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SP2 at SSWR 2026: Leading for Transformative Change

Caster in the snow

Authored by: Carson Easterly

Photography by: Carson Easterly

Faculty & Research

01/09/26

Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) is proud to participate in the 30th Annual Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Conference, taking place January 14 –18, 2026, in Washington, D.C. This year’s theme is Leading for Transformative Change: Aligning Social Work Science with Policy and Practice. 

SP2 will be well represented at SSWR, with nearly 50 faculty, students, alumni, and staff contributing to 40 sessions as presenting authors, co-authors, speakers, conveners, and discussants. Among these contributors are 10 PhD students and numerous faculty and alumni from SP2’s PhD, DSW, and MSW programs. These sessions address pressing issues related to physical, mental, and financial well-being, particularly for marginalized populations.

In addition to these contributions, Dr. Desmond Patton, PIK Professor at SP2 and the Annenberg School for Communication, will be formally inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare’s Class of 2026 Fellows during the conference on Saturday, January 17.

Dedicated to the advancement of social work research, SSWR is made up of more than 1,800 members representing 45 states, 15 countries, and more than 200 universities and institutions. The SSWR Annual Conference includes over 500 symposia, workshop, roundtable, paper, and poster presentations. SP2 is proud to serve as a Friends Level Sponsor for this year’s event.

The list below highlights SP2-affiliated participants from the full SSWR schedule. To request an addition to the list, please contact sp2news@sp2.upenn.edu. 

SP2 at SSWR 2026

Thursday, January 15 

1:30 PM –  3:00 PM 

Flash talk: Access to care 

Aligning Colon Cancer Screening Decision Aids with the Health Literacy Needs of Older Adults 

  • Chelsea Brown, MSW –  PhD Candidate
  • Tamara Cadet, PhD –  Associate Professor 
  • Jinbo Niu, MSSP – MSSP Alum
  • Joonhyeog Park, MA – PhD Student 

Roundtable: Gender-Based Violence in the Global South: Intersectional Challenges in Research on Sexual Violence Against Women and Sex Workers in South Asia 

  • Toorjo Ghose, PhD –  Associate Professor 

Oral Presentation: From complicity to activism: Stories of social workers and citizens 

Constructing the Modern Worker: The Occluded Origins of Clinical Social Work 

  • Yoosun Park, PhD – Associate Professor
  • Alicia Chatterjee, PhD – PhD Alum

3:15 PM – 4:45 PM 

Flash talk: Research Design and Measurement 

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Depression Prevalence in U.S. Women Welfare Recipients 

  • Jacqueline Corcoran, PhD – Professor
  • Anao Zhang, PhD, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor – MSW Alum

Symposia: Understanding Financial Hardship As a Multi-Factorial Social Determinant of Health: Implications for Research and Interventions 

Food Security and Medical Delay Among Low-Income Cancer Survivors on Disability Insurance 

  • Joey Tan, MSW – PhD Candidate
  • Meredith Doherty, PhD – Assistant Professor 

Friday, January 16 

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM 

Flash talk: Cultural Values, Identity, and Access in Asian Communities 

Coming to Terms with Our Routes: The Impact of No Contact Family Estrangement on Asian American Identity, a Reflexive Thematic Analysis 

  • SuMing Sullivan, MSW, Boston College – DSW Alum 
  • Yoosun Park, PhD – Associate Professor

Cultural Brokerage As Ethical Labor: Korean American Social Workers in Trauma-Informed Practice

  • Jessica Cho Kim, PhD, LCSW – PhD Alum

Oral Presentation: Living with Chronic Illness in the Family Context 

Psychosocial Predictors of Disordered Eating in Adolescents with Celiac Disease: Body Image Dissatisfaction, Anxiety, Depression, and Family Eating Environment 

  • Kaitlin Rowen, DSW – DSW Alum
  • Phyllis Solomon, PhD – Professor 

Barriers to Cancer Risk Disclosure and Cascade Testing in Families of Young Adult Cancer Survivors: A Cancer Moonshot Study 

  • Allison Werner-Lin, PhD – Associate Professor

9:45 AM – 11:15 AM 

ePoster Presentations IV 

Constructing Old Age: A Historical Study of Framing, Tone, and Genre in Aging Discourse 

  • Joonhyeog Park, MA – PhD Student 
  • Tamara Cadet, PhD –  Associate Professor 

Oral Presentation: Organizational and Provider Factors in Mental Health Settings 

Individual and Organizational Factors Influencing Recovery-Promoting Competency Among Mental Health Practitioners 

  • Subin Na, MA – PhD Student
  • Phyllis Solomon, PhD – Professor  

Roundtable: Emerging Technology and Social Work for Marginalized Voices: Potential Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions 

  • Siva Mathiyazhagan, PhD – Research Assistant Professor 

Symposia: Diverse Identities, Experiences, and Historical Trajectories: U.S. Jews and Social Work

Lessons from the Voices of Aging Jews of Color: Antisemitism and Lived Complexity in Times of Socio-Political Unrest 

