Faculty

The School's doctoral faculty has compiled an outstanding record of scholarship, ranking 4th in the nation in a recent Academic Analytics survey. Faculty members have obtained over $35 million in research funding during the past decade. The program's notable strengths are in substance abuse, immigrant and minority social problems and health disparities, child welfare, HIV/AIDS, mental health, aging, adolescent risk-taking, evidence-based group work, and critical mental health.
 
Doctoral program faculty are members of FIU's Graduate Faculty and actively engaged in research and scholarship. These faculty members review applications for the doctoral program, make joint decisions to admit doctoral students, teach doctoral-level courses and seminars, supervise students' major papers, and implement the policies and procedures of the program. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact faculty members directly to discuss their interests and possibilities of collaboration. The following constitutes a brief listing of the research interests of the doctoral faculty of the School of Social Work:

*Richard Beaulaurier, PhD (University of Southern California), Associate Professor. Research interests: aging, disabilities, qualitative research. beau@fiu.edu; 305-348-5876 

Shanna Burke, PhD (Boston), Assistant Professor. Research interests: gerontology, risk/protective factors in disease development, health disparities. sburke@fiu.edu; 305-348-7462 

*Mario De La Rosa, PhD (Ohio State University), Professor, Director of CRUSADA. Research interests: substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, health disparities. delarosa@fiu.edu; 305-348-5794

Nicole Fava, PhD (University at Buffalo), Assistant Professor. Research interests: Healthy adolescent and young adolescent development, sexual health, trauma, and childhood maltreatment. Nfava@fiu.edu; 305-348-4568

Andres Gil, PhD (University of Miami), Professor, Vice President of Research. Research interests: Epidemiology, adolescent substance abuse, empirical evaluation of interventions. gila@fiu.edu; 305-348-0556

*Hui Huang, PhD (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Assistant Professor. Research interests: Child welfare, adolescent conduct problems, juvenile offenders, substance abuse. hui.huang2@fiu.edu; 305-348-4599

Elisa Kawam, PhD (Arizona State), Assistant Professor. Research interests: Trauma and epigenetics, violence prevention and policy, child welfare/maltreatment. ekawam@fiu.edu; 305-348-4918

*Mark J. Macgowan, PhD (Barry University), LCSW, Professor, Coordinator of the PhD Program. Research interests: culturally-appropriate evidence based group work practice, interventions in alcohol and other drug abuse. Macgowan@fiu.edu; 305-348-5883 

Marcos Martinez, PhD (Arizona State), Assistant Professor. Research interests: Minority risk behavior, culturally sensitive prevention, healthy family development. Marcmart@fiu.edu; 305-348-5885

*Miriam Potocky, PhD (University of Kansas), Professor. Research interests: social work with immigrants & refugees. potockym@fiu.edu   305-348-6324 

*Nicole Ruggiano, PhD (University of Delaware), Assistant Professor. Research interests: Home and community-based services for older adults and human service policy advocacy. Nicole.Ruggiano@fiu.edu 305-348-1058

*Paul H. Stuart, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin), Professor. Research interests: history of social work & social welfare.  paul.stuart@fiu.edu  305-348-2653 

*Barbara Thomlison, PhD (University of Toronto), Professor. Research interests: children's mental health, child welfare. thomliso@fiu.edu  305-438-6345

Ray J. Thomlison, PhD (University of Toronto), Professor. Research interests: Cognitive behavior therapy, family & marital therapy, child welfare training. thomlisr@fiu.edu  305-348-4714

*Eric F. Wagner, PhD (University of Pittsburgh), Professor, Director of Community-Based Intervention Research Group (C-BIRG). Research interests: adolescent substance abuse, treatment effectiveness with Hispanics. wagnere@fiu.edu  305-348-5612

*Stephen E. Wong, PhD (Western Michigan University), Associate Professor. Research interests: applied behavior analysis, mental health services. wongse@fiu.edu  305-348-5224
 

*Faculty with Dissertation Advisor Status and who can supervise dissertations.​​