Dr. Andrea Kelley

Biography

Andrea Kelley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. Her research and teaching interests focus on the intersections of health, medicine, gender, and sexuality. She builds courses and research projects around sociological theory and incorporates her educational training and professional experience as a social worker and sexuality educator. With an intersectional framework, Kelley explores discussions of racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, classism, and xenophobia in her classes, encouraging students to examine their personal biases and understand the effects of social structures that privilege certain groups while marginalizing others. Initially interested in the social impacts of health, she has spent years primarily teaching sociology to pre-medical and pre-health students, with a lens that has shifted to focus on the structure of medicine, specifically medical education. Her current research projects aim to use social scientific data to inform policies that support programs and practitioners in creating inclusive and affirming environments, particularly for LGBTQ+ individuals and families. She applies multidisciplinary queer feminist methodologies and engages in rigorous qualitative data collection and analysis to explore the relationships of individuals within cisnormative and heteronormative social structures.

Research Interests

Experience