Real World Impact: 2024-25
MAINTAINING SOCIAL WORK VALUES IN RESEARCH
2024-25 Research Year in Review
A Message from the Associate Dean for Research
Real World Impact showcases the School of Social Work’s ongoing commitment to research that drives meaningful change—locally and globally. This annual impact report highlights the innovative, equity-driven research led by our faculty, students, and research centers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It is an honor to step into the role of Associate Dean of Research and to support our faculty, students, staff, and centers in advancing innovative, equity-centered research that addresses society’s most pressing challenges.
This year’s theme, “Maintaining Social Work Values in Research,” highlights the ways we continue uphold the core principles of social justice, equity, and community engagement, conducting research that not only advances knowledge but also centers the voices and needs of the communities we serve.
This past year brought its share of challenges—from federal budget cuts and uncertainty to increasing pressures around maintaining social work values in research, particularly when promoting equity and advocating for those most in need. Despite these challenges, we have persevered. Our community has continued to lead with purpose, conducting impactful research, supporting those most in need, and standing firm in our commitment to justice, inclusion, and the power of evidence to drive change. Thank you for your continued dedication and partnership. We look forward to the year ahead as we continue to advance bold, equity-driven research that makes a real-world impact.
– Tara Powell, Associate Dean for Research, Associate Professor
Research by the Numbers – FY25
Expenditures by Prime Sponsor Type
| Federal | State | Private |
|---|---|---|
| $18.4 million | $8.4 million | $707,000 |
Active Research and Grants
The School of Social Work has a number of active research projects being led by School faculty.
Research Methods Series
This luncheon series explores epistemic injustice, racialized organizations, and anti-oppressive methodologies, culminating in an Afro-futuristic workshop to reimagine science as a tool for liberation and healing.
- Holly Thurston, Senior Research Analyst, OSU College of Social Work: Is my work racist? Critical thinking and critical discourse in social work research
- Karen Staller, Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan, School of Social Work: What if Epistemic Injustice is the Wrong Question?
- Bram Wispelwey, Associate Physician in the Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School: Bringing health equity to clinical research: Toward reparative and race-conscious approaches
- Jennifer Mosley & Nicole Marwell, University of Chicago: Mismeasuring Impact: How Randomized Controlled Trials Threaten the Non-Profit Sector
- Alexis Jemal & Diana Melendez, City University of New York: Experiments in Soulcial Work Praxis: Lessons in Radical Community-Engaged Research
- Lonny Brooks, California State University, East Bay: Afrofuturism and AfroRithms as a practice in building Mothership AI
Research Highlights
Congratulations to our Recently Promoted Faculty
Ryan Wade
Dr. Ryan Wade’s research includes a broad focus on social determinants of health, structural and community-level racism, the racial patterning of sexual/social networks within LGBTQ+ communities, and health disparities among sexual and gender minorities. Promoted to Associate Professor in 2025, he was one of two inaugural recipients of the 2025 Social & Behavioral Science Impact Award from the Center for Social and Behavioral Science. Dr. Wade is the Founder and Director of the Queer Intersections, Inclusion, and Innovation (Qi3) Lab, an interdisciplinary social science research group, which aims to produce novel, high-impact scholarship that gives voice to queer people, people of color, and other historically disenfranchised groups.
At Qi3, Dr. Wade builds upon his prior research (Profile D), which developed and psychometrically evaluated the first multidimensional scale of Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD)- a digital form of sexualized discriminatory treatment that people of color encounter online when looking for intimate partners. With funding from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (R21MD01692-01), Dr. Wade is now performing reliability analyses of the RSD scale and examining the relationship between RSD factors and psychological well-being across different racially minoritized groups to address this research gap through his project, Cruising in Color.
Qi3 is also funded by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, where Dr. Wade is examining the association between exposure to recent LGBTQ policy discourse and psychosocial functioning among young sexual and gender minorities (Y-SGM) in his project, Policy in Contemporary Society. By evaluating LGBTQ collective action as a protective factor, descriptively assessing Y-SGM’s perceptions of anti-LGBTQ policies, and exploring the influence of state-level anti-LGBTQ policies on the psychosocial functioning of Y-SGM across gender identities, this project aims to help policy advocates identify key sociopolitical priorities for Y-SGM and inform intervention efforts to mobilize Y-SGM to engage in acts of resistance.
