F L O R I D A I N T E R N AT I O N A L U N I V E R S I T Y SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
TRAINING THE SOCIAL WORK
LEADERS OF TOMORROW
ANNUAL REPORT 2023
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S Message from the Director................................................................................................................ 1
About the School of Social Work...................................................................................................... 2
Research............................................................................................................................................... 4
Students................................................................................................................................................ 8
Alumni..................................................................................................................................................12
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Last October, our faculty, staff and students came together to celebrate 50 years of social work at Florida International University. 50 years of training and educating the social work leaders of tomorrow. It’s a significant milestone that highlights the unwavering dedication, commitment, and collective efforts of our community. Today, I am proud to share that we are the No. 2 school for social work in Florida, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. And this year, we have many achievements to be proud of. First and foremost, our students have put their education into action in our community, with many of them receiving local recognition for their impactful contributions. The productivity of our faculty has also been one for the books—this academic year, our researchers brought in funding that is already making an impact. One of the initiatives that was funded was the FIU/M-DCPS Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Fellowship (Project DIG), which aims to address the tremendous need for school psychologists and social workers here in South Florida. We are doing this by training over 100 highly qualified Master of Social Work and School Psychology interns, majority from minority backgrounds, to help students who come from underserved communities. These are individuals who represent our communities, and who will give back in a meaningful way. We are also exploring how to leverage technology to support our social work education. This year, we built a telehealth lab, a space for students to train on how to provide mental health services via video conferencing to future clients. It’s opportunities like these that are helping our students graduate and land positions in academia, hospitals, substance use treatment centers, public school systems, and more. I am so proud to see how far we’ve come and look forward to the future with excitement. Thank you for your unwavering support of our school over the years. With gratitude, Mary Helen Hayden, EdD, LCSW, DCSW Director School of Social Work, Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work Florida International University Miami, Florida
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ABOUT FIU’S STEMPEL COLLEGE FIU’s Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work’s mission is to improve the health, health equity, and wellbeing of populations through education, research, and partnerships. It is this mission that drives us to be a power agent for positive change. Our social work students work side-by-side faculty and community organizations to learn, transform and make an impact on people’s lives. This work lays the foundation for success post-graduation, with many of our graduates going on to work in governmental, academic, non-profit, and for-profit positions across the globe. It’s our unwavering drive to help our students succeed that has led us to grow in academic offerings, student enrollment, and research funding.
INTERNSHIPS
72%
372
of our Advanced Clinical MSW
Placements totaling
via fellowships with tuition
1O9,OOO
waivers and stipends.
hours
Internships have been funded
ACTIVE STUDENTS IN FALL 2023
DEMOGRAPHICS
159
18O
22
2% Two or
Bachelor’s
Master’s
Ph.D.
1% Asian
more races
2% Unreported 11%
White
RACE 27%
RANKINGS
#
2
Black
49
#
2
Public School of Social Work in the Nation
Public School of Social Work in Florida
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
F I U SC HO O L OF SOCIAL WORK
57%
Hispanic
87% of SOW students come from minority backgrounds
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
School of Social Work Programs of Study • Bachelor of Science in Social Work • Master of Social Work • MSW/MPH Combined Program • Master of Social Work/Juris Doctor Joint Degree Program • Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare
Our School of Social Work offers programs of study (BSSW, MSW, MSW/MPH, MSW/JD, Ph.D.) that prepare graduates to work in governmental, academic, non-profit, and for-profit settings in community, regional, state and national systems. Through classroom and field experience, students gain knowledge and skills vital to the practice and research of social work. Our students are placed in internships across hundreds of community agencies throughout South Florida, resulting in over 100,000 internship hours contributed each year. As a result, our graduates significantly impact the South Florida community and contribute substantially to the field of social work through direct practice, administration, advocacy, and research.
