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PhD Faculty & Research Areas

Troy Andersen

Associate Professor/Lecturer

troy.andersen@hsc.utah.edu

Research Interests:

Alzheimer’s Disease, Progressive Neurologic Disease, Aging, Health, Rural Health Care

Joanna Bettmann Schaefer

Professor

joanna.schaefer@socwk.utah.edu

Research Interests:

Attachment, Treatment Outcomes, Wilderness Therapy, Residential Treatment

Christopher Cambron

Associate Professor

chris.cambron@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Health Disparities, Substance Abuse/Addiction, Cancer Prevention, Quantitative Research, Ecological Momentary Assessment

Sarah Canham

Associate Professor; Associate Director, IPE

sarah.canham@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Social Determinants of Health; Health and Social Services; Environments and Aging; Homelessness; Substance Use and Dependence; Mental Health; Qualitative Research Methods; Community-based Participatory Research; Life Course Perspective; Social Construction of Knowledge; Culture of Medicine; Knowledge Translation

Jason Castillo

Professor; Associate Dean for Academic Afairs

jason.castillo@socwk.utah.edu

Research Interests:

Disadvantaged Children and Families with an Emphasis on Fathers, Social Work Education, Substance Use Disorder Counselor Education and Training, Social Welfare Policy, Macro Social Work Practice

Carson De Fries

Associate Professor

carson.defries@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Gerontology, Intergenerational Relationships, Social Isolation and Loneliness, Minority Aging Issues, and End-of-Life Care

Caren Frost

Research Professor; Associate Vice President for Research Integrity & Compliance; Associate Dean for Research

caren.frost@socwk.utah.edu

Research Interests:

Women’s Health, Global Health, Breast Cancer, Research Ethics

Lindsay Gezinski

Associate Professor; Director, MSW Program

lindsay.gezinski@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Gender-based Violence, Human Trafficking, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Social Policy, Global Social Work

Jeremiah Jaggers

Associate Professor; Director, PhD Program

jeremiah.jaggers@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Intersection of Multi-system Youth, Mental Illness, and Mental Health Services; Long Term Effects of Child Maltreatment; Family Dynamics and Juvenile Justice System Involvement; Latent Variable Modeling; Analysis of Big Data; Research and Evaluation; Statistics; Psychopathology; Child Welfare; Social Welfare Policy

Danielle Littman

Associate Professor

danielle.littman@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Wellbeing of Youth Experiencing Homelessness & Intersecting Marginalization; Third Places (Community Settings); Permanent Supportive Housing; Mutual Aid & Peer Support; Place-based Work; Qualitative, Participatory, & Arts-based Research Methods

Alysse Loomis

Associate Professor

alysse.loomis@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Early Childhood Trauma; Child Maltreatment Prevention; Early Care and Education, Attachment; Trauma-informed Care; Social Work Practice

Brad Lundahl

Associate Professor

brad.lundahl@socwk.utah.edu

Research Interests:

Motivational Interviewing, Meta-analyses, Parent Training

Chad McDonald

Research Assistant Professor; Director, Social Research Institute

chad.mcdonald@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Trauma-Informed Systems in Child Welfare, Cross-section of Supervisory Support, Transfer of Learning, and Implementation Science Drivers, Child Welfare Training Curricula, Evidence-based Practice in Child Welfare, Professional and Organizational Competence of Child Welfare Agencies

Misty McIntyre Goodsell

Research Assistant Professor

misty.mcintyre@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Women's Health; Substance Use; Environmental Justice; Technology

Meeyoung Min

Associate Professor; Belle S. Spafford Endowed Chair

meeyoung.min@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Prenatal Drug Exposure; Trauma; Maternal Mental Health; Child Development; Adolescence Substance Use

Julia O'Connor

Associate Professor

allison.oconnor@socwk.utah.edu

Research Interests:

Domestic/dating and sexual violence; violence prevention;  bystander interventions; men and masculinities; sexual and reproductive health and rights; evaluation research

Philip Osteen

Professor; Dean

philip.osteen@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Suicide Intervention and Prevention, Mental Health, Psychometrics, Advanced Statistical Analyses

Lindsey Palmer

Assistant Professor

lindsey.n.palmer@utah.edu

Research Interests:

The Child Welfare System; Child Maltreatment Prevention; Intersection of Neglect and Poverty; Mental Illness and Service Utilization  

Ariel Richer

Assistant Professor

ariel.richer@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Decolonial Thought; Community-based Research; Culturally Tailored Interventions; Black, Indigenous and Queer Communities; Substance Use; Intimate Partner Violence 

Emily Salisbury

Associate Professor; Director, Utah Criminal Justice Center

emily.salisbury@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Criminological Behavior, Correctional Philosophy and Rehabilitation, Justice-Involved Women and Girls, Correctional Risk/Need/Strength Assessment, Gender- and Trauma-Responsive Policy and Practice

Cynthia Sanders

Associate Professor; Director, Online Programs

cynthia.sanders@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Social Welfare Policy, Asset Based Welfare, Financial Capability and Inclusion,  Financial Factors in Intimate Partner Violence, Digital Divide, Mixed Research Methods

Christian Sarver

Research Assistant Professor; Associate Director, Utah Criminal Justice Center

christian.sarver@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Correctional Rehabilitation and Programming, Reentry, Offender Pathways and Desistance, Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice, Qualitative Research Methods

Elizabeth Siantz

Assistant Professor

e.siantz@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Promotion of Health Equity for Persons with Mental Illness, Using Qualitative Methods, Social Network Analysis, and Mixed Methods to Study the Development and Implementation of Integrated Behavioral Health Care, Peer Mental Health Providers, and Trauma-informed Communities

Meghan Takahashi

Research Assistant Professor; Associate Director, Social Research Institute

meghan.takahashi@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Biostatistical methods, Child welfare, Disproportionality in Child Welfare, Machine learning, Program Evaluation, Suicide Intervention and Prevention, Qualitative Research Methods

Martell Teasley

Professor; Associate Provost for Strategic Academic Initiatives

martell.teasley@utah.edu

Research Interests:

African American Adolescent Development, Diversity in Cultural Competence, Black Studies, School Social Work Practice

Yitong Xin

Assistant Professor

yitong.xin@utah.edu

Research Interests:

Substance Use and Addiction; Mental and Behavioral Health; Trauma and Minority Stress; Resilience and Strengths-Based Methodologies; Harm Reduction Approaches; Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy; Mixed-Methods and Advanced Quantitative Research

 

 

Last Updated: 7/1/25