Kristie L. Seelman

My name is Kristie Seelman, and I'm an Associate Professor of Social Work at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

I've created this website as a way for others to learn a bit about me, my scholarship, and my teaching interests and philosophy.

My research interests:

My research focuses on understanding and addressing health disparities affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people across the life course, improving health services and education settings for LGBTQIA+ people, developing LGBTQIA-affirming policies, and promoting LGBTQIA+ resilience. Current research projects focus on transgender adults' experiences in accessing healthcare, resilience among LGBTQIA+ adults, and anti-racist policy analysis.

I currently hold a 4-year appointment on the U.S. Department of State's Fulbright Specialist Roster. I am a past recipient of a loan repayment contract from the National Institute on Minority Health & Health Disparities and was a 2020 Public Interest Technology Universities Network (PIT-UN) fellow. The PIT-UN fellowship supported my work on Project LGBTQ+ RISE UP, a 1-year multimedia research project with co-PI Dr. Beth Mynatt (Georgia Tech) that studies LGBTQIA+ adults' resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have published peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Social Work, Annals of LGBTQ Public & Population Health, Journal of Gender Based Violence, The Gerontologist, and International Journal of Transgender Health. My research has received national media attention from outlets such as The Washington Post, Slate, The Academic Minute (NPR), and Newsweek.

Background & other points of interest

My professional background includes experience developing educational programs for low-income families, supporting and training young adult volunteers, and conducting outreach and advocacy to address childhood hunger; some of these experiences occurred when I served as an AmeriCorps Bonner Leader in Pennsylvania and later as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Vermont.

I received both my PhD and MSW from the University of Denver. I have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Allegheny College.