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RESEARCH
FIU WINS $19.4M NIH GRANT T O F I G H T H E A LT H D I S P A R I T I E S THE RESEARCH FUNDING WILL TARGET HIV AND COVID-19, ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND CHILDHOOD CANCER AMONG MINORITY POPULATIONS. Since its inception, the Research Center in a Minority Institution at FIU (FIU-RCMI) has supported and mentored dozens of postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty and other earlystage investigators. Many have gone on to develop significant careers, including some key researchers at FIU. “The FIU-RCMI has and will continue to drive FIU’s outstanding growth in research capacity in the area of health disparities,” said FIU President Kenneth A. Jessell. “Over the past five years, our faculty have demonstrated a passion and commitment to the kind of work that has a positive impact on the health of our community and the world.” The three major research projects funded by the new grant are led by researchers who received mentoring and training through the FIU-RCMI. “These are research projects led by investigators from backgrounds underrepresented in science, given that all are women and several further identify as minorities,” said Wagner. “These are brilliant researchers who have overcome historical and systemic obstacles to obtaining NIH funding and are using science to make the world a better place.” The FIU-RCMI team: From L to R, front row: Michelle Hospital, Shanna Burke, Diana Azzam, Sabrina Sales Martinez & Staci Morris; second row: Zoran Bursac, Edgar Vieira, Eric Wagner & Diana Sheehan; third row: Melissa Howard, Sofia Fernandez, Melissa Ward, Maria E. Contreras Perez, Boubakari Ibrahimou, Gabriel Odom & Tan Li; fourth row: Robbert Langwerden, Thelma Robles, Cindy Lopez, Katherine Perez, Jacqueline Correa & Jordan Quintana
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F I U SC HO O L OF SOCIAL WORK
THE NEW GRANT WILL ALLOW THE FIU-RCMI TO EXPAND ITS SCOPE TO HELP:
•
Address HIV and COVID-19 disparities among people with HIV. The pandemic has caused disruption to HIV services and care, substantially impacting people with HIV. Diana Sheehan, assistant professor of epidemiology at Stempel College, will mine and interpret data to
patients tend to have limited access to precision medicine clinical trials and treatments that could potentially save their lives. Azzam’s lab is conducting a study to identify specific biomarkers among minority populations that can be targeted using FDA-approved drugs. “Our data show these populations have different genomics and respond differently to drugs,” Azzam said
understand whether the pandemic has exacerbated HIV disparities among minority populations. “Our findings will help inform the state of Florida on what community and structural barriers need to be addressed to ensure disparities don’t increase during and after the era of COVID-19,” Sheehan said. •
Explore microbiome profiles, sleep and cognition among mid-life Latinx adults. Latinx populations are disproportionately affected by health disparities related to sleep and are 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The NIH-funded study led by Shanna Burke, associate professor of social work at Stempel College, and Sabrina Sales Martinez, assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition at Stempel College, will be
HIRING ADDITIONAL HEALTH DISPARITIES FACULTY
The FIU-RCMI Recruitment Core is responsible for recruiting at least three established health disparities investigators, from backgrounds underrepresented in science, to bolster the center’s research, training and community engagement efforts in health disparities. Tomás R. Guilarte, core leader and dean of Stempel College, is particularly appreciative of the university’s support of this hiring initiative, which will involve “a national search to recruit three investigators with externally-funded research programs related to health disparities and health equity to join the FIU faculty and contribute to the research mission of our center.” The FIU-RCMI Recruitment Core is co-led by Burke and Sales Martinez.
among the first of its kind to examine microbiota, metabolome, sleep, stress and cognition measures to
RESEARCH SUPPORT CAPACITY EXPANSION
identify early risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease linked
The FIU-RCMI Research Capacity Core is devoted to
to gut health. Burke and Sales Martinez share that their findings “may lead to interventions targeting risk factors associated with the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.” •
Reduce cancer disparities in Hispanic and Black children in Miami. Diana Azzam, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Stempel College, is determined to identify drug treatments that can help improve the health of childhood cancer patients from minority populations. According to Azzam, these young
providing measurable and sustainable research resources and support to help underrepresented early-stage investigators flourish. Zoran Bursac, leader of the FIU core and chair of biostatistics, notes that the primary goal of the core is “providing infrastructure support and connecting underrepresented early-stage investigators to resources, including guidance and training in contemporary quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches to prepare pilot proposals, conduct, analyze and publish data and competitive K and R applications.” The FIU-RCMI Research Capacity Core is co-led by Melissa Ward, assistant professor of epidemiology at Stempel College. ANNUAL RE P O R T 2 0 2 3
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RESEARCH
The FIU-RCMI Research Studies Leaders: From L to R, Sabrina Sales Martinez, Shanna Burke, Diana Azzam & Diana Sheehan
COMMUNITY IMPACT
COVID-19 prevention and vaccination and addressed
FIU-RCMI faculty also work closely with under-resourced
community member questions about the pandemic.
