Professor Deborah Padgett Named to the Board of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

Professor Deborah Padgett has been appointed to the board of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, which recognizes outstanding social work scholars. 

Padgett is internationally known for her advocacy and practice of qualitative and mixed methods research. She has published extensively on mental health needs and service use of the homeless mentally ill, older women, ethnic groups, and children/adolescents. In 2011, she was one of 11 fellows inducted into the Academy. 

The goals of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare are to create a national and interdisciplinary presence of distinguished scholars and practitioners that can inform social policy and federal research initiatives, and serve as the resource about the highest level of scientific knowledge in the social work field. 

Padgett has received federal funding for several studies and was co-principal investigator on two National Institute of Mental Health-funded grants and a National Cancer Institute-funded mixed methods study of African-American women and breast cancer screening. She was also national co-director of the Screening Adherence Follow-up (SAFe) project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She was principal investigator of The New York Services Study, a $1.4 million qualitative study of dual diagnosed homeless funded by the NIMH. In 2010, the NIMH awarded Padgett and Assistant Professor Victoria Stanhope a $1.9 million grant to support their five-year qualitative study of homeless adults with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse. 

Padgett is the 2011-12 director of the Global Health Leadership concentration for the NYU Master of Public Health program. Her most recent book, Qualitative and Mixed Methods in Public Health, was published earlier this year by Sage Publications.