People

Dr. Hannah Kia (she/her) is a CGSHE faculty member and Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Social Work.  Her current program of research addresses a variety of issues pertaining to sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations.  Dr. Kia’s work centres, in particular, questions related to SGM health, aging in SGM communities, as well as social work and other professional practice with SGM groups. Most recently, she launched a study aimed at examining the constituents of effective social work practice with trans and gender diverse people.  Dr. Kia is a co-investigator on various projects investigating issues such as poverty, along with sexual and mental health issues, among diverse SGM populations. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, where she investigated subjugation and resistance in older gay men’s health care experiences. This study was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) doctoral research award. Prior to starting her academic career, Dr. Kia practiced as a social worker in health care, where she gained experience in general acute care and hospice palliative care, and remains actively registered as a clinical social worker (RCSW) in British Columbia. Her teaching is informed not only by her scholarship as a researcher but by her experience as a clinical social worker in health care settings.