Alumni spotlight: Kelly G. Loeb

It still feels weird for Kelly G. Loeb to talk about her grandmother in the past tense. Loeb, who received her Master of Social Work from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare in 2010, got more than just her name from the family’s matriarch. 

Her grandmother, who Loeb called “Grand”, inspired her career in social work. 

“She feels so present for me still,” Loeb said. 

Loeb spent her California-based childhood riding bikes around Los Angeles with Grand. They would go shopping and out to eat. The 54-year age gap was only a detail. Grand was Loeb’s best friend. 

“Until I went to social work school, I didn’t know that all grandmothers were not like that,” Loeb said. “I know that she wasn’t the rule because I do think she was pretty special. But she may, in many cases, have been more of the exception than I even knew.”

When Loeb moved to Kansas City to attend dental school, she thought the situation was temporary. Thirty years later, she never moved back and certainly isn’t a dentist. Loeb is left-handed and said all the dental tools were backward – she also said she wasn’t good at it. 

Instead, Loeb decided on social work with a focus on aging adults. This was a way for her to spend time around older people like her grandmother. 

She ended up working at the Alzheimer’s Association at 25. Shortly after, her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This was shocking to Loeb, who referenced Grand to be the smartest person she ever knew. Mom is second, dad is third.

“And that’s OK with him,” Loeb said.

Consider the family intelligence order as a symbol of Loeb’s quick wit. She tells everyone she speaks three languages: English, Spanish and Medicare. 

Loeb wants more social workers to specialize in aging, and a big reason she got that job at the Alzheimer’s Association was because she could speak Spanish. The Medicare fluency developed throughout her career, which also included working eight years at Jewish Family Services. 

She is now the community engagement coordinator at the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and dedicates her career to learning more about her late grandmother’s disease. Loeb provides information and support in English and Spanish to people experiencing cognitive change, as well as to their families and professional caregivers and the general public.

Loeb encourages social workers to continue learning because that part of her career never stopped. She was in Dubai in October and flew back to Kansas City for a Doctor of Social Work info session the same evening. 

She called that the “second nerdiest” thing she’s ever done, right after dropping out of dental school. 

Banter aside, Loeb is passionate about making the world a better place. She said the world will always have issues, but social work can improve it. 

She’ll tell you she got that mindset from Grand, too. 

“While it's past her time,” Loeb said, “I think working on educating people toward prevention treatment and other research is absolutely something I can do in her honor.”