Dr. Kao regularly teaches and researches in the following four areas: (1) rights, human and animal, (2) religion in the public sphere in the U.S., (3) feminist theology/ethics, (4) Asian American theology/ethics. Her most recent book, My Body, Their Baby: A Progressive Christian Vision for Surrogacy (Stanford UP, 2023) won the 2024 silver medal in theology from the Illumination Book Awards and was named a 2024 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association. She is also the author of Grounding Human Rights in a Pluralist World (Georgetown UP, 2011), the co-editor of Asian American Christian Ethics: Voices, Methods, Issues (Baylor UP, 2015) and the co-editor of Encountering the Sacred: Feminist Reflections on Women’s Lives (T&T Clark, 2018). At Claremont School of Theology, she is a two-time recipient of the Faculty Teaching Award (2010-2011, 2016-2017) and is the first Asian American woman to have been tenured and then promoted to (full) professor. Her other professional activities include current or past service on editorial boards (Journal of Religious Ethics, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics), current or past steering committee membership in the American Academy of Religion (Animals and Religion; Law, Religion, and Culture), and current or past service on the Board of Directors (Society of Christian Ethics; Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry (PANAAWTM), Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI) and CreatureKind). You can learn more about her/her work at drgracekao.com.