Bec Sokha Keo

Email: bskeo@uh.edu
Curriculum Vitae (Available upon request)

Personal Statement

Dr. Bec Sokha Keo (they/them) is a second-generation Cambodian-American and first-generation college graduate. Their approach to scholarship and activism is shaped by principles of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS. Their community practice and research focuses on experiences of individuals whose gender differs from assigned at birth. Their dissertation applied an intersectional framework, utilized Conditional Process and Multi-Group Path Analyses, and examined interpersonal and structural factors that influence transgender, genderqueer, and non-binary (TNB) individuals’ mental health. Group differences were found in relation to experiences of racism, family support, and affirmed identification documents.  

Bec Sokha is a Senior Researcher at the SUSTAIN Center, a funding, training and coaching center that partners with community-based and HIV/AIDS Service Organizations in the US South to enhance trauma-informed, harm reduction, mental health, and community wellness services in the context of HIV. They lead research on gender-affirming organizational strategies and co-facilitate a community solidarity-language justice program. Their research goal is to achieve BIPOC TNB health equity and wellness through community-led research and public impact. Bec Sokha’s teaching also includes a critical analysis of power, social location, and positionality across socio-political contexts. 

Research Interests

• Community Health and Wellness
• Gender-Affirming Organizational Strategies
• TNB Health and Wellness
• Intersectionality
• Community-Based Participatory Research
• Multi-Level Interventions
• Mixed-methods
• Structural Equation Modeling

Education

• PhD, Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2022 
• MSW, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2014 
• BS, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2011 

Teaching Experience

• Confronting Oppression and Injustice 
• Social Work Practice with LGBTQ Communities 

Publications

• Keo, B.S., McCormick, K., Stanton, M., & Ali, S. (in preparation). The Implementation of Gender Affirmative Model Strategies at Community-based HIV/AIDS Service Organizations in the U.S. South. For Submission to the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 
• Ali, S., Stanton, M., Keo, B.S., Stanley, M., & McCormick, K., (2022). HIV and Mental Health Services in the South: A Meso Analysis. Community Mental Health Journal, 1-11. 
• Keo, B. S. Socio-Structural Context of Trans and Gender Expansive Youth. In Social Work Practice with Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth (pp. 4-12). Routledge. 
• Ali, S., Keo, B. S., & Chaudhuri, S., (2020). Critically Understanding South Asian Sexual Health: A Call for a Holistic and Sex Positive Approach. International Journal of Sexual Health, 32(3), 177-187. 
• Ghose, T., Ali, S., & Keo, B. S. (2017). Diversity in Social Work Doctoral Programs: Mapping the Road Ahead. Research on Social Work Practice, 1049731517710725. 

Current and Previous Service Activities

• Hollyfield Foundation | Board Member 
• City of Houston LGBTQ Advisory Board | Inaugural Board Member 
• Local Trans and Non-binary Adult and Youth Support Groups | Co-Facilitator 

Honors, Awards, and Recognition

• UH Graduate College of Social Work | Adjunct Faculty of the Year 
• Houston Asian American Archive |  Contribution to Houston Greater Region 
• Houston Pride | Inaugural Non-Binary Grand Marshal Nominee 
• Houston LGBTQ Caucus | Tony Carroll and Bruce Smith Award 
• Texas Observer | 60th Anniversary Change Maker 
• National Association of Social Workers, Houston | Student of the Year