IN ONTARIO, WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED CAN CHOOSE TO
provide medical forensic evidence - the documentation of genital injuries and/or the collection of semen and sperm - in the hope of securing convictions against their offenders.

But does this process actually work? And what is the experience of providing this evidence like for women?

These are the questions that Janice Du Mont of public health sciences and the Centre for Research in Women's Health (CRWH) - a partnership between U of T and Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre - is trying to answer. In fact, a desire to help victims of sexual assault has been her professional motivating force for over 10 years. And her commitment and enterprise are bringing her work international attention.

So it is surprising when Du Mont says a career in research was not always her plan.

A self-described "late bloomer," she returned to formal education in her thirties to help women who have been sexually assaulted. "I was volunteering at a crisis line in Vancouver when I decided to go back to school and study to be a counsellor."

Du Mont came to U of T and earned a master's degree in counselling psychology. She then completed a doctorate in applied psychology, this time with the goal of becoming a registered clinical psychologist. But it was her part-time job that sparked a new interest. "I was working at the Women's College Hospital sexual assault centre, trying to improve client services by looking at the legal response to sexual violence. It was then that I decided I wanted to help women who were trying to negotiate the legal system."

However, it wasn't until an influential mentor noticed her new-found interest that Du Mont decided to pursue a research career. Robin Badgely, former senior researcher at the CRWH, recruited Du Mont in 1997. She has been at the centre ever since.

Today, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Du Mont is collaborating with Deborah Parnis, a sociologist from Trent University, to investigate the effectiveness of medical forensic evidence.

"We are interviewing women to find out about their experiences of providing medical forensic evidence. What were their expectations? Did they come to the decision on their own, or were they influenced by professionals in the system?"

"We have also surveyed the medical professionals in the Ontario Network of Sexual Assault Care and Treatment Centres - the physicians, nurse examiners and nurses who collect medical forensic evidence - to get their opinions on its utility."

Du Mont is taking her research to the international front through her role as advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO). She is involved in initiatives to document the criminalization of sexual violence across regions, and to strengthen the medical response to sexual assault in developing countries. "WHO is looking at the challenges in measuring the effectiveness of medical forensic evidence in areas with few resources, and one of its priorities is replicating the work I've been doing in other countries."

"Sexual assault crimes are so devastating," Du Mont says. "I am very thankful that my research may be helping women."