Ifrah Magan
Assistant Professor
PhD, AM, BS
Areas of Expertise: Refugee and immigrant communities; health and mental health equity of Black, Muslim, and refugee populations; intersectionality and migration; parenting and child development; qualitative community-based participatory research methodologies; global social work
Biography
Dr. Ifrah Magan currently serves as an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. A qualitative researcher and social worker practitioner, Dr. Magan takes a critical intersectional approach to research exploring how institutional and structural racism and oppression impact the lived experiences of Black, Muslim, and forcibly displaced populations. She draws upon her own lived experiences as a refugee from Somalia coupled with extensive community organizing and practice work with diverse refugee communities in the United States. Dr. Magan was recently awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Equity Scholars for Action (HES4A) grant for her project, “Examining the critical role refugee-led organizations play in shaping health and health equity outcomes.”
Dr. Magan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Community Services from Michigan State University, where she was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. She then went on to receive a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration where she received the Kathryn Davis Peace Award and served as a Child Advocate for unaccompanied undocumented children through the Young Center at the University of Chicago School of Law. She received her doctorate from University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work, where she received the Abraham Lincoln Fellowship and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award.
Dr. Magan is fluent in English, Somali, and Arabic.
Publications
The Burden of Not Belonging: A Qualitative Study of the Applicability of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide Constructs of Belongingness and Burdensomeness to Ethnocultural Minoritized Youth
Vélez-Grau, C., Magan, I. M. & Gwadz, M., Sep 2023,
In : Behavior Therapy. 54, 5, p. 777-793
17 p.
Mental Health Care With Refugee Families: A Transnational Collectivist Approach
Magan, I. M., Benson, O. G. & Banya, M., Jan 1 2023,
In : Families in Society. 104, 1, p. 47-56
10 p.
“Our Religion is on Us, Like How Our Parents Raised Us”: The Role of Islam and Spirituality in the Lives of Syrian Refugee Caregivers
Magan, I. M. & Elkhaoudi, S., 2023,
In : Journal of Child and Family Studies..
“I Talk to Myself”: Exploring the Mental and Emotional Health Experiences of Muslim Rohingya Refugee Adolescents
Magan, I. M., Sanchez, E. & Munson, M. R., 2022,
In : Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal..
"Home Is Where Your Root Is": Place Making, Belonging, and Community Building among Somalis in Chicago
Magan, I. M. & Padgett, D. K., Apr 1 2021,
In : Social Work (United States). 66, 2, p. 101-110
10 p.
On Being Black, Muslim, and a Refugee: Stories of Somalis in Chicago
Magan, I. M., Apr 2 2020,
In : Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies. 18, 2, p. 172-188
17 p.
"Don't wait for it to rain to buy an umbrella:" The transmission of values from African American fathers to sons
Doyle, O., Magan, I., Cryer-Coupet, Q. R., Goldston, D. B. & Estroff, S. E., Oct 1 2016,
In : Psychology of Men and Masculinity. 17, 4, p. 309-319
11 p.
Unheard voices: African american fathers speak about their parenting practices
Doyle, O., Clark, T. T., Cryer-Coupet, Q., Nebbitt, V. E., Goldston, D. B., Estroff, S. E. & Magan, I., Jul 1 2015,
In : Psychology of Men and Masculinity. 16, 3, p. 274-283
10 p.
Courses
MSW: Diversity, Racism, Oppression, and Privilege
MSW: Advanced Social Policy: Immigrants and Refugees