community organizations to build their research capacity. “We’ve gone on to secure large-scale grants in partnership with them, and they have gone on to secure grants independently, speaking to the mutual benefit of our community-university research partnerships,” Wagner said. The center also partners with community organizations to disseminate vital health information to underserved communities. For example, FIU-RCMI won supplemental NIH funding to help address COVID-19 health disparities plaguing minority communities in South Florida. Last year, together with community partners, the FIU-RCMI invited South Floridians from predominantly Black, Hispanic and Haitian-Creole communities to a series of seven virtual
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“The town halls helped the people who were hesitant and just needed opportunities to hear more information from people they trusted,” said Michelle Hospital, leader of the FIU-RCMI’s Community Engagement Core and an associate professor of biostatistics at Stempel College. “Our community partners played a big role in helping us connect with these individuals.” The FIU-RCMI team is comprised of 25 FIU faculty from various disciplines and currently contributes to 78 different faculty, staff and student positions. Although most faculty are from Stempel College, the team includes researchers from the Herbert Wertheim College of
COVID-19 town hall meetings. The FIU-RCMI provided
Medicine, the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing &
public health and medical experts to briefly present
Health Sciences and the College of Arts, Sciences &
state-of-the-science community-specific information on
Education at FIU.
F I U SC HO O L OF SOCIAL WORK
FIU AWARDED $6M TO BOOST MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC SCHOOLS The U.S. Department of Education awarded FIU a $6
school social workers to help students, particularly those from
million grant to help improve access to mental health
underserved communities.
services for students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS).
“School-based social workers and psychologists are the front line for recognizing and responding to potential traumas,”
The five-year grant funded through the Bipartisan Safer
said Jennifer Abeloff, associate director of social work and co-
Communities Act and the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus
investigator. She added that these mental health service providers
appropriations bill will support the FIU/M-DCPS Mental
play an essential role, especially for students from low-income
Health Service Professional Demonstration Fellowship
backgrounds or multilingual learners. “We are trying to help the
(Project DIG). Project DIG aims to train and prepare
kids who can fall through the cracks, the ones who may not have
over 100 highly qualified school psychologists and
access to these mental health services outside of school.”
ENHANCING DIVERSITY IN THE HEALTH DISPARITIES WORKFORCE “The FIU-HDI emerged from the critical need to address health disparities impacting underserved communities,” said Dr. De La Rosa. “The FIU-HDI will provide training to next generations of health disparities researchers, who will lead the way in effectively addressing health disparity conditions, and the disproportionate impact of these conditions, in vulnerable populations.” Founded in 2016, the FIU-HDI has been awarded a total of $19.5 million via two S21 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The Florida International University Health Disparities Initiative (FIU-HDI) aims to strengthen and sustain FIU’s capacity for community-engaged health disparities research and training. Funded through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) S21 endowment grant, the FIU-HDI enhances research training at Stempel College and Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (HWCOM). Specifically, this initiative focuses on training next generations of public health, clinical, biomedical, and behavioral researchers to address health disparities and advance health equity among underserved populations in South Florida and the Caribbean.
Since its inception, the FIU-HDI has provided training to 40 doctoral, postdoctoral, and medical students. Facilitated by the recent renewal award, the FIUHDI’s scope (i.e., HIV, substance abuse, obesity) now includes health disparities in communicable and noncommunicable conditions affecting South Florida and the Caribbean region. Through the renewal award, FIU-HDI will provide transdisciplinary training in health disparities research to: 24 doctoral students, 4 postdoctoral fellows, and numerous cohorts of medical students from underrepresented backgrounds.
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STUDENTS
AWARD-WINNING STUDENT DRIVEN TO UPLIFT HER FAMILY
B
orn and raised in Miami, Dalyanis Becerra relatives and teachers were the pillars that kept her grounded
during tumultuous times. At school, she channeled her energy into her studies and excelled in her classes. At 16, she graduated with her superintendent high school diploma of distinction and enrolled in Miami Dade College, where her ambitions landed her the American Dream Scholarship to help fund her studies. Two years later, she transferred to Florida International University, where her professor Natalia Giordano inspired her to pursue degrees in social work.
