Faculty
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Tenure-Track Faculty
Richard M. Tolman
Richard M. Tolman, LMSW, PhD, is a professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. He received his doctorate in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his MSW from the University of Michigan. Professor Tolman's work focuses on the effectiveness of ...
Bradley J. Zebrack
Dr. Brad Zebrack's research and teaching interests are in the areas of health, psychosocial oncology, medical social work and health service delivery. His research on quality of life and cancer survivorship over the past 25 years has been supported by the National Cancer Institute (K07, R03, ...
Lindsay A. Bornheimer
Dr. Lindsay Bornheimer's research program focuses on understanding and preventing suicide death among adults experiencing serious mental illness, with a specific focus on psychosis and schizophrenia. Her work aims to examine suicide risk and protective factors, advance theories of suicide, ...
Ashley Lacombe-Duncan
Dr. Ashley Lacombe-Duncan received her MSW (2010) and PhD (2018) from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on healthcare access and health equity, with a particular focus on healthcare access for people who experience multiple forms of ...
Shawna J. Lee
Dr. Shawna J. Lee is professor and associate dean for faculty affairs at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She is also currently the director of the Parenting in Context Research Lab and director of the Program Evaluation Group. She serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the academic ...
Clinical and Research
Debra K. Mattison
Debra K. Mattison, MSW '81, has extensive experience in providing clinical social work services as well as program planning in a variety of settings including cancer care, palliative care and integrated primary care, and private practice. Her professional interests have focused on oncology, ...
Katie Lopez
Katie Lopez (LMSW) is the Director of the Office of Global Activities at the University of Michigan School of Social Work where she is responsible for the overall administration of the office including overseeing the Global Activities Scholars Program, the Masters International Volunteer Program ...
Barbara S. Hiltz
Barb Hiltz is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Hiltz is a licensed social worker (LMSW) and also holds a EdM in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a focus on diversity and equity in education. Hiltz’s work focuses on the ...
Jennifer M Jester
Dr. Jester earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. For the last seven years, she was an Associate Research Scientist at Zero to Thrive in the Department of Psychiatry. She evaluated the effects of interventions for young children and families using linear ...
Field Faculty
Miriam A. Connolly
Miriam Connolly is a two time alumna of the University of Michigan. A native of Flint, she earned a BSW from U-M-Flint, and an MSW from the School of Social Work, with a concentration in Child Welfare and Interpersonal Practice. For 18 years, Connolly served children and their families in a ...
Zaynab K. Boussi
Zaynab K. Boussi joined the Office of Field Education as field faculty and LEO Lecturer in May of 2021. Previously, she worked as a school social worker with the Dearborn Public Schools, where she also served as a field instructor. Boussi, a Dearborn native and daughter of Lebanese immigrants, ...
Rachel T. Naasko
Rachel Naasko joined the Office of Field Education as a field educator/lecturer/field liaison in March 2016. Naasko previously worked in the University of Michigan Dean of Students Office as the Director of the Blavin Scholars Program and the University’s Critical Incident Coordinator, a ...
LEO
Ayesha Ghazi Edwin
Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, MSW '10, is a political social worker and community organizer with over 10 years of experience in various social justice areas, including labor, healthcare, voting, immigration, housing and disability. Ghazi Edwin serves as a lecturer and program manager for the School of ...
Sean J. de Four
Sean de Four currently serves as the President and CEO of Southwest Solutions, one of Detroit’s most innovative and impactful nonprofit organizations, which provides a range of services in the areas of behavioral health, economic self-sufficiency, workforce development, affordable housing, ...
Lacea M. Zavala
Lacea Zavala, MSW ‘07, is the Lead Learning Experience Designer and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and a child abuse prevention community organizer. Lacea worked for over 20 years in a variety of positions across the child welfare system, most recently ...
Meghan M. Thiel
Meghan Thiel, MSW’13, has nearly a decade of experience working in health care, with a focus on end-of-life and palliative care. She has a passion for developing the social work role to the top of its scope and has worked to build educational opportunities and expand the social work role during ...
Emeritus
Srinika D. Jayaratne
Professor Emeritus Siri Jayaratne has been studying the effects of work stress on the health and well-being of social workers since 1979, and is currently working with colleagues analyzing data from a longitudinal study of child welfare workers. His program of research has included four national ...
William C. Birdsall
William Birdsall joined the School of Social Work as an associate professor of social work in 1973 and was named associate professor emeritus in 2001. His major interests were in policy analysis and program evaluation. He has done extensive work around policies regarding prevention and treatment ...
Lawrence Root
Lawrence Root is a professor in University of Michigan's School of Social Work. His research and practice have focused on the intersection of employment and social welfare. He has directed programs and published in the areas of fringe benefits and social policy, employee assistance programs, ...
Laura Lein
Laura Lein is the former dean of the University of Michigan School of Social Work (2009-2016). Formerly professor of social work and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), she was a respected researcher and teacher from 1985 to 2008. She has served as principal investigator on ...
Rose C. Gibson
Rose C. Gibson joined the University of Michigan Institute of Gerontology as a research investigator in 1979. She was promoted to assistant research scientist in 1982 and associate research scientist in 1984. She joined the faculty of the School of Social Work in 1985 as an associate professor ...
Sandra L. Momper
Sandra L. Momper has 20 years of mental health experience with American Indian and African American families as well as community organizing experience. Her aim is to reduce health disparities, provide culturally appropriate interventions for AI/ANs and impact policy changes regarding funding ...
Edith A. Lewis
Associate Professor Edith Lewis's primary research interests include methods used by women of color to offset personal, familial, community, and professional role strain. To date, this has included involvement in studies identifying strengths within African-American women's communities; the ...
Helen Weingarten
Helen Weingarten joined the faculty in 1981 as assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1987. In 2000 she was named associate professor emerita of social work. She is interested in the factors and processes that promote positive change in adulthood. While much of her early ...
Kathleen Coulborn Faller
Marion Elizabeth Blue Endowed Professor Emerita of Children and Families in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan; Director, Family Assessment Clinic Kathleen Coulborn Faller is involved in research, clinical work, teaching, training, and writing in the area of child welfare. ...