University at Buffalo (UB)
DSW Student Profiles
Our first cohort of DSW graduates, Class of 2024!
Meet our DSW students.
Kelly Beeseck
Education
- MSW, Salisbury University
- BA, Salisbury University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Mental health
- Trauma
Maureen Brookes
Education
- MSW, Temple University
- BA, Wesleyan University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Social determinants of health and health disparities
- Patient advocacy
- Institutional/systems change
Marie Cannon
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BA, Canisius College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma-informed organizations
- Women of color experiencing homelessness
- Leadership development
Dexter Daniel
Education
- MSW, Stony Brook University
- BA, Stony Brook University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Case management
- Program management
- Education
- Youth
- Families
- Counseling
Francine Fishman
Education
- MSW, Stony Brook University
- MBA, Adelphi University
- BS, St. John's University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Rare disease advocate
- Family engagement and support
Jacqueline Hall
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BS, Buffalo State College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Women in poverty
- Intergenerational poverty
- Structural systemic racism
- Social policy
Jamali Moses
Education
- MSW, New York University
- BA, St. Francis College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma-informed care and practices in schools
- Restorative justice/transformative justice practices
- Holistic therapeutic treatment for historically marginalized populations
Aimee Neri
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BA, SUNY Fredonia
Practice/Interest Areas
- Child welfare
- Trauma-informed care
- ICWA
- Equal justice
- Organizational wellness
- Anti-racism
- Anti-oppression
- Decolonization
Dominque Norman
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BA, SUNY Fredonia
Practice/Interest Areas
- TGNC youth
- LGBTQ+ youth
- Homelessness
- Inpatient treatment
Amelia Ortega
Education
- MSW, Columbia University
- BA, Hampshire College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma-informed approaches for racial justice organizing
- Somatic interventions in online education and training
- Accessible mental health care with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ adults
- Anti-racist pedagogies
- EMDR and racial trauma healing
Stacy Peterson
Education
- MSW, Columbia University
- BA, University of New Hampshire
Practice/Interest Areas
- Survivor advocacy
- Trauma-informed practices
- Effective interventions in higher education
Teresa Theophano
Education
- MSW, Hunter College
- BA, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
Practice/Interest Areas
- The intersections of aging, mental health and LGBTQ+ identity
- Stigma and disclosure among LGBTQ+ clinicians with lived experiences of mental health conditions
Heidi Billittier
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BA, University at Buffalo
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma-informed in practice and within organizations
- Reduction of stigma around aging and mental health
- Psychosocial support for informal caregivers
Heather Burton
Education
- MSW, Rutgers University
- BSW, Marist College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma treatment
- Chronic pain in veterans
- Trauma-informed care
Jasmine Cohen
Education
- MSW, University of Southern California
- BSW, Winthrop University
Practice/Interest Areas
- School social work
- Trauma-informed care
- Youth
- Homelessness
Catlin M. Denis
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BSW, SUNY Plattsburgh
- AA, Clinton Community College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Insomnia
- Substance use disorders
- Adjunctive therapies (yoga, clinical hypnosis, GI)
Venus C. Flowers
Education
- MSW, Fayetteville State University
- BA, Fayetteville State University
- AA, Jefferson Community College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Military social work
- Social and economic justice
- Mental health
Patricia A. Huber-Villano
Education
- MSW, University at Albany
- BA, Canisius College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Mental health and addiction
- Trauma-informed care
- Technology in social work practice
Kathryn R. Jacob
Education
- MSW, Fordham University
- BSW, Creighton University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Gender-based violence
- Intimate partner violence
- Indigenous issues/land back/colonization, MMIW
Fran Kuehn
Education
- MSW, Boston University
- MEd, Boston University
- BA, SUNY Geneseo
Practice/Interest Areas
- School mental health
- OCD and trauma
- Training school mental health staff in evidence-based practices
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
Denise Link
Education
- MSW, Hawaii Pacific University
- BSW, University of Missouri-Columbia
Practice/Interest Areas
- Veteran trauma caused by combat or sexual violence while in military
- LGBTQ+ community
- Asian/Pacific Islander community
Jeanette Lukas
Education
- MSW, Fordham University
- BSW, Stony Brook University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Youth and adult homelessness
- Program and policy development
- Child welfare and youth criminal justice residential programs
Meagan Mitchell
Education
- MSW, University of Michigan
- MEd, Southeastern Oklahoma State
- BA, University of Michigan
