Research Office News

William Elliott III, Social Work Professor and Director of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion research on Children’s Savings Accounts is highlighted in a new Brookings Institute report, “Four policies to help the middle class, and how to pay for them”.  

Elliott is a leading researcher in the fields of college savings accounts, college debt and wealth inequality. Elliott’s research challenges individual beliefs and cultural values that surround funding for college, student debt, inequality, systemic patterns of poverty and educational justice

Todd Herrenkohl, Marion Elizabeth Blue Professor of Child and Family was recently appointed by Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Board advises and makes recommendations to the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services; the Director, Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control regarding surveillance, basic epidemiologic research, intervention research and implementation, dissemination and evaluation of promising and evidence-based strategies for the prevention of injury and violence.

The New York Times features the American Academy of Pediatrics new most strongly worded policy statement against spanking children. The latest statement stems from a body of research including Associate Professor Andrew Grogan-Kaylor's "Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses".

Associate Professor Daphne Watkins discusses her research on black men and boys and the YBMen Project with XXL Magazine. The feature explores hip-hop's complicated relationship with mental health and how a new crop of rappers are bringing the conversation to the forefront.

Assistant Professor Shanna Kattari shares important research on healthcare discrimination experienced by transgender and non-binary people with The Conversation. Kattari says approximately one-fifth of transgender and non-binary individuals have been denied equal treatment when trying to access doctors or hospitals.

Associate Professor David Córdova and his youth advisory board from Hamady High School in Flint presented "A Community-University Approach to Preventing HIV" at the MICHR symposium held in Flint. The presenters were Charmere McCadden, Aliyah Brewton, Amir James and Associate Professor David Córdova.

Lynn Videka, University of Michigan School of Social Work’s Dean and Carol T. Mowbray Collegiate Professor of Social Work was named a fellow to the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. The Academy confers the honor on worthy candidates for their distinguished accomplishments as scholars and practitioners dedicated to achieving excellence in high-impact work that advances social good.

Matthew Bakko, Joint PhD student in Social Work and Sociology has been selected for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars program.

The program supports and connects emerging scholars who are committed to bringing about meaningful change and building a national Culture of Health. Participants build the interdisciplinary skills and relationships necessary to extend their influence and impact, break down silos, address health disparities, and make our communities healthier.

His research will explore how new philanthropic and service delivery models and tools reconfigure organizations, engage with diverse communities, alter power dynamics and blur sector boundaries to affect the capacity building and social change process.

The Robert Woods Johnson Health Policy Research Scholars program supports underrepresented scholars, including first-generation, low-income background and students of color.

Assistant Professor Shanna Kattari is Bakko's Institutional Mentor for the Healthy Policy Research Scholars Program.