The theme for the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), now in its 25th year, is ‘Social Work Science for Social Change.’ The virtual event takes place January 19-24, 2021.
Sean Joe, Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development, has been elected as the new president of SSWR. His role will be formally announced during the membership business meeting on January 22, 2:30 p.m EST.
In addition, Brown School faculty, students, staff and alumni have a robust presence at this year’s event with 40 presentations and over 75 posters. Review the program, presenters, and register at sswr.org.
New Leadership Role in SSWR
Joe is a nationally recognized scholar on suicidal behavior among Black Americans, and is expanding the evidence base for effective practice with Black boys and young men. His research focuses on Black adolescents’ mental health service use patterns, the role of religion in Black suicidal behavior, salivary biomarkers for suicidal behavior, and the development of father-focused, family-based interventions to prevent urban African American adolescent males from engaging in multiple forms of self-destructive behaviors.
Working within the Center for Social Development, Joe launched the Race and Opportunity Lab, which examines race, opportunity, and social mobility in the St. Louis region, working to reduce inequality in adolescents’ transition into adulthood. The lab’s leading community science project is HomeGrown STL, which hopes to improve the social mobility of the region’s 60,000 black boys and young men, ages 12-29, in one generation—by the year 2039. Social mobility is defined as the ability of black boys and men to move upward and attain a better life than their parents.
HomeGrown STL has been awarded $2.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to examine serious disruptive behavioral difficulties, which disproportionately burden Black youth in high-poverty areas, and eliminate racial disparities in child mental health care. The organization has also been named a “Community to Watch” by the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBK). This summer, Joe co-authored “Accountable Policing: Policies to Advance the Personal Safety of Black Boys and Young Men,” which proposed changes to federal and regional policy to build an equitable, transparent and accountable public safety approach.
Joe’s epistemological work focuses on the concept of race in medical and social sciences. He has been quoted extensively in media outlets locally and across the nation, including the Miami Times, the Atlantic Black Star, and NBC.
He serves on the Steering Committee of the national Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) and the National Advisory Council of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Forward Promise initiative. In recognition of the impact of his work, Joe was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the Society for Social Work and Research, and the New York Academy of Medicine.
Below is a partial list of presentations by members of the Brown School community. For poster presentations and a complete program, please visit sswr.org.
Tuesday, January 19
| 2:15 – 4:15 PM | | Darrell Hudson, PhD |
Wednesday, January 20
| 1:30 – 2:00 PM | Stephanie Skees, MSW Stephen Roll, PhD | |
| Thabani Nyoni, MSW, MA | ||
| 2:45 – 3:45 PM | Byansi William Phionah Namatovu, BA Joshua Kiyingi, MSTAT Ozge Sensoy Bahar, PhD Christopher Ddamulira, BA Mary McKay, PhD Kimberly Hoagwood, PhD Fred Ssewamala, PhD | |
| Rachel Brathwaite, PhD Fred Ssewamala, PhD Proscovia Nabunya, MSW, PhD William Byansi, MSW Damulira Christopher | ||
| | Proscovia Nabunya, MSW, PhD William Byansi, MSW Christopher Ddamulira, BA Fred Ssewamala, PhD | |
| Aytakin Huseynli, MSW | ||
| Brett Drake, MSW, PhD Melissa Jonson-Reid, MSW, PhD | ||
| Fithi Embaye |
Wednesday, January 20 5:15 – 6:15 PM
| | Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA Jen Van Schuyver, MSW |
| Leopoldo Cabassa, PhD Shenyang Guo, PhD Xiaoyan Wang | |
| Jisuk Seon, PhD | |
| | Maria Morrison, MSW Brett Drake, MSW, PhD |
| | Darejan Dvalishvili, MD, MSW |
| | Molly McLay, MSW, LCSW Andrew Foell, MSW, MPP Wendy Auslander, PhD |
| | Joonmo Kang, MA |
| | Symposium Organizer: Shenyang Guo, PhD Discussant: Timothy McBride, PhD |
Wednesday, January 20 6:30 – 7:15 PM
| | David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD |
| | Ellis Ballard Jill Kuhlberg Erin Stringfellow |
Thursday, January 21 1:15 – 2:15 PM
| | Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Jen Van Schuyver, MSW |
| | Stephanie Skees, MSW, Washington University in Saint Louis; Stephen Roll, PhD, Washington University in Saint Louis |
| Maya Williams, MSW | |
| l | David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW |
| | Moderator: Von Nebbitt, PhD |
Thursday, January 21 5:00 – 6:00 PM
| Andrew Foell, MSW, MPP Kyle A. Pitzer, MSSW | |
| | Quenette Walton, PhD Jacquelyn Coats, MSW, MPH |
Friday, January 22 1:15 – 2:15 PM
| Shih-Ying Cheng, MSW | |
| | Darejan Dvalishvili, MD, MSW Melissa Jonson-Reid, MSW, PhD Brett Drake, MSW, PhD |
| | Leopoldo Cabassa, PhD |
| | Mark R. Hawes, MSW Kimberly B. Roth, PhD Xiaoyan Wang Christopher Weatherly, MSW/MPH Leopoldo Cabassa, PhD |
| | Von Nebbitt, PhD Takashi Amano, MSW |
| | Symposium Organizer: Lindsay Stark, DrPH |
| | Fred Ssewamala, PhD Proscovia Nabunya, MSW, PhD Ozge Sensoy Bahar, PhD Christopher Ddamulira, BA William Byansi, MSW Flavia Namuwonge, BA Joshua Kiyingi, MSTAT Wilberforce Tumwesige, MSW Mary McKay, PhD |
| Lindsay Stark, DrPH |
| 3:45 – 4:45 PM | Tyriesa Howell, PhD, LMSW |
Friday, January 22 5:00 – 6:00 PM
| | Tonya Edmond, PhD Shih-Ying Cheng, MSW Molly McLay, MSW, LCSW |
| | Michael Sherraden, PhD |
| | Shih-Ying Cheng, MSW |
| | Sara Beeler-Stinn, LCSW, MPA Melissa Jonson-Reid, MSW, PhD Autumn Asher BlackDeer, MSW David A. Patterson Silver Wolf (Adelv unegv Waya), PhD Catherine Cobetto, BA |