The Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research is proud to welcome two new members to our outstanding faculty, Dr. David S. Byers and Dr. Carolina Hausmann-Stabile!
David S. Byers completed his BA at Sarah Lawrence College in 2002, his MSW at NYU in 2006, and his PhD at Smith College School for Social Work in 2016. As a licensed Clinical Social Worker, David’s practice focuses on adolescents and young adults. As a researcher and instructor, his areas of exploration include the ethics of prosocial accountability, empathy, and social justice within and across social identities, while also contributing to research about community-based clinical needs assessment in the Palestinian West Bank. Currently, David is studying the role of peer relations to promote resiliency in response to bullying, cyberbullying, and other forms of peer aggression and social oppression. David is also a Co-Principle Investigator for a national oral history study about the development of LGBTQ+ affirmative practice models. David has published a number of articles in academic journals, has written essays for popular audiences in Time and Slate about LGBTQ+ issues, and in 2016 was appointed to the Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (CSOGIE) -- a national committee of social work educators and academics advising the Council on Social Work Education. We are delighted that David, and his husband, Stephen, will be joining the GSSWSR community!
Carolina Hausmann-Stabile received her Ph.D. in Social Work in 2013 from Washington University in St. Louis. After that, she completed an NIMH Post-doctoral Fellow at the Institute for Health at Rutgers University in Health Care Policy and Aging Research. Dr. Hausmann-Stabile has more than a decade of experience studying Latinos health and mental health disparities in the U.S. and Latin America, with a focus on girls' suicidal behaviors. She is an expert in qualitative research methods applied to studying suicidal girls receiving services in health and mental health settings in the U.S. In the U.S., Latina adolescents attempt suicide more often than their white or black counterparts regardless of gender. The rates of suicide attempts among adolescent girls across many Latin American countries are also elevated. She has contributed to research and conceptual development to the study of Latina girls who attempt suicide: universal and group-specific issues that explain the suicidal behaviors of Latina teens; understanding of the family dynamics of suicidal girls; acculturation and development to the study of Latina girls who attempt suicide; and issues of culturally competent service-delivery for Latina girls. The next steps in her research agenda are: (a) to translate the lessons learned in her work with Latina girls who attempt suicide in the U.S. and Latin America into life-saving prevention and treatment strategies for these vulnerable girls; (b) to advance the science of transnational prevention and treatment dissemination by understanding the processes involved in the cultural adaptation and implementation of evidence-based practices for suicidal children across Latin America; (c) to generate epidemiological awareness and public health strategies addressing suicidal behaviors among children in Latin America.