Thursday, September 20, 2018
Dr. Jorge Delva, Dean of the School of Social Work, has been named Interim Director of the BU Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH), effective Wednesday, September 19, 2018. He assumes this additional role as outgoing CISWH Director Dr. Sally Bachman departs BU to become Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. We congratulate Dr. Sally Bachman and wish her well as she moves on to this new role at the University of Pennsylvania.
Appointed Dean and Professor of Social Work in January 2018, Dr. Delva is a national leader in the field. His multi- and trans-disciplinary research seeks to reduce health disparities and improve the lives of low-income and racial and ethnic minority populations. His scholarship has made substantial contributions to advancing our understanding of psychosocial-cultural mechanisms associated with substance-using behaviors among Hispanic/Latino, African American, and American Indian populations, as well as with populations in Latin America. He is an elected Fellow of the Society for Social Work Research and a past Editor-in-Chief of Social Work, the flagship publication of the National Association of Social Work.
In the CISWH, Dr. Delva takes over one of the nation’s premier interdisciplinary centers for social work and health scholarship and practice. Since opening in 2017, the CISWH has worked to expand the impact of social work and social workers in healthcare delivery, public health, and global health in order to reduce costs, improve outcomes, improve patient experience, promote population health, and stimulate health equity nationally and globally. Overseen by the School of Social Work and working in partnership with public health, medicine, health economics, technology, and other relevant disciplines, the Center promotes social work leadership in health through inter-professional and trans-disciplinary collaboration. It accomplishes its mission through outcomes-oriented research, community partnerships, policy development, education, and training activities and through robust collaborations among BU faculty, particularly those in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health.