  • Jessica Aldrich Strassman, DSW, Samuel Merritt College – DSW Alum

12:45 PM – 1:45 PM 

Special interest group: Universal Basic Income and Guaranteed Income Policies and Research 

  • Amy Castro, PhD – Associate Professor; Co-Founder and Faculty Director, Center for Guaranteed Income Research
  • Stacia West, PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville – Co-Founder and Director, Center for Guaranteed Income Research

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM 

ePoster Presentations V 

The Mental Health of Women Sex Workers: Negotiating Multiple Pandemics

  • Samaita Jana, MSW – PhD Candidate
  • Toorjo Ghose, PhD –  Associate Professor 

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM 

Special Session: JSSWR 

  • Tamara Cadet, PhD –  Associate Professor 

Flash talk: Health related policy 

Preliminary Results from the Guaranteed Income and Financial Treatment (GIFT) Trial: Impacts of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Financial and Health Outcomes in Medicaid Beneficiaries with Advanced Cancer 

  • Meredith Doherty, PhD – Assistant Professor 
  • Joey Tan, MSW – PhD Candidate

Symposia: Ecological Approaches to School-Focused Social Work Research and Practice: Exploring the Intersection between School, Family, and Community Contexts 

Why Context Matters in School Choice: Exploring Spatial Patterns and Student Mobility in a Mixed-Income Housing Development

  • DeMarcus Jenkins, PhD – Assistant Professor 

Oral Presentation: Black Women’s Experiences with Stigma and Their Recommendations for Improving Mental Health Care 

Examining the Impact of Affiliate Stigma Among Black Mothers of Children with Developmental Disabilities (DD)

  • Ayana Colvin, MS, MSW – PhD Student 
  • DeMarcus Jenkins, PhD – Assistant Professor 

Oral Presentation: Rethinking our beginnings: New perspectives on social welfare history 

Welfare for the Settler: The Homestead Act of 1862

  • Alexander Bervik, MSW – PhD Alum
  • Abram Lyons, MSW – PhD Alum

ePoster Presentations VI 

“Yeah, but Who Else Is Going to Do It?”: The Impacts of Unconditional Cash on the Neoliberal and Maternalist Burdens of Caregiving

  • Mira Philips, MSc – PhD Candidate 

Symposia: Precarity and Work in the Margins: Labor, Identity, and Mental Health in a Shifting Economy

Gender Gap in Employment Quality: Occupational Segregation Matters

  • Sharon Zanti, PhD, Iowa State University – PhD alum; Research Affiliate AISP

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM 

ePoster Presentations VII 

Stigma, Sense of Belonging, and Help-Seeking Among East Asian Students

  • Isabelle Kim, MSW – PhD Student 
  • Subin Na, MA – PhD Student
  • Phyllis Solomon, PhD – Professor  

Strengthening Behavioral Health Workforce: Evaluation of the Pipeline Program for Advanced MSW Training in Integrated Care

  • Abigail Ross, PhD, MPH, MSW – Associate Professor

Saturday, January 17 

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM 

ePoster Presentations VIII 

Theory, Practice, and Research: Mapping the Future of Social Work Leadership in Healthcare

  • Kristin Stockard, DSW, University of Washington – DSW Alum
  • Bonnie Scranton, DSW – DSW Alum, Postdoctoral Fellow, Lecturer
  • Douglas Brooks, MSW – Senior Leadership Fellow
  • Sam Kirk, MS – SP2 Library Liaison 
  • Meredith Doherty, PhD – Assistant Professor 

Social Determinants, Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes for South Bronx Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Abigail Ross, PhD, MPH, MSW – Associate Professor

The Role of Mental Health Literacy in Promoting Help-Seeking Attitudes: A Propensity Score Matching Approach

  • Suzanne Tham, MSW – PhD Student 
  • Phyllis Solomon, PhD – Professor  

From Omission to Action: Aligning Social Work Research with the Needs of Excluded Forcibly Displaced Populations

  • Jessica Aldrich Strassman, DSW, Samuel Merritt College – DSW Alum

Implementing the Indian Child Welfare Act: A Qualitative Study with System Involved Families and Caregivers

  • Abram Lyons, MSW – PhD Alum

Oral Presentation: Substance Use Interventions and Strategies 

Does Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Reduce Gaming Disorder Among College Students?

