Biography
Briana McGeough
What do you do? I am currently an Associate Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas and the Director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Research and Advocacy. My research focuses on understanding and addressing mental health challenges experienced by members of the LGBTQ community.
How did the GNSS concentration shape your career? Through concentrating in GNSS, I fell in love with interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the world and engaging in social justice advocacy. As an academic social worker, I consider the multi-level factors that impact the mental health of the LGBTQ community and the clinical and policy strategies that can promote the mental health of members of these communities. Thanks to my GNSS concentration, I was introduced to a range of different disciplines (spanning the spectrum of Neuroscience to Public Policy) and how each discipline conceptualizes gender and sexuality and how those conceptualizations can impact the well-being of people who are marginalized based on their genders and sexualities. Today my work involves conducting research trials on clinical interventions that support the mental health needs of LGBTQ people, exploring the organizational factors that enable effective implementation of clinical services, and engaging in legislative advocacy to support policies that enhance (rather than hinder) the well-being of the LGBTQ community and other marginalized communities. In engaging in such disparate work, I cherish the multi-faceted foundation that my GNSS concentration laid for me during my time at Brown University.