Amy Hillier, PhD, MSW

Amy Hillier, PhD, MSW is a social worker and an Associate Professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2). Her most recent research focuses on transgender youth and their families. With colleagues, she is working to develop a short screener for parents to complete in health care settings to identify young children who are gender non-conforming to normalize a wide range of gender expressions and identify families who might need support. Her other research has focused on historical housing and public health disparities including mortgage redlining, affordable housing, healthy foods, park use and access, and outdoor advertising. She has taught courses in city planning, urban studies, public health, and social policy on GIS, racism, public health and the build environment, and research methods. She is the founding director of the cross-school graduate LGBTQ certificate. With Dr. Stephanie Boddie, Dr. Hillier co-directs “The Ward,” a research, teaching, and public history project dedicated to sharing the timeless lessons about racism and the role of research in affecting social change based on W.E.B. Du Bois’ 1899 book, The Philadelphia Negro.