Kimberly Fuentes

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Kimberly Fuentes, MSW is a recent graduate of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in Social Welfare. She is currently a first year PhD student in Social Welfare at Luskin where she studies the impacts of criminalization on sex working communities, the ways they resist criminalization, and the role that social work can play in uplifting this resistance. She hopes to utilize participatory action research and art-based methods to identify the alternative systems of community care that are used to mitigate and resist the forces of the police state and theorize the state from the vantage point of sex workers. She serves on the board of directors at the Sex Worker Outreach Project – Los Angeles (SWOP-LA) where she leads a nationwide support group for current and former sex workers and provides direct support to street-based workers through a harm reduction framework. Kimberly is a student affiliate of the California Center for Population Research (CCPR) and a recipient of the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. She is currently a research assistant at the UCLA Hub for Health Intervention, Policy and Practice where she works on research studies exploring the effect of criminalization on violence and victimization of sex workers.

Kimberly earned her Master of Social Welfare in Social and Economic Justice with a certificate in Global Health and Social Services. During her time in the MSW program, Kimberly received the Graduate Opportunity Fellowship (GOFP) and served as a Luskin Leadership Fellow at the Office of Child Protection (OCP). Her completed research capstone, “Revolutionizing Community Under the Red Umbrella: Intersectional Inquiry with Sex Workers on Protective Factors in Los Angeles, CA”, received awards from the Center for the Study of Women’s Black Feminism Initiative, UCLA Lewis Center for Policy Research, Franklin D. Gilliam Jr. Social Justice Award, and a departmental award for outstanding research.

She is a proud first-generation student whose family immigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico. Prior to UCLA, she earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography with a minor in Math and Science education from UC Santa Barbara.

 

Margaret M. C. Thomas

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Margaret (Maggie) Thomas is Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her scholarship and teaching emphasize structural sources of oppression and privilege, grounded in her practice experiences working with children, youth, and families facing social and economic marginalization.

Dr. Thomas’s research focuses on the wellbeing of economically marginalized individuals and families through the lens of policy causes and solutions to material hardship and poverty. She conducts two primary streams of research. First, she examines material hardship and its consequences for other domains of wellbeing, such as child protective services involvement (CPS) and health and mental health outcomes. Second, she analyzes policy impacts on poverty and hardship, such as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) consequences for material hardship experiences. Dr. Thomas’s current research projects include a multi-year, randomized controlled trial testing the effects of guaranteed income receipt on material hardship and other domains of wellbeing; a study of the structure and systemic causes of the relationships between food insecurity and mental health; and work examining the relative roles of material hardship and income poverty in shaping child and family wellbeing, including in relationship to CPS involvement. Throughout her research, Dr. Thomas prioritizes engaging and training student research collaborators, responding to community members’ needs for and interest in research engagement, and sharing research findings in accessible ways.

Dr. Thomas teaches courses in Social and Economic Justice and Child and Family Well-Being, including Foundations of Social Welfare Policy (SW 214A), Social Welfare Research Methods (SW 213A), and Poverty, the Poor, and Social Welfare (SW 290L). Her teaching emphasizes social and policy systems, attends to structural forces that create marginalization and opportunity, and supports students’ development of meaningful, relevant knowledge and skills.

Dr. Thomas’s work has been supported by the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, the Society for Social Work and Research, and the UCLA Council on Research. She was previously a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia School of Social Work, where she worked on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Livier Gutiérrez

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Prior to entering the doctoral program at the University of California, Los Angeles, Livier worked on applied research and direct-service work to make community violence prevention services more responsive to girls. She served as the director of programs at Alliance for Girls, the nation’s largest alliance of girl-serving organizations, as the director of violence prevention at Enlace Chicago, a community-based organization serving La Villita (a.k.a., Chicago’s Little Village community); and a researcher at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a national applied research non-profit and policy organization.  

Livier earned her master’s degree in social work with a concentration in violence prevention from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and bachelor’s degree in sociology and social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Livier’s undergraduate research explored the ideology, structure, and recruitment strategies of The Minutemen, a militant xenophobic organization (a.k.a., a gang). As a master’s student, Livier’s thesis was an applied research project that explored girls’ involvement and association with youth-led street organizations (a.k.a., gangs) and resulted in a violence-prevention program for girls. Through community work, Livier has seen how school, family, and other systems take key aspects of a girls’ identity—like race, immigration status, sexual orientation, and gender identity—to impose social and economic constraints on them. Despite the constraints placed on them, Livier has also seen how girls use their power to make systems safer for themselves and others. Livier is interested in leveraging mixed methods, with a focus on action research, and theory to highlight the experiences and stories of girls, especially their ability to change their ecology and improve safety for themselves and others. In doing so, Livier hopes to advance social work’s violence prevention theory, methods, and practice.  