Dalyanis Becerra’s success is driven by her unwavering commitment to uplift her family.
While at FIU, Becerra’s brother lost his life unexpectedly. As she and her family grieved the loss of her brother, Dalyanis was determined to get to work. She secured multiple jobs and internships while juggling her studies. She also opened a carwash to help ensure an income for her family. With a packed schedule, Dalyanis still excelled in academia, securing the competitive Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program scholarship, which helped her through her master’s degree. Dalyanis now has her master’s in social work and her goal is to help individuals embrace life’s challenges and become the best version of themselves. She plans to secure her real estate license soon to help her achieve her next goal in life along with her boyfriend, Jonathan – to open a shelter in memory of her brother that provides necessities, a safe haven, and mental health counseling for families in times of need.
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F I U SC HO O L OF SOCIAL WORK
For some students, school might be the safest and most stable environment they have. “School social workers can provide support and resources for those who might not have access to them elsewhere,” said Jessica Fernandez, master’s student.
MSW STUDENT DETERMINED TO HELP IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS
J
essica Fernandez, a master’s student at the School
Middle School, in Hialeah, Florida. “Addressing their
of Social Work, has her eyes set on helping students
mental health is pivotal not only for navigating these
get through some of the most challenging parts of
transitions but also for academic success, as unresolved
middle school. She is one of 13 Project DIG social work
issues can impede learning.”
fellows who are interning in schools across South Florida, helping to provide mental health services to children and youth in underserved communities.
Focusing on these concerns in school combats the stigma around seeking help, enabling more students to access necessary support. For some students, school
On World Mental Health Day, celebrated on October 10,
might be the safest and most stable environment they
Jessica tabled at her Project DIG placement, Country
have. “School social workers can provide support and
Club Middle School, bringing activities and resources
resources for those who might not have access to them
to the students to help instill the importance of mental
elsewhere,” said Jessica.
health. Students had to answer questions about mental health and coping skills for a chance to spin a wheel to win a prize—from wristbands with inspirational slogans to notebooks for journaling.
From a school social work perspective, ensuring the mental health of middle school students is crucial for their overall well-being, academic success, and longterm development. It’s not just about academic success,
“Middle schoolers are in a critical developmental
but about nurturing the whole child to thrive in all areas
phase, undergoing physical, emotional, and identity
of their life.
shifts,” said Jessica, who is interning at Country Club ANNUAL RE P O R T 2 0 2 3
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Q&A WITH HUSTON OCHOA, President of FIU’s Student Social Work Association
Huston is a social work student projected to graduate in 2025 with his Ph.D. in Social Welfare. He shares in this Q&A what inspired him to enter the field of social work and gives a recap of this year’s Socktoberfest.
What inspired you to pursue a degree in social work? Before social work, I worked as a production
What responsibilities and duties come with the role of president in the FIU Student Social Work Association (SSWA)?
coordinator on high-end catalog and fashion
My main duties are to provide community service
photography sets. Years in the field instilled critical
projects for our members to get experience with
thinking and interpersonal skills, but I always felt the
the communities they will serve. This might include
purpose was empty, there had to be something more
mental health awareness campaigns, advocating in the
meaningful. Volunteering with vulnerable children had
state capital, or providing direct services to people
given my life a bit more of the purpose that I had been
experiencing homelessness. These events require
longing for. Social work was the perfect answer coming
a significant amount of coordination, delegating,
from what I had already been doing – my skillsets could
and planning alongside organizations on and off FIU
be used for the well-being of others in need.
campus. I have to remind myself to enjoy the process because it can be so involved. It takes a lot of work, but seeing what starts as an idea transform into a
Why is connecting with others through service so important?
large-scale event is extremely rewarding.
We forget how powerful the simplest gestures can be
Socktoberfest. Tell us about it.
to someone else. The items we donate have a specific function, but the fact that you are giving yourself is what is noticed. A lot of these individuals stopped believing in the goodness of human beings. They’ve come to believe they have nothing of value because that is what they are essentially told by the socialeconomic structures around them. When we come to them, we remind them that they have value as they are.
