Dr. Layne Amerikaner (she/her) is a researcher and writer whose interests center on work, health, families, gender/sexuality, and economic inequality. Her dissertation research used mixed methods to examine job quality, workplace experiences, and well-being among LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. during the COVID era. Amerikaner is the co-author of Thinking Outside the Girl Box: Teaming Up With Resilient Youth in Appalachia, an academic book based on a longitudinal program evaluation study (Ohio University Press). Amerikaner has a doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in public policy and gender studies from George Washington University, and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Franklin & Marshall College. Her work has been published in Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Marriage and Family, Contexts, The Nation, and Ms. Magazine.