Amelia Seraphia Derr, PhD MSW FT

Amelia Seraphia Derr, PhD, MSW, FT, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Seattle University and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death & Society at the University of Bath. Her scholarship examines grief, caregiving, resilience, and the ways people and communities navigate systems of care under conditions of uncertainty. Her current research focuses on grief in the context of serious, chronic, and life-limiting pediatric illness, particularly experiences of loss that unfold over long periods of time and remain poorly recognized within conventional grief frameworks. Her recent work introduces the concept of twilight grief, a prolonged form of pre-death grief characterized by ongoing caregiving, uncertainty, and the simultaneous orientation toward living and the possibility of loss. This work grows from the intersection of scholarship, social work practice, and her lived experience as the parent of a child with a rare, life-limiting condition. Across her career, her scholarship has also examined immigrant and refugee access to health and social services and the conditions that support resilience and sustainability among social workers and other helping professionals.

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