People
Co-Directors
michelle.munson@nyu.edu | (212) 992-9731
Michelle R. Munson is a Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. She has professional interests in mental health services research and intervention development and testing, and her work centers on adolescents and young adults. Dr. Munson’s research seeks to understand how society’s structural conditions and social relationships, through both verbal and non-verbal communication, shape young adults’ decisions to seek (or not seek) professional mental health services. Her research and scholarship also seeks to develop, refine, adapt, and test engagement and treatment interventions for adolescents and young adults with serious mental health conditions.
n4189@nyu.edu
Sarah C. Narendorf is an Associate Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Her research focuses on ensuring successful transitions to adulthood for young adults who face this transition while navigating intersecting structural barriers. Dr. Narendorf has conducted research in partnership with collaborators across the United States to understand risk and resilience characteristics for young adults experiencing homelessness and has examined the intersections of housing instability and mental health crises.
Faculty
mab10262@nyu.edu
Mohamad Adam Brooks is an Assistant Professor at Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College-CUNY. His research aims to reduce mental health disparities and inequities among migrant populations in the U.S. and in global settings. This includes identifying social-ecological risk factors associated with negative mental health outcomes, and expanding access to culturally appropriate treatments and psychosocial interventions and development when needed. His current work explores the role of cultural brokers in engaging refugees and asylum-seekers with mental health treatment. A licensed independent clinical social worker for over a decade, Dr. Brooks has provided behavioral health services in both clinical and managerial capacities in outpatient settings.
jj76@nyu.edu
James Jaccard is a Professor Emeritus at NYU Silver School of Social Work with a long history of collaborating with social work and public health to help resolve significant behavioral health challenges among youth and young adults within complex organizations and low-resourced communities. Dr. Jaccard is an expert in attitude change, decision-making and communication strategies, among others.
rohini.pahwa@nyu.edu
Rohini Pahwa is an Associate Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Her areas of specialization are severe mental illness and cross-cultural and cross-national research, and her work is rooted in her research, practice, and teaching experience in India and the United States. As a mental health researcher, Dr. Pahwa examines the process of community integration and the influences of individual and systemic factors on social networks, community integration and mental health outcomes for individuals with severe mental illnesses through qualitative, quantitative, and social network methodologies.
km162@nyu.edu
Kiara Moore is an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Her areas of specialization are mental health services and marginalized youth during the transition to adulthood. Dr. Moore's work examines major barriers to treatment, such as access, stigma, and health decision-making among youth of color, youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and LGBTQ youth. Her research aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the complicated processes by which young people's identities shape their participation in mental health care and to apply those insights to improving service use through a culturally-responsive intervention.
Doctoral Students
Marcus is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. He is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with over 10 years of experience working in both inpatient and outpatient mental health settings. His direct practice experience as an LCSW informs his scholarly agenda and teaching interests. Marcus’s research focuses on Black adults with serious mental illness, particularly examining their help-seeking decision-making for formal care, informal care, or both. He also explores their subjective views on their pathway to care and perceived recovery outcomes.
mb8384@nyu.edu
Moiyattu Banya is a PhD candidate at NYU Silver School of Social Work. She has 15 years of clinical experience working with women and girls across Africa and the U.S. She Co-Founded the nonprofit organization Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone. Moiyattu's research interests focus on global mental health and interventions, mental health outcomes, youth empowerment, life course perspectives and social determinants of health. Moiyattu has particular interest in communities that have histories of trauma and gender based violence, and in implementing girl centered and culturally relevant interventions that foster and nurture mental health and wellbeing.
ukhan21@cougarnet.uh.edu
Umaira Khan is a PhD candidate at the University of Houston. She is a licensed social worker with experience supporting transition-age youth in foster care and in public schools with students classified with emotional and behavioral disorders. Her research focuses on identity development in the transition to young adulthood, especially examining the impact of school-based discipline and disability classifications.
seonyeong.kim@nyu.edu
Seonyeong Kim is a third-year doctoral student at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. Her research focuses on transitional-aged youth (TAY) in foster care, with particular attention to how differences in state-level foster care policies affect early adulthood outcomes, including housing stability, educational attainment, and justice system involvement. She has presented her work at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and actively collaborates with scholars in the field of extended foster care and transitional-aged youth. Seonyeong holds a B.A. in Psychology from Sungkyunkwan University and an M.A. in Social Welfare from Seoul National University in South Korea.
