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Photo of Shanna K. Kattari
Photo of Shanna K. Kattari. Shanna is a white person with purple curly hair styled in a bun on top of their head. Shanna is also wearing blue and white polka dotted glasses. They are wearing a black blazer over a black and white striped dress. Shanna stands in front of a green hedge.

Shanna K. Kattari

they/them


Shanna K. Kattari, PhD, MEd, CSE, ACS is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, the Department of Women and Gender Studies (by courtesy), and Director of the [Sexuality|Relationships|Gender] Research Collective. A White, Jewish, nonbinary, disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, middle-class polyam queer fat Femme, their practice and community background is as a board certified sexologist, certified sexuality educator, and social justice advocate. Dr. Kattari’s extant research focuses on understanding how power, privilege and oppression systematically marginalize, exclude, and discriminate against people regarding their identities/expressions through negative attitudes, policies reinforcing oppression, oppressive actions and isolation. Recently, they have focused on the health disparities among trans and gender diverse communities, across physical and behavioral health, as well as working with the community through community based participatory research and arts based research methods to better understand how the lack of inclusive providers has increased these disparities. Another facet of their work is on ableism, particularly within academic spaces They also do work exploring sexuality in marginalized communities, particularly among disabled adults and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals.

A graduate of Colorado College, Widener University, and the University of Denver, Dr. Kattari has also done work as a community sexuality educator for 15 years. In their work across both research and sexuality education, Dr. Kattari strongly values translational research and open source information that benefits the communities involved, and strongly believes in making research and education accessible to not only academics but also to society at large.

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