use a variety of questionnaires for different outcomes and qualitative interviews and focus group analysis. By accessing and evaluating data from large open datasets we examine various outcomes using a variety of statistical methods. 

Grants

• HPVienna: Pioneering a Transdisciplinary Urban Surveillance System for Human Papilloma Virus with Vulnerable Communities (2025)
  Source of Funding: WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund), Environmental Systems Research - Urban Environments – ESR24-038
  Principal Investigator
• CO-CAPTAIN Vienna: Psychiatric Disorders as a Cancer Comorbidity (2024)
  Source of Funding: MSD Österreich, Sponsoring
  Principal Investigator
• Digitale Gesundheitsförderung: Studie zur Qualitätssicherung von digitalen Gesundheitsinformationen (2024)
  Source of Funding: Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz, Gesundheit Österreich GmbH
  Principal Investigator
• ListenIn: Lebenswelt-orientiertes und Systemisches Empowerment für obdach-, wohnungslose und prekär wohnende Menschen mit Krebskrankheitserfahrungen (2024)
  Source of Funding: LBG (Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft), Cancer Mission Labs
  Principal Investigator
• Cancer prevention among individuals with mental ill-health: co-adapting and implementing patient anvigation for primary cancer prevention (2023)
  Source of Funding: EU, Horizon Europe
  Coordinator of the collaborative project
• INTERACT Europe 100 (2023)
  Source of Funding: EU, EU4Health
  Principal Investigator
• Less is More: De-Prescribing Pharmaceuticals for Patient Safety and Sustainable Public Health (2023)
  Source of Funding: WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund), Life Sciences 2022
  Principal Investigator
• Cancer prevention and early detection among the homeless population in Europe: Co-adapting and implementing the Health Navigator Model (2020)
  Source of Funding: EU, Horizon 2020
  Coordinator of the collaborative project
• WE-Project: Promoting Workplace Equality for LGBT+Q+ Youth (2020)
  Source of Funding: EU, REC
  Coordinator of the collaborative project
• Pilot Study to Assess the Physical Performance and Work-Ability following Kidney Transplant (2018)
  Source of Funding: Medical Scientific Fund of the Mayor of the City of Vienna, Medizinisch-Wissenschaftlicher Fonds des Bürgermeisters der Bundeshauptstadt Wien
  Principal Investigator

Selected publications

1. Jeleff, M. et al. (2024) ‘Cancer risk factors and access to cancer prevention services for people experiencing homelessness’, The Lancet Public Health, 9(2), pp. e128–e146. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/s2468-2667(23)00298-0.
2. Grabovac, I. et al., 2019. Health Care Providers’ Advice on Lifestyle Modification in the US Population: Results from the NHANES 2011-2016. The American Journal of Medicine, 132(4), pp.489–497.e1. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.11.021.
3. Grabovac, I. et al., 2019. Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Diverse Physical Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review of Meta-analyses of Observational Studies. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciz539.
4. Schiffler, T. et al. (2023) ‘Access to cancer preventive care and program considerations for people experiencing homelessness across four European countries: an exploratory qualitative study’, eClinicalMedicine, 62, p. 102095. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102095.
5. Grabovac, I. et al., 2019. Well-Being Among Older Gay and Bisexual Men and Women in England: A Cross-sectional Population Study. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 20(9), pp.1080–1085.e1. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2019.01.119.