Lissette Piedra
Lissette Piedra, PhD, was promoted to Professor in 2025 at the University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign. She is Co‑Editor‑in‑Chief of Qualitative Social Work, a top‑ranked international journal, and has published more than 25 editorials applying interpretive methods to empirical inquiry. Backed by nearly $2 million in external awards, her research advances equitable aging outcomes, with a particular focus on Latino older adults who live longer than other groups yet often experience poorer health.
With support from the National Institute on Aging (R56AG083174‑02) and in collaboration with colleagues at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, Dr. Piedra’s team developed and piloted a Care Network (CN) tool to map formal and informal helpers, alongside a Spanish‑language module to examine how language use shapes caregiving processes within Latino networks. Building on this foundation, she is augmenting the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP; R01AG043538‑11). In the forthcoming study, the CN measure will be administered to all NSHAP respondents actively providing care, and all current and former caregivers will complete a Life History Calendar interview to document prior caregiving episodes—capturing timing, intensity, and transitions. These data will be linked to NSHAP’s longitudinal health and social network measures to illuminate caregiving dynamics and equity gaps over time.
Welcoming Our New Faculty
Fan Yang
Dr. Fan Yang joined the School of Social Work as an Assistant Professor in 2024. Her work focuses on integrating emerging technologies such as AI health tools into social work practice to address health disparities. Her research examines how technological solutions can be aligned with ethical principles, ensuring that they meet the specific needs of vulnerable populations while addressing significant issues such as the digital divide, privacy concerns, and access barriers. Dr. Yang employs a variety of research methods to explore these challenges, including deep learning, machine learning, and large language models, to analyze and develop tools that are both effective and ethical. She also conducts systematic reviews to synthesize the existing body of knowledge and identify gaps in the application of these technologies to social work. Her interdisciplinary research often combines techniques from computer science, data science, medicine, and engineering, allowing her to create innovative solutions that are both technically advanced and socially responsible.
By bridging the gap between technological innovation and social work, Dr. Yang’s research has also shaped policy at both national and international levels. Her work has informed digital inclusion strategies and evidence-based health policies adopted by international organizations such as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Center for Global Development. In the U.S., her research on mobile health applications for Alzheimer’s care shaped a national framework for evaluating digital health tools. Through her use of both experimental methods and advanced computational techniques, Dr. Yang’s contributions are helping redefine how technology can be ethically and effectively applied to advance equity, improve outcomes, and expand the reach of social work practice in health systems.
Dr. Yang’s work is providing important insights into how digital tools can increase access to care, promote inclusion, and improve the overall quality of health services. Her interdisciplinary approach ensures that these technological solutions are ethical, inclusive, and aligned with the core values of social work.
Christopher Fleming
Christopher Fleming, PhD, MSW joined the School of Social Work in Fall 2024 as an Assistant Professor. His scholarship aims to reduce behavioral health disparities among children and adolescents by identifying effective and equitable methods of prevention.
Dr. Fleming’s research examines childhood adversity and social-ecological risk factors that contribute to diverse outcomes, such as delinquency, violence, and substance use. Informed by his early work with incarcerated youth, much of his research centers on the accumulation of risk and the developmental and contextual pathways to severe outcomes, including gang involvement and weapon carrying.
As a prevention scientist, Dr. Fleming assesses the implementation and effectiveness of school-, family-, and community-based strategies to mitigate behavioral health risks and promote resilience. His recent work involved evaluating an implementation support protocol designed to improve the adoption and fidelity of universal prevention programming in rural schools. This project explored how training and technical assistance can strengthen staff implementation skills and, in turn, improve the delivery and impact of school-based prevention programs. Recent findings from this line of research have been published in Prevention Science and Implementation Science Communications and aim to improve access to effective prevention in under-resourced communities.
Dr. Fleming teaches courses on research methods and macro-level policy and has provided research mentorship to undergraduate and graduate students across multiple disciplines. He is especially committed to supporting students in developing applied research skills for community-based practice. As a quantitative methodologist, he has a strong interest in advanced statistical techniques, including longitudinal and multilevel structural equation modeling, mixture modeling, and modern approaches to handling missing data, with an emphasis on applying these methods to complex, real-world prevention research.
