Doctoral Student Profiles
Elise Collet
Research Interests: Comparing the use of spirituality and alternative coping mechanisms among diverse socio-economic stratums of the chronically ill and aging populations and their caregivers.
Bio: Elise received a bachelor's degree in History from UW Madison in 1998. She worked at a youth treatment center for 3 years, and in 2004 received a master's in social work with an emphasis on physical/mental health from UW Milwaukee. She has served as a social worker for the at-risk, mentally ill, medically frail, and geriatric populations for the past 7 years.
Email:
Andrea Gromoske
Research Interests: Etiology and consequences of child maltreatment and harsh parenting practices; discipline/parenting strategies of adult and teen parents; exploration of ways to bridge the gap between research and social work practice; implementation and translation of evidence-based practices and programs
Bio: Andrea received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. She spent the next year and a half working with adults with developmental disabilities, and then attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She earned her Master’s in Social Work in 2008 with an emphasis on children and families, as well as school social work.
Email: gromoske@uwm.edu
Jennifer Hernandez-Meier
Research Interests: Prevention interventions, policies, and environmental efforts that address alcohol and other substance use on behalf of young adults and college students.
Bio: Jennifer received her BS in Psychology and a certificate in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her Master's in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Email: hernan23@uwm.edu
Colleen Janczewski
Research interests: Organizational context and its effect on service delivery in child welfare agencies; measuring organizational outcomes and system change; family and community engagement in promoting agency change; racial disproportionality and decision-making within agencies.
Bio: Colleen has an MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University and BS in Sociology from Virginia Tech. She has worked in the field of child welfare program evaluation and technical assistance for ten years. She has managed system improvement initiatives for a private foundation, served on the evaluation team of several national, federally-funded demonstration initiatives, and helped design data collection criteria for federal child welfare regulations.
Email: janczew2@uwm.edu
Patricia Lee King (dissertator)
Dissertation: Understanding and Effectively Screening for Perinatal Depression across Diverse Women with Low Socioeconomic Status
Research interests: racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes; maternal and child health and well-being; perinatal depression; measurement; health policy for at-risk populations
Bio: Patricia (Patti) received a BA in Mathematics from Northwestern University and a MA in Social Service Administration with a Certificate in Health Administration and Policy from the University of Chicago. Patti has 10 years combined professional and research experience in social work and public health policy and practice, in the areas of maternal and child health, mental health, Medicare and Medicaid, public housing and homelessness, and education.
Email: pleeking@uwm.edu
Laura Voith
Research interests: Development of anti-violence and healthy relationship programs; Etiology and risk/resilience factors of child sexual assault/abuse; public health policy development; community based collaboration for practical implementation of evidence based interventions; racial, ethnic, and gender disparities of service delivery for Intimate Partner Violence.
Bio: Laura received a BA in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2008. Since then, she has been working as a research assistant at UWM - recruiting and interviewing study participants, coding data, and establishing relationships with the community. Beginning in 2011, as part of her Joint MSW/PhD program, she has worked with the City of Milwaukee Health Department, Office of Violence Prevention to develop better system response to sexual assault in Milwaukee through the use of community based advocates.
Email: lavoith@uwm.edu