Kate Watson

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Kate Watson is a doctoral student in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She researches childhood trauma and well-being from an ecological perspective and using qualitative and quantitative methods. Her interests include trauma-informed approaches in settings, including child welfare and schools.  

Kate earned a Master of Social Welfare (MSW) with a concentration in Social and Economic Justice from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from American University in Washington, D.C. A passionate advocate for children and youth, Kate has served on the boards of Child Advocates of Silicon Valley and the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, as chair of the LAJCC Foundation, and as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for foster youth.

ResearchGate Link here.

Chaoyue Wu

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Chaoyue Wu is a doctoral student in Social Welfare. She graduated with her LL.B. in social work from Beijing Institute of Technology and her M.A. in social policy from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include school violence, perpetration and victimization, mental and behavioral health, and quantitative research methods.

Before joining the PhD program at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, she worked as a research assistant on diverse projects in different Chinese societies (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), examining the risk factors for violence involvement and the negative impacts of victimization experience on mental and behavioral health among marginalized children and adolescents.

Chenglin Hong

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Chenglin Hong is a second-year Ph.D. student in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He earned his MSW/MPH dual-degree from the School of Social Work and Department of Global Health at the University of Washington, Seattle (UW).

Chenglin’s research focuses on health disparities among sexual and gender minorities (SGM). He is particularly interested in designing, testing, and implementing technology-based interventions (TBIs) to promote sexual and mental health in the SGM populations. His current work with Dr. Ian Holloway aims to develop Machine Learning models to understand sexual risk behaviors and substance abuse among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and apply them in HIV-related behavioral research. His long-term goal is to develop effective, evidence-based TBIs to reduce risks and promote pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.

Chenglin has been working with multidisciplinary research centers and teams from the Emory University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, and the University of Washington on various HIV prevention research projects, and his work has been published on AIDS and Behaviors, Journal of Medical Internet Research, etc.

Selected Publication:

Hong, C., Horvath, K. J., Stephenson, R., Nelson, K. M., Petroll, A. E., Walsh, J. L., & John, S. A. (2021). PrEP Use and Persistence Among Young Sexual Minority Men 17–24 Years Old During the COVID-19 Pandemic. AIDS and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03423-5

Hong, C., Puttkammer, N., Riabokon, S., Germanovich, M., Shost, A., Parrish, C., Shapoval, A., & Dumchev, K. (2021). Patient-Reported Treatment Satisfaction and Quality of Life Among People Living with HIV Following the Introduction of Dolutegravir-Based ART Regimens in Ukraine. AIDS and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03461-z

Ovalle, A., Goldstein, O., Kachuee, M., Wu, E. S. C., Hong, C., Holloway, I. W., & Sarrafzadeh, M. (2021). Leveraging Social Media Activity and Machine Learning for HIV and Substance Abuse Risk Assessment: Development and Validation Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(4), e22042. https://doi.org/10.2196/22042

Robles, G., Hong, C., Yu, M., & Starks, T. J. (2021). Intersecting Communities and PrEP Uptake among US-based Latinx Sexual Minority Men. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-01154-w

Hong, C., Abrams, L. S., & Holloway, I. W. (2022). Technology-Based Interventions to Promote the HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Care Continuum: Protocol for a Systematic Review. JMIR Research Protocols, 11(3), e33045. https://doi.org/10.2196/33045

Hong, C., Feinstein, B. A., Holloway, I. W., Yu, F., Huang, W., Sullivan, P. S., Siegler, A. J., & Mi, G. (2022). Differences in Sexual Behaviors, HIV Testing, and Willingness to Use PrEP between Gay and Bisexual Men Who Have Sex with Men in China. International Journal of Sexual Health, 0(0), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2022.2053922

Santos, G.M., Hong, C., Wilson, N., Nutor, J. J., Harris, O., Garner, A., Holloway, I., Ayala, G., & Howell, S. (2022). Persistent disparities in COVID-19-associated impacts on HIV prevention and care among a global sample of sexual and gender minority individuals. Global Public Health, 0(0), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2022.2063362

Wang, L., Hong, C., Simoni, J. M., He, N., Li, C., Chen, L., & Wong, F. (2022). Correlates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. Journal of Global Health Reports, 6, e2022020. https://doi.org/10.29392/001c.33816

Beltran, R. M., Holloway, I. W., Hong, C., Miyashita, A., Cordero, L., Wu, E., Burris, K., & Frew, P. M. (2022). Social Determinants of Disease: HIV and COVID-19 Experiences. Current HIV/AIDS Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-021-00595-6

