Girija Kaimal is a professor in the PhD program in Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University. In her Health, Arts, Learning and Evaluation (HALE) research lab, she examines the physiological and psychological health outcomes of visual and narrative self-expression. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, has led research and evaluation studies and has had continuous grant funding since 2008. Her research has been featured by NPR, CNN, The New York Times as well as a range of media outlets worldwide. She was listed among 100 women scientists leading research and also featured as one of the ten people whose research changed the world. Most recently, she was awarded the first qualitative research grant for studying aging and demographic differences in Gulf War Illness by the Department of Defense.
Living out her research interests, she has been a lifelong visual artist and her art explores the intersection of identity and representation of emotion. Her service commitments at present include being the president-elect of the American Art Therapy Association (a member organization of over 4,000 members) and faculty senate representative from CNHP.
