Aaron Rosen Lecture [presented in person and live streamed]: Crisis to Catalyst: Mobilizing Gender and Sexuality Science to Ignite Lifelong Health and Inspire a Transformative Social Work Future

The shifting social, political, and cultural landscape is transforming the social work profession: the clients we serve, the research we conduct, the students we teach, and the communities in which we live and work. We are witnessing the erosion of safety nets, social work and allied health sciences deemed nonprofessional, and efforts to redefine gender as biological sex. As an internationally renowned scholar at the intersection of health trajectories and longevity across gender, sexuality, and culture, Dr. Fredriksen Goldsen will examine life-affirming practice and policy by bridging legal and ethical rights with lived realities. She will share critical findings from her landmark longitudinal research and cutting-edge, community-based interventions in underserved populations. Despite persistent adversity—or perhaps because of it—sexual and gender diverse older adults demonstrate remarkable resilience and resistance. Yet, they continue to face elevated risks of health disparities and premature mortality linked to violence and discrimination, economic inequality, and uneven access to care. By illuminating modifiable pathways over time, Dr. Fredriksen Goldsen will reveal how the dynamic interplay of social and community connection and marginalization shapes well-being—opening bold new possibilities for innovations in empowerment- and action-focused strategies. The lessons learned extend across communities with broad, cross-cutting societal implications. Dr. Fredriksen Goldsen will offer insights on how we, as a profession, can navigate these times with vision, integrity, and resolve to address our current “grandest challenges.�

Karen Fredriksen Goldsen, PhD is the Hooyman Endowed Professor and Director of the Goldsen Institute and Healthy Generations in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. She is an internationally recognized scholar whose work advances understanding of how health and aging unfold across the life course by gender, sexuality, and culture. She leads landmark longitudinal studies and cutting edge community-based interventions in underserved populations, including the National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study: Aging with Pride (NHAS; NIH/NIA R01), Innovations in Dementia Empowerment and Action (IDEA; NIH/NIA R01), IDEA Care Café, and the Global Pride Study. Her research integrates rigorous science with direct community engagement and impact. Dr. Fredriksen Goldsen is the author of seven books and special issues and more than 150 publications. Her work has been cited by major media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes, as well as over 100 international news sources. She was featured in CNN’s Trailblazer series and ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the field. She has delivered invited presentations at U.S. White House conferences, the National Academies of Sciences, Congressional briefings, United Nations conferences, and other national and international policy forums. Her honors include the inaugural NIH Sexual & Gender Minority Distinguished Investigator Award, PBS Next Avenue’s inaugural Top 50 Influencers in Aging, Social Work Education Career Achievement Award , GSA’s Pollack Award for Healthy Aging, and the UW Distinguished Teaching Award. She is a Fellow of SSWR and GSA, and founder of Shanti/Seattle, GenPride, and the Rainbow Research Group. She received her PhD from University of California, Berkeley.