Miesha Polintan

Miesha Polintan (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in Health Promotion interested in advancing health care efficacy and access among equity-deserving groups. Her thesis focuses on (dis)trust in health systems among sex workers living with HIV in Kumasi, Ghana. She is involved with other research projects related to understanding why persons living with HIV bypass antiretroviral therapy at primary healthcare facilities in Kumasi and interventions to improve health and the determinants of health among sex workers living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.

She hopes to further develop her scholarship centred on health equity and the social and structural determinants of health within equity-deserving groups. Additionally, she is committed to increasing representation of 2SLGBTQ+ racialized voices in health research and academia.

• Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST) — 2026–2027
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) — 2025–2026
• Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship West Africa (QES-WA) — 2025–2026
• R Samuel McLaughlin Fellowship Award — 2024–2025

• Polintan, M., Bisung, E., & Dassah, E. (2026). “They have my number, but they have not called to check up on me”: Exploring trust in the health care system among sex workers living with HIV/AIDS in Kumasi, Ghana. SSM – Health Systems, 100177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmhs.2026.100177
• Whittaker, D., Polintan, M., Bisung, E., & Bukari, R. (2026). Embodying HIV/AIDS adolescent peer leadership and achieving the 95-95-95 targets in Ghana. AIDS Care, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2026.2679514
• Whittaker, D., Monette, E., Polintan, M., & Bisung, E. (2025). “Cold turkey meds again”: Access to community HIV/AIDS services during public health emergencies. Wellbeing, Space and Society, 9, 100280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2025.100280