Doctoral Student Spotlight
Babu Gounder
Social work doctoral student Babu Gounder researches how the physical environment impacts different populations and the well-being of communities. Using community-engaged research and technology systems, including data science and GIS, he identifies opportunities to advance environmental health and climate resilience. Babu’s work has been accepted and published in peer-reviewed journals, including lead-authored articles in Social Work, the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, and Critical Social Policy.
His current dissertation work, which investigates ways to improve policies to provide resilience to wildfires for disability communities, has been awarded the Grand Challenges of Social Work Doctoral Fellowship from the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. Babu has received additional honors for his work, including recognition for policy and community focused research with the Doctoral Student Policy Fellowship from the Council on Social Work Education, the Social Determinants of Health and Place Fellowship from the Healthy Regions Policy Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and the JPMC Doctoral Scholars Program from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
Babu enjoys connecting with colleagues across disciplines and participates in the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment. He also values interdisciplinary collaboration, partnering both with Social Work faculty Tara Powell and Geography and GIS faculty Marynia Kolak to propose innovative research for disaster resilience, which has been awarded a Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences grant.
Faculty Spotlights: Driving Systems Change for Health Equity
Hyunil Kim
Hyunil Kim, PhD, is an Associate Professor and former child protective services (CPS) worker whose research is deeply grounded in a commitment to improving population-level child safety and wellbeing. Dr. Kim’s scholarship leverages the potential of big data—particularly national and statewide administrative records—to generate rigorous, policy-relevant insights into child maltreatment (CM). His research spans five interrelated areas: CM epidemiology, the poverty–CM nexus, disparities and systemic biases, risk and protective factors, and data infrastructure development.
Dr. Kim’s foundational research established the cumulative prevalence of CM in the U.S., revealing that over a third of children are reported to CPS by age 18. He extended this work by estimating rates of CM recurrence and identifying pronounced rural–urban differences in CM reporting. These studies have significantly reshaped the national understanding of the scope and persistence of CM.
Focusing on poverty as a central risk factor, Dr. Kim demonstrated that higher poverty is consistently associated with higher CM report rates across all racial and ethnic groups. His longitudinal analyses show that the poverty–CM relationship has strengthened over time, with widening disparities between high- and low-poverty communities. His work also addresses contested claims about bias in CPS reporting, showing that poverty—not race—is the more salient driver of disparities in CM reports, while underscoring the broader structural racial inequities embedded in society beyond the child welfare system itself.
Expanding beyond poverty, Dr. Kim has identified a broader set of community-level risk and protective factors, including food insecurity, opioid use, mental health access, home visiting services, poverty-related policies, and racial/ethnic compositions. These findings, recognized by the CDC, guide policy and resource allocation efforts.
Dr. Kim’s impact is further amplified through his development of large-scale, linked data infrastructures. He co-leads RAPIDS, a national longitudinal database that integrates CM and foster care records and has developed a parallel infrastructure for Illinois CPS data. These platforms, made freely available to the research community, support advanced longitudinal and multilevel analyses to inform child welfare policy and practice nationwide.
Tuyet Mai Ha Hoang
Dr. Tuyet Mai (Mai) Hoang is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She founded the Dismantling Racism and Health Inequities (DRI) Lab in 2021 with a vision to reduce discrimination and increase quality healthcare services for perinatal women and vulnerable communities. Her expertise includes both qualitative and quantitative methods, grounded in the principles of intersectionality and community-based participatory frameworks.
She has led the DRI Lab to successfully conduct several projects focused on perinatal health among women of color and low-income communities in the U.S., including a Wellcome Burroughs Fund-supported project aimed at preventing adverse birth outcomes through community engagement and capacity-building. She is also Principal Investigator on two Society of Family Planning grants examining reproductive healthcare access and patient experiences navigating systemic barriers in healthcare deserts across Central and Southern Illinois.
Her academic journey spans counseling psychology and social work, and her interdisciplinary training enables her to bridge theory, practice, and advocacy. Her research centers on racial justice and public health equity, focusing on how systemic racism and biased ideologies affect health outcomes, healthcare delivery, and provider-patient communication. She developed measures, including the Racially Biased Reasoning Scale, to better understand how motivated reasoning perpetuates racial inequities, especially in perinatal care. What drives her work is not only academic curiosity but a deep commitment to community and public impact. The DRI Lab has hosted over 40 stakeholder meetings and, in 2024, partnered with local NGOs and public health districts to organize annual events engaging over 1,000 community members to coordinate maternal healthcare services in rural areas. One current project involves creating a resource app with community members and technology experts to connect perinatal people to mental health support in rural settings.
