Author, speaker, and sassy STI expert
When your first name rhymes with the word “vagina”, perhaps a career in sexual health is inevitable. I never planned it this way. No one dreams of being a syphilis expert when they are seven years old. But somehow I ended up here, and it is a great place to be.
It all started when I dressed up as a giant condom at UC Berkeley and did a demonstration with a condom and a banana in front of hundreds of people. My current job is a variation on that theme; I still speak to audiences both large and small about sexually transmitted infections and sexual health. I also do other things, like research, evaluation, writing guidelines etc. My various jobs include: Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, Principal Investigator of the California Prevention Training Center and Medical Consultant for the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It was never my dream to write a book. It was an idea that came to me after my oldest son was hit by a car (he fully recovered btw). I had almost died during his birth and I felt like if random, rare traumatic events were happening to me, perhaps I could hit the lottery and publish a book as well. Writing is more of a compulsion than a joy for me. I write because I feel like I just have to. Writing Strange Bedfellows was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done; anyone who tells you writing is easy is lying or has never done it before. I’m proud that it is out in the world, and I hope that you will be drawn into the stories of my favorite STIs and laugh while you are learning.
XOXO, Ina
I can give a memorable speech at your conference
I am available to speak to high schools, universities, health professional schools, non-profit organizations, hospitals/health systems, and scientific conferences. Topics for my lectures range from the hidden role of STIs in our lives and society, stigma/humor, as well as STI prevention, diagnosis and treatment. My approach is both scientific and sex-positive.
Quoted by:
Exploring sex and its least intended consequences
PRAISE FOR STRANGE BEDFELLOWS:
“Joyful and funny…Park uses science, compassion, humor, diverse stories and examples of her own shame-free living to take the stigma out of these infections.”
—The New York Times
“Strange Bedfellows is incredibly relevant to our time. Ina Park reveals the mystery and fascination inherent in STDs and, improbably, she does it while being laugh-out-loud funny.”
—Peggy Orenstein, author of New York Times Bestsellers Boys & Sex and Girls & Sex
“Ina Park is a seasoned expert with a finely calibrated sense of the absurd…exactly who you want writing a book about STDs. For the all goofball delights of Ina Park the writer, Ina Park the MD has a mission - to break down the stigma and clear the way for open conversation and wider funding. She's a hero and a hoot!”
—Mary Roach, author of New York Times Bestsellers Bonk & Stiff
