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Kriss Kevorkian, PhD, MSW

Antioch University
Home Faculty Directory Kriss Kevorkian, PhD, MSW

Kriss Kevorkian, PhD, MSW, is a Thanatologist specializing in Biocentric Thanatology. She holds a doctoral degree in thanatology, the study/science of death, dying, and grief. Her experience includes working as a deputy coroner, assisting with autopsies and documenting evidence, and as a hospice medical social worker offering emotional support and counseling to terminally ill patients, from young children to elders and their families. In that role, she received Certificates of Recognition for her Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Social Work from local politicians. Dr. Kevorkian was Co-Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Bioethics Committee, Chair of their Death and Dying Subcommittee, and Co-Chair of the San Fernando Valley End-of-Life Coalition.

She combined her passion for thanatology with her love of whales and the environment through her research on environmental grief and ecological grief. Hailed as a true visionary, Dr. Kevorkian coined these terms years before many in the field considered these particular forms of grief as they questioned, "Why would anyone grieve the loss of the environment?" She is the founder of A Grieving World, intuitively and compassionately supporting clients through all forms of grief, including ecological and environmental grief, and those facing the end of life.

Dr. Kevorkian is the founder of Legal Rights for the Salish Sea, an organization educating communities and stakeholders to recognize the inherent rights of the Southern Resident Orcas and the Salish Sea, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Meaningful Movies Project in her community. Dr. Kevorkian has taught in the U.S. and UK and is currently teaching as an adjunct professor at Antioch University Los Angeles.

  • Garver, G. (Ed.). (2024). Ecological Law in Practice: Case Studies for a Transformative Approach (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032622378
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