Her collaboration with scholars from the University of Southern California on Black youth’s mental health was published in JAMA Psychiatry. Her leading work on mistreatment of perinatal women of color appeared in General Hospital Psychiatry, and recent research on challenges faced by healthcare providers after the overturn of Roe v. Wade was published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Cortney VanHook
Dr. Cortney VanHook’s research focuses on the uptake of mental health care and the facilitators and barriers that impact access, initiation, and retention of services (AIRS) for Black boys and men and the phenomenon of gun violence that occurs between young men of color within a community. He applies psychological constructs such as moral development, gender norm behavior, interpersonal skill development (e.g., conflict resolution), trauma psychology (e.g., victim-perpetrator paradigm, adverse childhood events), racial identity development, and existential psychology (e.g., search for meaning and place in a racist society) – to foster public awareness of the complexities of community gun violence and develop interventions that are informed by a mental health approach. Demonstrative of this important work, Dr. VanHook has received key support through the Black Men’s Brain Health Emerging Scholars Program to advance research on serious mental illness among Black men
Dr. VanHook’s recent publication, “Perceptions, Attitudes, And Experiences Regarding Mental Health Care Amongst Young Black Men” in the American Journal of Men’s Health, provided new insights into how violence exposure, trauma, and identity shape health outcomes among Black men, particularly through studies examining anticipatory violence, labeling after violent injury, and the impact of adverse childhood experiences. Dr. VanHook conducted semi-structured interviews with eight young Black men (YBM) to discuss attitudes regarding mental health care and cultural attitudes, gender-based attitudes, structural racism, and transition to adulthood. The results suggest that culturally informed, consumer-oriented research is critical to tailoring and strengthening YBM’s mental health care and that future research should employ a population health approach to promote YBM’s mental health service uptake in adulthood.
In addition to research, Dr. VanHook has generously shared his expertise regarding the mental health of Black boys and men through collaboration and service. Notably, he has contributed to the State of Illinois Statewide Violence Prevention Plan and served as a committee member on the Violence Prevention Ad Hoc Committee of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
Celebrating Our Centers
The Children and Family Research Center (CFRC)
The over-representation of children and families of color in the child welfare system is a pressing concern that affects children in Illinois and across the United States. In order to develop strategies to address the systemic factors that lead to these in equities, child welfare administrators and policy makers need data that are disaggregated by race and examine key decision points within the child welfare services continuum. The Children and Family Research Center (CFRC), directed by Dr. Tamara Fuller, is working closely with staff at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to measure the amount of racial and ethnic disproportionality present in the Illinois child welfare system, monitor changes over time, and develop and test innovative interventions that are intended to reduce the over-representation of Black children in foster care in Illinois.
The CFRC produces an annual report that examines racial and ethnic disproportionality in the child welfare system using a metric known as the Racial Disproportionality Index (RDI). The results of the most recent CFRC report show that the percentage of Black children investigated for abuse or neglect is more than two times their percentage in the Illinois child population. This over-representation has been present for many years, and is substantially higher in certain regions of the state. Black children are also over-represented among those who are removed from their homes and placed into foster care.
To reduce the percentage of Black children in Illinois who enter foster care, DCFS has started a new program known as the Bias-Free Child Removal Program. In three pilot counties, teams of experienced DCFS staff will review certain cases where protective custody has been taken. The review team is given all the information they need to make an informed decision about whether the child should be removed—after information related to race, ethnicity, and neighborhood has been removed. CFRC Director Tamara Fuller is leading the evaluation of this new program, which will focus on whether the program was instituted as intended and if it has the desired outcome of reducing over-representation of Black children in care.
The CFRC Team
The Center for Prevention Research and Development (CPRD)
Drs. Alex Lee, Tuyen Bui, Jenny Evans, and Doug Smith, along with BSW research assistant Brooke Wilson, at the Center for Prevention Research & Development (CPRD), explore the lived experiences of family members supporting individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), highlighting their essential yet consistently unsupported role within fragmented treatment systems in their recent study. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 15 family members, their analysis reveals three central themes that reflect the personal, emotional, and structural challenges caregivers face in supporting a loved one with OUD.