 

Brian Keum

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Brian TaeHyuk Keum, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Broadly, Dr. Keum’s research focuses on reducing health and mental health disparities among marginalized and oppressed individuals and communities (specific areas listed below). As a social justice-oriented scientist-practitioner, Dr. Keum also draws from his clinical experience to conduct research that improves mental health practice and informs advocacy. He has been providing therapy to a diverse community- and college-based clientele for the past 8 years. He received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Maryland-College Park and completed his American Psychological Association-Accredited Doctoral Health Service Psychology Internship at the University of Maryland Counseling Center. Prior to his doctoral education, he earned his M.A. in Mental Health Counseling from Columbia University Teachers College and a B.S. in Anatomy and Cell Biology from McGill University.

Please visit his ResearchGate or Google Scholar for full list of publications.

Lab website: The Health, Identities, Inequality, and Technology (HI2T) Lab

  • Online racism

Using an interdisciplinary framework drawing from theories of racism, online communication, human-computer interactions, and violence, Dr. Keum’s primary research examines the biopsychosocial impact of online racism and racial violence in today’s digital society. He is particularly interested in exploring the mental health implications (e.g., loneliness, stress), risky behavioral outcomes (e.g., substance abuse, suicidal ideation), and negative social perceptual/worldview shifts linked to online racism among developmentally vulnerable and digitally-connected (e.g., Gen Z) youths and emerging adults of color. He ultimately aims to develop practical interdisciplinary coping interventions, digital tools, and prevention strategies for individuals, families, and communities, to mitigate the harmful costs of online racism, as well as promote a critical digital culture of anti-racism and advocacy. He is also working to expand his framework to examine other online discrimination experiences such as online sexism, and online heterosexism.

 

  • Intersectionality and Asian American mental health

Dr. Keum’s research also focuses on the mental health of Asian individuals in the United States using an intersectional lens. Specifically, he examines body image issues and gendered racism as risk factors for mental health issues and risky behaviors (e.g., suicidal ideation, risky alcohol use) among Asian men and women. He also examines the socialization process of Asian individuals (e.g., gendered racial socialization) in the United States to uncover ways to mitigate adversities and adjustment difficulties, and reinforce protective and flourishing experiences at the individual and institutional levels. He employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods to address these research aims.

 

  • Multicultural and social justice-oriented psychotherapy science

Additionally, Dr. Keum also conducts clinically-informed research on multicultural and social justice issues in clinician competence (e.g., therapist and agency effects on therapy outcomes for racial/ethnic minority and international individuals) and training (e.g., training program and peer norms related to social justice attitudes and advocacy). To elucidate factors contributing to disparities in therapy for minority clients, he focuses on understanding what leads to variability in therapist and agency effectiveness, as well as factors that promote the development of social justice attitude and advocacy action among trainees. In doing so, he employs dyadic (e.g., Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, Truth and Bias Model) and group level (e.g., Multi-level Modeling) analyses that better represent real world therapy and training dynamics compared to individual-level analyses.

 

  • Culturally valid and informed psychometrics

Last, Dr. Keum evaluates existing psychological measures/assessments for use with culturally-diverse populations and develops new measures that are culturally-informed and psychometrically rigorous. He focuses particularly on assessing discrimination and oppression experiences that require greater empirical attention. He has expertise in cutting-edge psychometric techniques (e.g., measurement invariance, bifactor analysis) to evaluate the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural utility of psychological measures.

Dr. Keum’s research has been funded and recognized by multiple divisions (General Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race; Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy; Advancement of Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Foundation, the Asian American Psychological Association, Society for Psychotherapy Research, Active Minds, and the highly competitive Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship from the Canadian government. Recently, Dr. Keum has been awarded a three-year grant ($~770,000) from the Tobacco Disease-Related Research Program to study links between online racism and high rates of smoking among Black young adults. The grant will also support Keum’s partnership with the California Youth Advocacy Network to conduct community- and campus-based anti-racism advocacy programs.

