Dr. Hollee A. McGinnis is an Assistant Professor at the VCU School of Social Work. Her research broadly examines the social and cultural determinants of children’s mental health and well-being, focusing on improving outcomes across the lifespan for youth and adults with histories of childhood adversity and child welfare involvement in the U.S. and globally.

Presently, her research encompasses three interrelated goals: (1) establish an understanding of the challenges and lived experiences of adopted and institutionalized youth, focusing on transracial/ transnational adoptees and institutionalized youth from Asia; (2) explore the role of social connections, including social networks and community, as sites for intervention to promote healing and identity development; and (3) expand knowledge on how to engage meaningfully across social differences (i.e. biological, race, culture, nation) and promote socially just systems in which individuals can thrive.  

Currently, she is exploring the relationship between trauma histories, attachment adversity, discrimination, and perceived social support among adolescents growing up in orphanages in South Korea; the structure of social networks in emerging adulthood among individuals with trauma histories; and the navigation of biology, birth, race, culture, and nationality differences among White parents and their transracial and transnationally adopted children.