Renowned global poverty and public health scholar named McSilver Institute Faculty Director and Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies
New York, NY – The NYU Silver School of Social Work’s leadership in poverty studies and policy has expanded with the appointment of Dr. Fred Ssewamala as Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies and Faculty Director of the School’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, effective July 1, 2025. He is renowned for his innovative, interdisciplinary research that improves outcomes for youth impacted by poverty and health disparities in low resource communities.
Dr. Ssewamala was most recently Assistant Vice Provost for Global Research and William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where he held a joint appointment at the George Warren Brown School and School of Medicine. He continues to direct the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD) and SMART Africa Center, which are dedicated to reducing poverty and improving public health outcomes for children, adolescents, and families in low-resource communities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations.
“The NYU McSilver Institute and our School will greatly benefit from his expertise in the design, implementation, and assessment of economic empowerment and social protection interventions for children and families impacted by poverty and HIV/AIDS – not only internationally, but domestically, as well,” said NYU Silver Dean Michael A. Lindsey. “Working with McSilver Institute Executive Director Rose Pierre-Louis, the rest of the institute’s leadership team, and NYU Silver faculty, Dr. Ssewamala will build upon his impact at NYU.”
“Disrupting generational poverty has been at the heart of the McSilver Institute’s mission since its founding. Dr. Ssewamala’s appointment elevates that calling to the global arena,” said the institute’s founder Dr. Constance McCatherin Silver.
“Dr. Ssewamala’s standing as a nationally recognized researcher and scholar is unmatched. Most importantly, his dedication to identifying root causes of poverty, inequality, and inequity and taking action to address them make him a champion for the communities McSilver continues to serve. It’s an honor to call him a colleague and I’m looking forward to the remarkable opportunities ahead,” said Ms. Rose Pierre-Louis.
“I’m thrilled to bring my 20+ years of transdisciplinary global and U.S. domestic work, focused on cutting-edge innovative research on poverty as a key social determinant of health and wellbeing for children and families, to the Silver School,” said Dr. Ssewamala. “Bringing this interdisciplinary international portfolio will not only expand the global and domestic footprint for NYU’s McSilver Institute and Silver School, it will also present new opportunities for global south-to-north bidirectional learning, which I continue to explore.”
Currently, Dr. Ssewamala is conducting ten large-scale, NIH-funded longitudinal randomized control trials across sub-Saharan Africa. He also directs four NIH funded training programs that focus on training early-career researchers committed to careers in child behavioral health. In addition to leading his own projects, he has consulted for international development organizations including the World Bank in Nigeria, Oxfam in East and Central Africa, UNAIDS-Geneva, USAID and ChildFund International. Among the successful programs based on his research is the DREAMS Project, currently being implemented in ten African countries to prevent HIV among adolescent girls and young women.
Widely published in peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Ssewamala serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Adolescent Health and co-edits the Global Social Welfare journal. He is a member of the Society for Social Work and Research, American Public Health Association, and the Siteman Cancer Center, as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. He earned his MSW and PhD in Social and Economic Development Policy from Washington University’s Brown School. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Social Work and Social Administration from Makerere University in Uganda.
About the NYU Silver School of Social Work
Founded in 1960 and renowned for a strong tradition of excellence in direct social work practice and dedication to social justice, NYU Silver has provided rigorous training to more than 20,000 social work practitioners and leaders in every area of the field, making it the leading destination for students who want to become innovative practitioners at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice. The School has four campuses in the heart of New York City, Rockland County, Westchester County, and Shanghai.