  • Anderson Yoon, DSW, Sungkyunkwan University – DSW Alum 
  • Phyllis Solomon, PhD – Professor  

9:45 AM – 11:15 AM 

ePoster Presentations XII 

Evaluating Cyber Safety and Digital Citizenship for Public School Students in Puducherry, India

  • Siva Mathiyazhagan, PhD – Research Assistant Professor 

I Want to Take the Space to Develop As My Queer Self Completely: Understanding Queer Joy

  • Javier Garcia-Perez, PhD, Salem State University – MSW Alum 
  • Tristen Rafuse – MSW Student 

Invited Symposium II: Advancing Health and Social Equity Through Artificial Intelligence 

  • Desmond Patton, PhD, MSW – PIK Professor

Flash talk: Disability Flash Talk Session 

Pathways to Recovery-Oriented Practice: The Roles of Cultural Humility, Recovery Knowledge, and Recovery Attitudes Among Mental Health Practitioners

  • Subin Na, MA – PhD Student
  • Phyllis Solomon, PhD – Professor  

4:15 PM – 5:45 PM 

ePoster Presentation X 

Maintaining HIV Viral Suppression for a Decade in a Socially Precarious Community: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Undetectables Intervention

  • Toorjo Ghose, PhD –  Associate Professor 
  • Alison Updyke Neff, DSW, West Chester University of Pennsylvania – DSW Alum

Symposia: Rooted in Culture, Sustained By Community: Centering Cultural Values and Social Support in Psychosocial Oncology for Underserved Populations 

  • Tamara Cadet, PhD –  Associate Professor 

Oral Presentation: Social Networks & Supports 

Oral Health and Social Engagement of the Elderly

  • Hwiyoung Lee, MA – PhD Student
  • Ram Cnaan, PhD – Professor

Oral Presentation: Technology in Health and Healthcare 

Designing a Machine Learning-Based Model Integrating Clinical Orders for Child Abuse and Neglect Identification with Focus on Reducing Socio-Economic Bias

  • Aviv Landau, PhD – Research Assistant Professor 
  • Desmond Patton, PhD, MSW – PIK Professor

Integrating Community Knowledge into Electronic Health Records: Reimagining Childhood Asthma Care

  • Aviv Landau, PhD – Research Assistant Professor
  • Anthonia Odartei, MSW – MSW Alum

Roundtable: Participatory Approaches for Centering Racial Equity throughout the Data Life Cycle 

  • Amy Hawn Nelson, PhD – Research Faculty; Director of Training and Technical Assistance, AISP
  • Sharon Zanti, PhD, Iowa State University – PhD alum; Research Affiliate AISP

Symposia: Macro-Level Synergies: AI Interventions for Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice 

AI in Eco-Social Work and Climate Change

  • Siva Mathiyazhagan, PhD – Research Assistant Professor 

Roundtable: Under-Examined Histories of U. S. Child Welfare: How Institutions and Policies Perpetuate Harm and Reinforce Social Inequality 

  • Abram Lyons, MSW – PhD Alum

Sunday, January 18 

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM 

ePoster Presentation XI 

Feasibility of Disseminating a Prostate Cancer Peer Education Intervention in the Community

  • Joonhyeog Park, MA – PhD Student 
  • Tamara Cadet, PhD –  Associate Professor 
  • Jinbo Niu, MSSP – MSSP Alum
  • Julia Bradley, MSSP – MSSP Alum
  • Chelsea Brown, MSW –  PhD Candidate

Extreme Muscle-Building Exercise Behaviors as Responses to Psychosocial Challenges Among Adolescents in the United States

  • Ijun Hong, MSW – PhD Student 

Oral Presentation: Guaranteed Income in Action: Pathways to Stability and Opportunity 

Renegotiating Interdependence: Transition Age Youth’s Mobilization of Guaranteed Income in the Transition from Foster Care

  • Stacia West, PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville – Co-Founder and Director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research
  • Amy Castro, PhD – Associate Professor; Co-Founder and faculty director, Center for Guaranteed Income Research

Oral Presentation: Returning Citizens: Experiences, Needs, and Assets 

“It’s a Second Chance, but a First Life”: Re-Engaging Those Reentering after More Than 20 Years of Incarceration 

  • Alison Updyke Neff, DSW, West Chester University of Pennsylvania – DSW Alum 
  • Toorjo Ghose, PhD –  Associate Professor 
  • Noam Keim, MA – Reentry and Diversion Manager, Center for Carceral Communities

Roundtable: Flourish or Perish? Clinical Social Work and the Rise of AI Therapy 

  • Abigail Ross, PhD, MPH, MSW – Associate Professor

Oral Presentation: All in the Family: Experiences from Pregnancy through Adolescence 

How Does Guaranteed Income Interact with Masculinity/Fatherhood Models? a Social Constructionist Narrative Analysis

  • Alexander Bervik, MSW – PhD Alum

9:45 AM – 11:15 AM 

Oral Presentation: Crossing Borders, Bridging Lives: Human Stories and Interventions in Global Displacement 

Liminality of Forced Displacement: Syrian Refugee and Immigrant Lives in the US

  • Anna Ferris, MSW – PhD Candidate 

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM 

Symposia: Mobilizing Evidence to Advance Lgbtiq Inclusion in Asia (META-LGBTIQ Asia): Community-Engaged Mixed Methods Approaches for Transformative Change 

“We Are Alike but Also Different”: Braiding Transgender Political Sensibilities into Health Initiatives in Kolkata, India 

  • Toorjo Ghose, PhD –  Associate Professor  

View the full SSWR program at https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2026/webprogram/start.html. 

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