Sean Kirkpatrick worked in the East Bay non-profit sector for 14 years (2002-2016), with 13 years focused on community-based behavioral health and health equity for un- and underserved immigrant and refugee communities, primarily Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and newcomer refugees. Before entering the non-profit sector, Sean received a master’s degree in Urban and Medical Anthropology from University of Memphis (1991) and was a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at University of Wisconsin-Madison (1992-2002) where he focused on Southeast Asian cultures and histories and conducted three years of ethnographic and historical research in Thailand. He has led and supported local needs assessment, evaluation and research projects in the areas of community mental health and health, designed, implemented and evaluated health and behavioral health services and programming, and has coordinated systems change policy and advocacy efforts for area immigrant and refugee communities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

Since 2016, Sean has worked as an independent Evaluation, Planning and Development Consultant and has been the coordinator of the East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum since 2017. Sean is also a co-author on five published scientific articles on research conducted with Bay Area Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Since 2002, Sean has been involved in alcohol, tobacco and other drugs prevention through programs with youth (education and environmental prevention), research projects at Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation’s Prevention Research Center, and most recently as an evaluator working for CAMI Consulting. For The LOOP, Sean will be helping develop education and training materials targeting tobacco control issues for California’s priority populations as a Subject Matter Trainer.

Additionally, Sean has been the Coordinator of the East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum since February 2017.