Maria Ferrera, PhDMaria Ferrera, PhD, Department of Social Work, DePaul

Co-Director, Center for Community Health Equity | mferrera@depaul.edu

Maria Joy Ferrera is an Associate Professor within DePaul University’s Department of Social Work. She received her PhD and MA from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration (SSA) and her BS from Loyola University in Chicago. Having served for over 25 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the areas of child welfare and medical social work, Dr. Ferrera continues to do work in the Filipinx American and other immigrant communities. Her areas of practice and research involve decolonization methods, ethnic identity development; community-engaged, socially just practices and research with racial and ethnic minority youth; health and mental health disparities among racial and ethnic minority communities. She is the Co-Founding Co-Chair of the The Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health (CIMH), a collaborative, community based and research informed initiative that is a partnership between immigrants regardless of status, mental health practitioners, community organizers, researchers, and allies. She is a Steering Committee Member of The Midwest Human Rights Consortium (MHRC) a referral network of multi-institutional and interdisciplinary professionals who perform trauma-informed forensic evaluations for individuals seeking asylum in the U.S. MHRC operates under the Refugee Immigrant Child Health Initiative (RICHI)- The Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics. As a recent recipient of the HumanitiesX Collaborative Fellowship, Dr. Ferrera will work in partnership with MHRC to apply digital media and documentary filmmaking to promote human rights.

Raj C. Shah, MD, Co-Director, Center for Community Health EquityRaj C. Shah, MD

Co-Director, Center for Community Health Equity | raj_c_shah@rush.edu

I am the Co-Director of the Center for Community Health Equity. As a geriatrician at Rush University Medical Center and an Associate Professor at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center for over 15 years, my academic interest is the design and conduct of community-based clinical trials for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of common age-related conditions in diverse older adults. Read more