Each year, USC recognizes six doctoral candidates, and their primary faculty advisors, for their exceptional academic profiles. For 2026, PhD candidate Maiya Hotchkiss (they/them), and advisor John Blosnich, associate professor and director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Health Equity, have received the prestigious USC PhD Achievement Award for their work on suicide prevention with LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing homelessness. This is the second consecutive year that a doctoral candidate at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has received this distinction. “I am incredibly humbled and honored to receive this award and to stand alongside so many other incredible scholars at USC,” Hotchkiss said. “I appreciate the continued support of both the school and the university, even when that increasingly demands more effort.” 

Hotchkiss received a F31 dissertation fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for their project, “Inundated, in Community, and in the Loop: Complex Systems Science Approaches to Suicide Prevention Research with LGBTQ+ Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness.”

Immediately following receipt of their degree in May 2026, Hotchkiss will begin a prominent postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. Hotchkiss will join a research team for an R01 study examining obstetrical and perinatal health disparities affecting sexual minorities and their offspring. 

Taking a transdisciplinary, data-driven approach to social issues

Hotchkiss came to social work from psychology, and was drawn to the systems perspective and transdisciplinary approach of the discipline. The PhD program at USC Social Work also provided opportunities to complete “tutorials” working alongside professors in other disciplines across the university, which allowed Hotchkiss to hone their transdisciplinary expertise and proved to be one of the most valuable aspects of their time at USC. Hotchkiss completed tutorials with the USC Center for AI in Society and the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Heath OR the USC Law & Global Health Collaboration. 

“I see transdisciplinary work as a permanent element of my research,” Hotchkiss said. “If fields were talking to each other more, we could get more done, because we all think about things deeply in slightly different but synergistic ways.”

Blosnich served as primary faculty advisor for Hotchkiss, and was instrumental in supporting their further development and application of the transdisciplinary approach to research. 

“I wouldn't be the scientist I am today without him,” Hotchkiss said. “I knew I really wanted to prioritize a collaborative environment where I could learn how to be a good mentor and John provided that.”

In fact, Blosnich’s reputation as a mentor preceded him, and it was one of the key factors for Hotchkiss in deciding on USC for their doctoral studies, among a host of premier research universities to which they had been accepted. A fellow researcher, Corinne Zachry, had begun the Master of Social Work-PhD dual degree program at USC, and spoke very highly of her mentor — Blosnich — to Hotchkiss. Zachry and Hotchkiss will receive their doctoral degrees together in May. 

“From day one of the doctoral program, Maiya showed a rare ambition for a research career, putting in the extra work and effort to grow their portfolio of research,” Blosnich said. “Their drive and dedication has paid off in spades — both in terms of a highly competitive F31 postdoctoral dissertation award from NIMH, and in this prestigious honor from USC. I count myself lucky to have worked with Maiya over these years, and I'm excited to see where they will take their career.” 

Research embedded in community

Hotchkiss discovered research as an undergraduate and quickly found it was their passion. With a strong desire to focus their work in a more politically or socially tumultuous topic area, Hotchkiss felt that a PhD was needed in order to really lean into methodological expertise. 

 USC offered the option of completing an MSW and PhD simultaneously, as well as an incredible opportunity for community-based research within a diverse metropolis.  Prior to their graduate studies at USC, Hotchkiss worked on a violence prevention intervention study designed for transgender women. Their experience on this study led to a deeper understanding and appreciation for the value of intentional community involvement and input from the very beginning of the research process. 

“A lot of the work we do is to learn about problems that we can actually ask communities about, and they could tell us a lot about what's going wrong and how we can fix it,” Hotchkiss said. “We need to take more time to involve folks in every step of the research process, including conceptualizing the grants, models, and studies themselves.” 

Hotchkiss decided to lean into the need for better civic science and really engaging communities directly in the scientific process. When Hotchkiss arrived to begin graduate studies at USC, they immediately embedded themselves into the community and homeless shelters serving LGBTQ folks, and figuring out the nuts and bolts of queer and trans health in Los Angeles. 

“Once I was ready to begin my dissertation, I already had those relationships and ties to make it pretty seamless to have community trust and involvement in this community-engaged dissertation that I had the privilege to do,” Hotchkiss said.