Curtis Center News

Associate Professor Jaclynn Hawkins was appointed the director of the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis Center for Health Equity Research and Training Center, effective January 2024. She has previously served as both associate director (2021-present) and acting director (2022-2023).

Professor Daphne Watkins has received the 2022 Distinguished Faculty Award. Watkins is a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor who studies behavioral interventions for historically marginalized groups, mixed methods approaches to research in context, and leadership development and organizational structures. She is the Director of the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Center for Health Equity and Research Training. 

The Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Center for Health Equity Research and Training Center has secured a contract with the National Network of Public Health Institutes to review best or promising practices that address social and structural determinants of health related to COVID-19.

Professor Daphne Watkins’ YBMen Project is being launched in Australia. The Freemasons Centre for Male Health & Wellbeing will use Indigenous leadership and co-design processes to adapt and contextualize the program to meet the needs of young Indigenous males across Australia. Originally developed for young Black college men in the U.S., YBMen  provides social and educational support and connectedness via social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. 

Professor Daphne Watkins has been named a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor.

In February, the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Center for Health Equity Research and Training announced the three inaugural awardees of the Curtis Center Signature Programs Initiative (SPI). SPI is a launch program for Michigan Social Work faculty to develop new or further existing health equity research programs.

Associate Professor Daphne Watkins' research on black men is featured in U-M Record.  Watkins researches how men and boys define themselves as men and boys, and how that influences their mental health.

Daphne C. Watkins, associate professor of social work and faculty associate at the Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research was appointed the Director of the Curtis Center effective January 2019.  As director, Watkins will bring substance and leadership to advance the Curtis Center’s mission to produce knowledge that will reduce health disparities in the United States and around the world.

Tina Jiwatram-Negron (Curtis Center postdoctoral fellow) and Associate Dean for Research and Professor Joe Himle received a grant from the U-M SSW via the Curtis Research and Training Center for their New York City-based study which will develop and test an integrated, brief screening for a previously identified syndemic of intimate partner violence, HIV/STIs, substance use, and depression/self-harm among Hispanic/Latino women in the U.S.

Brittany Schuler (postdoctoral fellow) and Associate Dean for Research and Professor Joe Himle received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their study which contributes to a Culture of Health by enhancing our understanding of healthy-eating habits and healthy weight among children within low-resourced communities in the U.S.