He is the recipient of the Rising Star Award given by the National Multicultural Conference and Summit which honors the efforts and significant contributions of early career psychologists in multicultural research, teaching, advocacy, policy, and/or clinical care; the 2022 Researcher of the Year Award given by the American Psychological Association’s Division 51 Society for Men and Masculinities; and the 2022 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship on Race and Ethnicity Award given by the Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity of the American Psychological Association’s Division 17 Society For Counseling Psychology. He has published widely, including in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Psychology of Men and Masculinity, Asian American Journal of Psychology, Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, Computers in Human Behavior, and Psychology of Violence. He currently serves on the editorial board for Psychology of Violence, The counseling Psychologist, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychology of Men & Masculinities, Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Frontiers in Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Review.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

*Denotes student co-authors

Keum, B.T. & *Wong, M.J., *Salim-Eissa, R. (in press). Gendered racial microaggressions, internalized racism, and suicidal ideation among Asian American women. International Journal of Social Psychiatry

 

Keum, B.T., & Li, X. (in press). Online Racism, Rumination, and Vigilance: Impact on Distress, Loneliness, and Alcohol Use.The Counseling Psychologist

 

Keum, B. T., Li, X., Cheng, H.-L., & *Sappington, R. T. (2022). Substance use risk among Asian American men: The role of gendered racism, internalization of western muscularity ideals, interpersonal and body shame, and drive for muscularity. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000368

 

Keum, B.T. & *Ahn, L.H. (2021). Impact of Online Racism on Psychological Distress and Alcohol Use: Test of Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Silence about Race as Moderators. Computers in Human Behaviors. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106773

 

Keum, B.T., & Choi, A.Y. (2021). Gendered Racism, Interpersonal Shame, Depressive Symptoms, and Alcohol Use among Asian American Men. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000505

 

*Ahn, L. H., Keum, B. T., *Meizys, G. M., *Choudry, A., *Gomes, M. A., & Wang, L. (2021). Second-generation Asian American women’s gendered racial socialization. Journal of Counseling Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000575

 

Keum, B.T., & *Hearns, M. (2021). Online Gaming and Racism: Impact on Psychological Distress Across

Black, Asian, and Latinx Emerging Adults. Games and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211039082

 

Keum, B.T., & Cano, M.A. (2021). Online Racism, Psychological Distress, and Alcohol Use among Racial

Minority Women and Men: A Multi-group Mediation Analysis. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 91(4), 524–530. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000553

 

Keum, B.T., Bartholomew, T.T., *Robbins, K.A., Perez-Rojas, A.E., Lockard, A.J., Kivlighan Jr., D.M., *Kang, E., *Joy, E.E., *Aguiniga, S.M. (in press). Therapist and Counseling Center Effects on International Students’ Counseling Outcome: A Mixed Methods Study. Journal of Counseling Psychology

 

Keum, B.T. *Kase, C.A., *Sharma, R.,* Yee, S.E., O’Connor, S., *Bansal, P., & *Yang, N.Y. (in press). Collective Program Social Justice Identity and Perceived Norms on Promoting Student Advocacy. The Counseling Psychologist

 

Cano, M. A., Schwartz, S. J., MacKinnon, D. P., Keum, B.T., Prado, G., Marsiglia, F. F., Salas-Wright, C. P., Cobb, C., Garcini, L. M., De La Rosa, M., Sánchez, M., Rahman, A., Acosta, L., Roncancio, A. M., & de Dios, M. A. (2020). Exposure to ethnic discrimination in social media and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Hispanic emerging adults: Examining the moderating role of gender. Journal of Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23050

 

Keum, B.T., & Wang, L. (2020). Supervision and Psychotherapy Process and Outcome: A Meta-analytic Review. Translational Issues in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000272

 

Keum, B.T., Morales, K., Kivlighan Jr., Hill, C.E., & Gelso, C.J. (2020). Do Therapists Improve in their Ability to Assess Clients’ Satisfaction? A Truth and Bias Model. Journal of Counseling Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000525

 

Keum, B.T., & Miller, M.J. (2020). Social Justice Interdependence among Students in Counseling Psychology Training Programs: Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model of Social Justice Attitudes, Training Program Norms, Advocacy Intentions, and Peer Relationship. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67(2), 141–155. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000390

 

Keum, B.T. & Miller, M.J. (2018). Measurement Invariance of the Perceived Online Racism Scale across Age and Gender. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 12(3), 3. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2018-3-3

Keum, B. T. (2018). Conceptual application of the group actor–partner interdependence model for person–group psychological research. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 4(4), 340–348. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000180 *Special issue: Quantitative Methods

 

Keum, B.T., Brady, J., Sharma, R., Lu, Y., Kim, Y., & Thai, C. (2018). Gendered Racial Microaggressions Scale for Asian American Women: Development and Initial Validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(5), 571-585.https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000305

 

Keum, B.T., Hill, C.E., Kivlighan Jr., D.M., & Lu, Y. (2018). Group- and Individual-Level Self-Stigma Reductions in Promoting Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes among College Students in Undergraduate Helping Skills Courses. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(5), Oct 2018, 661-668. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000283