Guided by Ecological Systems Model and the Recovery Capital framework, the study illustrates how families serve as primary sources of support by managing crises, coordinating services, and providing emotional and financial assistance. Despite their centrality to the recovery process, these roles are often carried out without training, institutional backing, or recognition. Participants described assuming quasi-clinical responsibilities such as crisis monitoring and overdose prevention, all while navigating stigma, legal constraints, and fragmented communication from healthcare providers.
One of the most significant barriers identified was the exclusion of families from treatment planning due to rigid confidentiality policies like HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2. Even when individuals with OUD granted consent, providers often withheld critical information. Families also reported a lack of accessible and accurate education about medications of OUD, resulting in confusion, misinformation, and diminished confidence in the treatment process. The study further highlights the co-occurring recovery journeys of family members themselves, many of whom sought support through peer-led programs to manage stress and reclaim emotional stability. These findings reinforce the concept of co-recovery and emphasize the interdependence between individual and family well-being.
From a social work perspective, this research makes an urgent call for the redesign of OUD treatment systems. It is recommended that families be formally recognized and equipped as active partners in the recovery process. Key strategies include revisiting confidentiality regulations to allow for ethical and informed collaboration, integrating psychoeducation and caregiver support into standard treatment protocols, and requiring provider training in family-centered care practices. Implementing these measures would strengthen the recovery infrastructure and ensure more holistic and sustainable outcomes. To truly advance long-term recovery, treatment systems should be restructured to position families not as peripheral supporters, but as essential stakeholders in the continuum of care.
University Partnerships
The School of Social Work collaborates with a wide range of university partners that enhance our research, teaching, and community engagement. The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI), the Center for Social & Behavioral Science (CSBS), and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) are among the many partnerships that connect the School to the wider university research community, strengthening our research capacity, expanding interdisciplinary reach, and advancing solutions to complex social, health, and policy challenges.
Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute
The School of Social Work is actively engaged with the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) through both leadership development and affiliate collaborations. Faculty members Chi-Fang Wu (2024–25 cohort) and Rachel Garthe (2025–26 cohort) have participated in IHSI’s Emerging Research Leaders Academy, joining interdisciplinary teams to strengthen leadership and team science skills. In addition, Tara Powell and Kevin Tan serve as IHSI faculty affiliates, connecting the School to IHSI’s research development resources, community and clinical networks, and cross-campus partnerships that advance innovative, equity-driven health research.
Center for Social & Behavioral Science
The School of Social Work is strengthened by robust campus partnerships that expand research capacity and impact. Through its close collaboration with the Center for Social & Behavioral Science (CSBS)—which includes several SSW faculty affiliates—the School engages in seed-funded projects, interdisciplinary research networks, and policy initiatives that connect faculty and students to collaborators across campus.
Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
The School of Social Work extends its influence into cutting-edge genomic science through its affiliation with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), where several SSW faculty serve as affiliates. This partnership fosters interdisciplinary research at the intersection of genomics, behavior, and equity, opening new avenues to understand and address complex health and social challenges.
Looking Ahead: 2025–26 Priorities
As the incoming Associate Dean of Research, I’m excited to build on our strengths and propel the School of Social Work’s research to new heights—broadening our reach, deepening our influence, and tackling the urgent challenges of our time. Our 2025–2026 strategic priorities will help drive that momentum:
- AI & Equity – ensuring emerging technologies promote social justice and reduce disparities.
- Global Mental Health – building partnerships to improve mental health worldwide.
- Community-Engaged Research – co-creating solutions with communities to foster lasting change.
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration – bridging disciplines to generate bold, transformative ideas.
This year, I will be listening, learning, and working alongside faculty, students, and partners to ensure our research strategy reflects a shared vision and our collective strengths. Together, we can amplify our influence, spark innovation, and help create a more just and equitable future—locally, nationally, and globally.
How to Support Research
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can support this meaningful and important work, please contact Nathan Goebel in the SSW Office of Advancement at ntgoebel@illinois.edu or 217-244-4709.