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FIU SC HO O L OF SOCIAL WORK
The association recently participated in an event called
Socktoberfest is the signature event of SSWA. It began with Gladys Ramos, Program Assistant at the School of Social Work—she’s the heart and soul of this event. She has seen it grow year after year and made sure it didn’t disappear during the early COVID-19 years. Our goal is to provide new socks to Miami-Dade residents experiencing homelessness that have unkept
“
“A lot of these individuals stopped believing in the goodness of human beings. When we come to them, we remind them that they have value as they are.” — Huston Ochoa, Ph.D. social work student
or medical foot conditions. For a month our members solicit donations from their friends, families, and colleagues while promoting the event across campus. It was previously known as Sock Drive and was held strictly by SSWA.
How did the community come together to support this initiative? This year, we collaborated with the Stempel Public Health Association and the Association of Graduate Students in Dietetics & Nutrition. We also partnered with One World One Heart, a non-profit organization that serves warm meals to this community every Thursday. In all we had about 15 members participate in preparing the donations or distributing them across Downtown Miami and Wynwood. There were certainly dozens more individuals that contributed to this event either by donation or collaboration, including our wonderful faculty across Stempel College. This allowed us to provide over 250 donation bags complete with two pairs of socks, bottled water, hygiene kits, and snacks. This was a true community effort that we are proud to continue every year.
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OUR ALUMNI
From School of Social Work alum to Better Way of Miami Chief Executive Officer Born and raised in Miami, Ryan Roelans has always had an interest in helping others. Throughout his undergraduate career, he majored in Political Science and Philosophy – while there he got involved in social advocacy work. Having experienced family members die from the disease of addiction and witness friends go through it while growing up, Ryan was inspired to find something where he could meld the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, and social advocacy. This led him to pursue his master’s degree in social work at FIU’s School of Social Work, where he graduated in 2012. In 2018, he returned to serve as an adjunct professor at FIU’s School of Social Work under the guidance of Mary Helen Hayden, Ph.D., director of the school. Today, Ryan teaches two graduate-level courses in addiction. In January 2024, he will become Better Way of Miami’s new Chief Executive Officer, a non-profit healthcare facility. In his new role, he hopes to continue the legacy of an agency that has been around since 1984, focusing on tailoring the growth and expansion of the agency. His goal is to continue the mission of Better Way of Miami while expanding the scope of the agency to greater serve the people of South Florida.
Postdoctoral fellow, Adrienne Grudzien, researching ties between quality of sleep and loneliness After graduating from FIU’s Stempel College MSW program, Adrienne Grudzien, MSW’10, PhD,’23, worked as a medical case manager and later became a counselor in a Ryan White program. She was recruited into FIU’s School of Social Work doctoral program by Richard Beaulaurier, graduate program director. While a Ph.D. student, Adrienne worked as a graduate research assistant with Dr. Shanna Burke and had the opportunity to be involved in several studies examining the influence of social determinants of health on the relationship between sleep and cognition. Based on this experience, she decided to examine the role of sleep disturbance on associations between loneliness and cognitive functioning and dementia using 12 years of data from the Health and Retirement Study. Adrienne found that when lonely participants reported sleep disturbance, they exhibited poorer memory and executive functioning – two important aspects of cognitive health. After graduating with her Ph.D. in Social Welfare, Adrienne was hired as a post-doctoral associate by the FIU-RCMI and is currently working with PIs Dr. Shanna Burke and Dr. Sabrina Sales Martinez to support the implementation of their National Institutes of Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)-funded Tri-Sleep Study: Sleep, Gut Microbiome, and the Mind. Adrienne is also continuing her investigation into the impact of sleep and loneliness on Alzheimer’s Disease disparities and older adult cognitive health. Looking ahead, Adrienne hopes to become an independent researcher, a role that would allow her to collect objective sleep data (through actigraphy, like a sleep watch), such as sleep latency and sleep efficiency, and sleep stage data (REM, deep sleep, etc.) to better understand how loneliness and sleep influence cognitive functioning and dementia risk over time. Her experiences and opportunities as a graduate student and now as a FIU-RCMI post-doctoral associate, Adrienne believes, have been critical to her development as an early career researcher, and she is grateful to Dr. Burke and Dr. Martinez and all of FIU’s Stempel College faculty and staff who have supported and continue to support her during this journey. 12
FIU SC HO O L OF SOCIAL WORK
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