Keum, B.T. & Miller, M.J. (2018). Racism on the Internet: Conceptualization and Recommendations for Research. Psychology of Violence, 8(6), 782 – 791. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000201 *Special issue: Racism, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Privilege, and Violence: Advancing Science to Inform Practice and Policy

Keum, B.T., Thai, C.J., Truong, N.N., Ahn, H.L., & Lu, Y. (2018). Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire Community Version Brief Across Race and Gender. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2018.1436578

Keum, B.T., Miller, M.J., Lee, M., & Chen, G.A. (2018). Color-blind Racial Attitudes Scale for Asian Americans: Testing the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Generational Status. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9(2), 149-157. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000100

Keum, B.T., Miller, M.J., & Inkelas, K.K. (2018). Testing the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the PHQ-9 Across Racially Diverse U.S. College Students. Psychological Assessment, 30(8), 1096-1106. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000550

Morales, K., Keum, B.T., Kivlighan Jr., D.M., Hill, C.E., & Gelso, C.J. (2018). Therapist Effects Due to Client Racial/Ethnic Status when Examining Linear Growth for Client-and Therapist-Rated Working Alliance and Real Relationship. Psychotherapy, 55(1), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000135

Keum, B.T. (2017). Qualitative Examination on the Influences of the Internet on Racism and its Online Manifestation.International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 7(3), 13-23. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJCBPL.2017070102

Wong, S., Keum, B.T., Caffarel, D., Srinivasan, R., Morshedian, N., Capodilupo, C., & Brewster, M.E. (2017). Exploring the conceptualization of body image in Asian American women: Negotiating cultural standards of beauty, cultural identity, and the implications for eating disorder risk. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 8(4), 296-307. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000234* Special issue: Qualitative Methods in Asian American Psychology

Keum, B.T., & Miller, M.J. (2017). Racism in Digital Era: Development and Initial Validation of the Perceived Online Racism Scale (PORS v1.0). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(3), 310-324. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000205

Keum, B.T. (2016). Asian American Men’s Internalization of Western Media Appearance Ideals, Appearance Comparison, and Acculturative Stress. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 7(4), 256-264. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000057

Keum, B.T., Wong, S., DeBlaere, C. & Brewster, M.E. (2015). Body Image and Asian American Men: Examination of the Drive for Muscularity Scale. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 16(3), 284 – 293. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038180

Judith L. Perrigo

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Professor Perrigo draws from her personal background as a Salvadoran immigrant and her 15 years of  applied clinical work with children and families to inform her scholarship. Specifically, Judy’s research focuses on the wellbeing of young children – birth to five years old – with emphasis on holistic and transdisciplinary prevention and early intervention (PEI) initiatives with underserved, vulnerable, and marginalized populations. Dr. Perrigo has worked on projects that involve international and domestic child welfare, developmental delays and disabilities, IDEA Part C early intervention services, neuro-cognitive development, early childhood education, and neighborhood wellness that intersect with underserved children, families, and communities of color. Dr. Perrigo’s work has been funded by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CSWE Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), Maternal and Child Health Bureau, as well as non-profit organizations like Whole Child International (WCI) and foundations like Tikum Olam Foundation. 

Dr. Perrigo is currently working on the Chicago Heights Early Childhood Center (CHECC) longitudinal and large-scale experimental study that is funded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Dr. Perrigo is exploring the role of parental involvement among low socioeconomic status (SES) students who close the low/high-SES achievement gap. Recently, Dr. Perrigo launched a research study to explore how CHECC families are coping with education-related parental involvement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In community, Dr. Perrigo serves as an endorsement panel reviewer for the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health at WestEd Center for Prevention & Early Intervention. Dr. Perrigo also provides reflective practice supervision at El Centro de Amistad. She serves as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, including Health Promotion Practice, Maternal and Child Health Journal, and Children and Youth Services Review Journal.

Professor Perrigo teaches both SW210B: Foundations of SW Practice II and SW231A: Advanced Social Welfare Practice.

Tranishia James

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Tranishia James is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her interests are in cultural issue, eliminating racial disproportionately and disparity in the child welfare system, trauma informed social work practice and assisting at-risk adolescents with attaining higher education. 

 

As a Field Education Consultant with the California Social Work Education (Cal-SWEC) program, Tranishia works with first and second year students training them to become professional public child welfare social workers and is involved in recruiting child welfare candidates. 

 

Prior to coming to UCLA, Tranishia worked with children and families in L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for 10 1/2 years. She was a supervisor in Emergency Response (child abuse investigations); as well as a Coach Developer, teaching skills development trainings for Supervisors and Children’s Social Workers. While at DCFS, Tranishia also worked as a Field Instructor training/supervising UCLA and USC social work interns.