Kathryn Luk

Kathryn T. Luk, MSW (she/her) is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. She received an MSW from the University of Pittsburgh’s joint MSW/PhD program and a BS in Neuroscience with a minor in Public Health from the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences.

During her undergraduate degree, Kathryn was a Research Assistant in a lab studying pain mechanisms in sickle cell anemia where she was awarded funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)/National Institute of Health (NIH). Realizing that she preferred to work directly on issues that impacted people, she shifted her focus to more direct service. During and after her undergraduate degree, she served in a variety of roles as an advocate for victim/survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking/sexual exploitation, and general crime. She provided advocacy and case management for clients, training and technical assistance to victim/survivor-serving agencies, and capacity-building support to systems partners including the legal, child welfare, and educations systems.

Kathryn’s current research interests focus on the implementation of trauma-informed care (TIC) within behavioral health settings. She is mentored by Dr. Travis Labrum where she examines the relationship quality of people living with serious mental illness.