Practice/Interest Areas
- School social work
- Licensure exam prep
- Invisible disabilities
- Diversity, equity and inclusions in schools
- Female entrepreneurship
Dina A. Pilgrim
Education
- MSW, New York University
- BA, New York University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Child welfare
- Intellectual and developmental disabilities
- Intimate partner domestic violence
- Social work and field education
Sherry Schwartz
Education
- MSW, Fordham University
- BA, Rutgers University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Addiction
- Trauma
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
Adriana Silva
Education
- MSW, Fordham University
- BSW, Fordham University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Diversity, equity and inclusion
- Forensic social work
- Higher education
Leah Topek-Walker
Education
- MSW, Stony Brook University
- BA, The New School for Social Research
Practice/Interest Areas
- Library social work
Christian Vesterfelt
Education
- MSW, University of South Carolina
- BS, Bringham Young University
Practice/Interest Areas
- College mental health
- Institutional ethics
- Policy analysis and development
- Restorative conversation(s)
- Trauma-informed grievance resolutions
- Student advocacy
Sade Ali
Education
- MSW, CUNY York College
- BSW, CUNY York College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma-informed care
- Marginalized population
- Healthcare and health disparities
Atindar (Anu) Arnold
Education
- MSW, Adelphi University
- MA, Queens College
- BA, Queens College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma-Informed care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental illness
- Access to coordinated and integrated care for seniors and those with disabilities
Danielle Bernas
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BA, Psychology, University at Buffalo
- BA, Anthropology, University at Buffalo
Practice/Interest Areas
- Refugees and immigrants
- Asylum based immigration
- Torture and trauma
Brandon DuFrane
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- BA, University at Buffalo
Practice/Interest Areas
- Usage of games in adult therapy
- Men's mental health
- Emotional intelligence
Melissa Elliott-Brogan
Education
- MSW, Stony Brook University
- BSW, Stony Brook University
- AAS, Suffolk County Community College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Psycholinguistics in direct clinical practice and Supervision
- Generational trauma and survivorship
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
- Trauma informed pedagogy
- Technology in social work
- LGBTQIA+ community
Melissa Enns
Education
- MSW, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- MA, Johns Hopkins University
- BA, University of Pennsylvania
Practice/Interest Areas
- School social work
- Families and children
- Trauma-informed care
Ericka Garcia
Education
- MSW, Florida State University
- BSW, Florida State University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Child welfare
- Trauma-informed health care systems
- Grief and loss
Justin Giambruno
Education
- MSW, University at Albany
- BA, Binghamton University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Diversity, equity and inclusion
- Positive psychology
- Social determinants of health and health disparities
- Substance use
- Trauma and resilience
David Kurtz
Education
- MSW, Indiana University
- BSW, Huntington University
Practice/Interest Areas
- International social work
- Anti-human trafficking
- Immigrants and refugees
Barbara Maronski
Education
- MSW, Rutgers University
- BA, Rowan University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Trauma and disaster response
- Violence prevention
- Intervention
- Recovery
- Trauma-Informed
- Hope-Center organizations
Roxanne Munroe
Education
- MSW, Hunter College
- MA, Binghamton University
- BA, Binghamton University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Maternal infant and early childhood
- Health and home visiting
Miranda Rohe
Education
- MSW, University of Southern California
- BS, University of Maryland Global Campus
Practice/Interest Areas
- Generational trauma
- Maternal childhood trauma and parenting
- Infant and maternal mental health
Eric Ruiz
Education
- MSSW, Columbia University
- BA, SUNY Oswego
Practice/Interest Areas
- Mental health
- Substance use
Parisa Saghati
Education
- MSW, Stony Brook University
- BA, Stony Brook University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Higher education
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Mental health in College
Joan Strong
Education
- MSW, Stony Brook University
- BSW, Stony Brook University
Practice/Interest Areas
- Mental health and substance use disorders
- Administration and management
- Higher education
Madison Thie
Education
- MSW, University at Buffalo
- MBA, Southern New Hampshire University
- BA, University at Buffalo
Practice/Interest Areas
- Child and adolescent mental health
- Complex trauma
- Dissociative disorders
- Trauma informed care
Bradley Wallsteadt
Education
- MSW, Grand Valley State University
- BA, Grand Valley State University
Practice/Interest Areas
- LGBTQIA+ individuals
- School-based therapy
- Trauma-informed care
- VR interventions
Tammie Williams-Pittman
Education
- MSW, Hunter College
- BS, SUNY Empire State College
Practice/Interest Areas
- Community organization, planning, and development
- Implementation science
- Policy advocate
- Trauma and human rights
- Voting rights and redistricting