Margaret Lombe, PhD

Bio

An expert in social work and global health equity, Dr. Lombe is part of the macro practice department at BUSSW and, in addition to her professorship, is faculty director for the BRIDGE Program, BUSSW’s innovative pre-MSW program for immigrants and refugees designed to promote access and equity in graduate social work education. Her research focuses on advancing the wellbeing of marginalized communities, seeking to impact upstream interventions or system-level changes by paying close attention to social and economic justice, empowerment, and participatory democracy.

Dr. Lombe’s work also addresses a number of important social issues domestically and globally including research on the stigmatization of people suffering from HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and housing adversity in Boston and in African countries. Her contributions to the social welfare field include contesting traditional social welfare paradigms which employ deficit-based interventions. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Lombe has been appointed by the United Nations to serve as an advisor and member of Expert Group meetings and is a mayoral appointee to the Ryan White Planning Council for the Boston Public Health Commission.