Dr. Anne Kirby

Biography

Anne V. Kirby completed her PhD in 2015 in Occupational Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to that, she trained in Occupational Therapy at the University of New Hampshire and worked as an occupational therapist in Washington, DC. Dr. Kirby held a faculty position at the University of Utah from 2015-2025. Dr. Kirby's research focuses primarily on the autistic population, including understanding unmet needs and developing community programs to support addressing areas of need. One area of particular emphasis has been understanding and addressing suicide risk and mental wellbeing in the autistic community, as well as in other high-risk communities (i.e., disability, transgender). Dr. Kirby's research emphasizes respect toward populations being studied and community engagement using methods such as community-based participatory research.