louiek01@nyu.edu
NYU Silver PhD student Kelsey Louie, MSW, MBA, is the Chief Executive Officer of The Door and Broome Street Academy Charter High School, two youth-centered organizations that serve more than 10,000 young people annually across New York City. A licensed social worker and accomplished nonprofit executive, Kelsey has spent more than two decades advancing access to behavioral health care, HIV/AIDS services, and youth development supports for systemically marginalized communities. At The Door, he has led transformative initiatives including the expansion of a licensed mental health clinic, the development of an integrated care model rooted in social work values, and the creation of an NYU-partnered MSW program to strengthen the pipeline of culturally responsive practitioners. His leadership reflects a commitment to equity-driven systems reform and a deep belief that those closest to the challenges must be centered in the solutions.
luis.ramirez@nyu.edu
Luis Ramirez is a doctoral candidate at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work. He is a licensed clinical social worker who received his MSW from NYU Silver. He currently serves as Director at NYU’s Counseling and Wellness Services (CWS). In his current role, Luis provides clinical, administrative and programmatic oversight within the service.
Prior to his current position, Luis was the Associate Director of Social Work for Behavioral Health Services at both Bellevue Hospital and Kings County Hospital. Before assuming more administrative responsibilities, Luis worked for many years providing direct clinical care at the Bilingual Treatment Program, an outpatient mental health clinic dedicated to providing culturally competent mental health services to monolingual Spanish speaking clients. Luis also previously served as a senior staff therapist at the Institute for Human Identity, a non-profit organization founded in 1973 to provide gay-affirming mental health services to the LGBTQ community. As a frontline clinician, Luis has worked extensively with lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered and questioning clients.
ahr324@nyu.edu
Aaron Rodwin is a PhD candidate at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Aaron’s research interests focus on mental health services and interventions, serious mental health conditions, risk and resilience, positive youth development, and social determinants of health. Aaron has a particular interest in the use of innovative intervention strategies that harness music, creative arts, and technology in a therapeutic capacity as a culturally responsive vehicle to foster engagement, empowerment, and well-being in clinical practice.
Affiliates
sbd268@nyu.edu
Please see Shelly's profile at: https://socialwork.ok.ubc.ca/person/shelly-ben-david/.
melissa.bessaha@stonybrook.edu
Melissa Bessaha is an Assistant Professor of social work at the SUNY Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare. Her research centers on mental health and wellbeing during the transition to adulthood. Her research aims to inform culturally responsive interventions and policies that promote mental health and higher education equity among underserved and immigrant youth and young adults.
arc482@nyu.edu
Andrea Cole, PhD, LCSW is an Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Fairleigh Dickinson University. Andrea completed her PhD at NYU Silver School of Social Work in 2017. Her research interests include youth and young adult trauma, exposure to community violence, intervention research, and implementation science.
kp1984@nyu.edu
Kristin Pleines, DSW, LCSW has extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and adults impacted by trauma, particularly domestic violence. She completed her DSW at NYU Silver School of Social Work in 2019. Kristin is interested in enhancing mental health services for high-need populations. She is especially interested in trauma-informed care as well as trauma-informed supervision of clinicians and staff.
rshimizu@alaska.edu
Rei Shimizu, PhD, LMSW, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Social Work. Her research focuses on understanding how social determinants of health intersect with perceived choice in health behavior decision-making and its impact on behavioral outcomes, particularly among young adults. My three topical research areas are (1) understanding the role of choice in DV/IPV interventions and frameworks (such as restorative justice) and its impact on behavioral change mechanisms to address relational conflict, (2) understanding the role of choice in dietary interventions and its influence on dietary decision-making, and (3) understanding role of choice in decision-making related to mental health service use.
mvilloda@gmu.edu
Melissa L. Villodas is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University’s Department of Social Work and an alumna of NYU’s Silver School of Social Work. Her research centers on understanding how social determinants of health impact the mental health of vulnerable young people while considering how to address these challenges through treatment and initiatives at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Dr. Villodas investigates various environments such as neighborhoods, public housing, and schools, delving into topics including suicidality, trauma exposure, and mental health symptoms and outcomes. Her research focus encompasses three key areas: (1) Neighborhood Environment and Social Determinants of Health, (2) Policy, Systemic, and Community Influences on Mental Health and Well-Being, and (3) Mental Health Interventions and Support Services. Dr. Villodas holds social work licenses in New York and Virginia and possesses clinical experience working with youth in foster care and individuals across the lifespan in community healthcare and telehealth settings.