Kathleen Galvin's current research interests are focused in the following areas –discourse-dependent families and family communication regarding health. The former addresses the issues of non-traditional families formed to some degree through communication. Her studies have focused on families formed through transnational/transracial adoption and on gay male parenting. Currently she is involved in three health-related studies. These include an examination of how families talk about genetic disease, specifically hemochromatosis, how pediatric cancer impacts adult survivors and their parents, and decision making in families faced with a female child's cancer diagnosis that threatens her fertility.