Meet Kathryn Poe | Researcher & Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kathryn Poe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kathryn, what do you attribute your success to?
Growing up in an unconventional way taught me that I needed to prioritize structuring my time for my needs and actually doing what I said I was going to do. During my youth, I had a rare blood disease that dominated my life during my teen and college years, that later resulted in getting a bone marrow transplant in college. I had to be intentional with my time and energy in order to succeed. When I was tired or feeling ill, I needed to take care of myself. So my time when I was well had to be used efficiently. Today I still use these skills to block out my time and my personal life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve worked in and around public policy and community organizing work for 8 years in Ohio. After my bone marrow transplant in 2018, I became involved in efforts to lower the cost of insulin in Ohio through patient led advocacy, as well as advocacy around health insurance and rare disease. Then, I was hired by Equality Ohio to advocate for LGBTQ civil rights in the state, specifically working against the anti-transgender legislation with youth and families. During this time, I also worked on insurance issues, vaccination policy, disability rights issues, and policy around COVID in my personal capacity. Recently, I left to peruse my Masters degree in Bioethics at Ohio State University and was hired as a Researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, handling the State Budget, Health, and Child Care Policy. Trans rights in Ohio remains a part of my work, and I work specifically with trans led organizations on health care related access issues and care bans.

Throughout my career, I’ve learned the importance of including specifically impacted people and centering them in all conversations. It’s easy to let others, especially people who feel that they have specific expertise, in an area dominate the conversation. But impacted people’s stories should always be prioritized – they tend to know much better than others how something will impact their lives. I’ve also learned that there are different kinds of experience and expertise, and that while having a fancy degree or job is one way to gain experience, there are lots of others. Elitism can get in the way of real diversity and progress.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Columbus, Ohio and we have an absolutely amazing coffee and beer scene. My favorite coffee shop is One Line or Parable, and Land Grant is a wonderful brewery in Franklinton. We also have a number of independent bookstores that I enjoy – Gramercy, Prologue, and the Book Loft are all downtown.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I learned a lot from growing up in hospitals. The oncologists that followed my care for years and my bone marrow transplant donor made my life today possible. There are also a lot of people in the Ohio political community who believed in my abilities and took the time to mentor me.

Twitter: Poements

Image Credits
Lyra Bruce OSU Glenn College