Faculty > Dennis Kao, Ph.D.
Department of Social Work
657-278-2403
dtkao@fullerton.edu
Dr. Dennis Kao is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at Cal State Fullerton. He teaches aging policy and research and holds a Visiting Research Professor appointment at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. He served on the faculty for 3½ years prior to joining CSUF. His current research interests are focused on health care disparities, aging minority populations, and aging-friendly communities. In 2012, he was awarded a Hartford Faculty Scholars grant to conduct research on the spatial accessibility of health services for aging minorities in Houston, TX. He is also collaborating on several research projects, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute for Justice, and the Center for Disease Control & Prevention. He received his MSW from the University of California, Los Angeles and Ph.D. in social work from the University of Southern California, along with a graduate certificate in geographic information sciences. Prior to academia, Dr. Kao worked for seven years as a policy advocate/analyst on social welfare and health issues at a Los Angeles-based civil rights advocacy organization.