Alison Cole-Kelly is a licensed clinical social worker and assistant teaching professor in practicum education at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She joined the USC faculty as an adjunct lecturer in 2014 and became a full-time faculty member in February 2022. She graduated with her MSW from Columbia University School of Social Work in May of 2005 and spent the bulk of her career as a clinician and advocate in both the health care and school settings.

In her early professional years, Cole-Kelly provided clinical services to patients diagnosed with gynecologic cancer and their families in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. To advance her expertise in this area, she completed a post-masters certificate program in palliative and end of life care at New York University School of Social Work. She then transitioned into pediatrics, where she worked in the pediatric emergency department providing crisis intervention, assessment and discharge planning services to children and their families.

In August of 2012, Cole-Kelly relocated to Los Angeles with her family and began working in the on-call program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and took a position at a new charter high school, developing and implementing their student mental health program. She has taught masters level social work courses at the University of Southern California, California State University at Northridge and Yeshiva University in New York City. Additionally, she taught a class for first year medical students on ethics, professionalism and communication skills at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.