Research News and Stories

Partnering for Progress in UMSSW’s BHWell Center

Innovation in behavioral health is thriving—thanks in part to the generosity of alumni like Janet Hosford-Lamb, MSW ’00. As President and CEO of Focused Solutions LLC, Janet’s values-driven philanthropy is helping UMSSW’s Center for Behavioral Health and Well-Being Research (BHWell) expand its impact, from advancing evidence-based interventions to training future clinicians. Hear from students, faculty, and alumni how philanthropy is helping research turn into real-world solutions and elevating social work in Maryland and beyond.

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How Dr. Jay Unick and IRIS Want to Change the System

What if research didn’t just study addiction recovery, but helped shape it?

That’s the driving force behind the work of Jay Unick, PhD, MSW, professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Through Implementation Research to Improve Services (IRIS), Unick is helping bring stronger, evidence-based support to people with opioid use disorder (OUD). Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, IRIS builds recovery research infrastructure by fostering community-academic partnerships designed to develop and scale effective recovery practices.

Dr. Lisa Berlin on Infants’ Earliest Relationships and Child Health Outcomes

What if one of the most powerful tools for a baby’s lifelong health wasn’t a treatment or a test, but a caregiver’s touch?

That’s the focus of the work Lisa Berlin, PhD, MS, is doing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The Alison L. Richman Professor of Children and Families at the University of Maryland School of Social Work and expert in early child-caregiver attachment, Berlin is studying how a brief, home-based parenting program can make a measurable difference in children’s health and development. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health.