Current PhD Students

Christian Adeleke

Fall 2024

Christian Adeleke, LMSW

Christian's scholarly pursuits examine how the social work profession often perpetuates the very injustice and inequity it rhetorically opposes, primarily through its reliance on the pedagogy of unpaid internships. 

Chioma Chinwokwu-Njemanze

Fall 2024

Chioma Chinwokwu-Njemanze, MSW

Chioma Chinwokwu-Njemanze is currently a PhD student in the School of Social Work, UTA. Chioma’s research interest is in homelessness, gender issues, social policy, and cultural studies.

Christie Eckler

Fall 2024

Christie Eckler, LMSW, CFRE

Christie earned her BSW ('07) and MSW ('09) from UT Arlington and is dedicated to strengthening support systems for professionals in helping fields, ensuring that leaders driven to serve others in emotionally demanding roles have the sustainable resources and tools they need to thrive as they face some of humanity's most challenging issues.

Thomas Mwibanda

Fall 2024

Thomas Mwibanda, LCSW

Tom is a military clinical social worker and PhD Student at UTA. His research interest is in virtual reality, looking at how VR intersects with mental health treatment modalities to improve treatment outcomes.

Tasha Pelletier

Fall 2024

Tasha Pelletier, MSW

Tasha Pelletier is a PhD student in Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). She holds a Master of Social Work from UTA, with a concentration in Mental Health and Substance Use, and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Regina.

Ana Ponciano

Fall 2024

Ana Ponciano, LMSW

Ana Ponciano, LMSW, earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work from The University of Texas at Arlington. She is committed to developing programs that support first-generation students and exploring how mental health impacts family dynamics within Indigenous communities.

Rachel Stankus

Fall 2024

Rachel Stankus, LCSW

Rachel earned her MSW from the University of Texas at Arlington focusing on substance abuse and mental health. She hopes to continue her research in mental health, emergency room utilization and cognitive responses to crises and traumatic situations.

Benjamin Sesay

Fall 2024

Benjamin Sesay, MSW

Benjamin Sesay, MSW, MBA, MSc., BSc. (Hons), is a PhD student in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) with diverse backgrounds.

Chenyu Zhao

Fall 2024

Chenyu Zhao

Chenyu earned her BSW from the University of Texas at Austin and her MSW from Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests focus on mindfulness interventions within schools and correctional facilities.

Srabastee De Bhaumik

Fall 2023

Srabastee De Bhaumik, MSW

I earned my Master of Social Work specializing in Women Centered Practice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and my research interests include accessibility to reproductive healthcare and implementation of healthcare policies in South Asia.

Toni Gallegos

Fall 2023

Toni Gallegos, MSW

Is a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Arlington, who is focused on sex education for Latinas.

Angela Hall

Fall 2023

Angela Hall, MSW, MSEd

Angela’s research interests focus on Black education, adverse childhood experiences, mental health, education inequalities, curriculum development and promoting Black excellence.

Swasati Handique

Fall 2023

Swasati Handique, MSW

Swasati’s (she/her) research interests include older adults in palliative/end-of-life/hospice care or anyone undergoing life-limiting or chronic illnesses.

Soeun Jang

Fall 2023

Soeun Jang, BSW

Interested in Social determinants of health and Gerontology, the associations between neighborhood social environment and older adults with dementia.

Christina Mecca-McClory

Fall 2023

Christina Mecca-McClory, LMSW

Christina’s research interests merge with the field of epigenetics researching the connection between the gut micro-biome, mental health, and disease during pregnancy to determine the effectiveness of nutritional and environmental therapies.

Damone Wisdom

Fall 2023

Damone Wisdom, BSW, MSW

I received my BSW and MSW at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Leslie Cantu

Fall 2022

Leslie Cantu

Earned her MSW from Texas A & M with a focus on Veterans/Military Health and Child Foster Child Maltreatment.

Esmeralda Rubalcava Hernandez

Fall 2022

Esmeralda Rubalcava Hernandez, LMSW

Esmeralda J. Rubalcava Hernandez, LMSW (she/her/ella) is a Xicana bilingual/bicultural community organizer, social worker, and PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Arlington who focuses on anti-colonial racial studies at the intersection of policing and immigration systems and anti-oppressive social work pedagogy.

Katherine Kitchens

Fall 2022

Katherine Kitchens, MSW

Katherine Kitchens, a Dallas-based social worker with a B.A. in political philosophy and an MSW with a concentration in community and administrative practice, specializes in research related to social determinants of refugee health, drawing from her experience working with resettled refugees at a community clinic in Dallas.

Minjaal Raval

Fall 2022

Minjaal Raval

Shamila Sivakumaran

Fall 2022

Shamila Sivakumaran

Aundraea Brown

Fall 2021

Aundraea Brown

She is interested in understanding the inequities of mental health and wellness access for people of color through the lens of racial equity and justice.

Priyanjali Chakraborty

Fall 2021

Priyanjali Chakraborty

Her doctoral research uses a mixed-methods approach and is focused on unmet family-planning needs of low-income and immigrant populations in the United States, examining the role of health literacy interventions in healthcare access.

Jessica Cassidy

Fall 2021

Jessica Cassidy

A member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society and president of the Gerontology Organization in the School of Social Work.

Lacey Jenkins

Fall 2021

Lacey Jenkins, MSW

Lacey's research centers on strengthening child well-being and preventing child maltreatment, with a particular emphasis on community-based interventions.

Faheem Ohri

Fall 2021

Faheem Ohri

Earned his MSW from Brigham Young University and conducts research on mental health and substance misuse disorders.

LaTisha Thomas

Fall 2021

Latisha Thomas

Has over 13 years of experience working in clinical settings and is owner and leading clinician of Tomorrow and Beyond, PLLC.

Megan Westmore

Fall 2021

Megan Westmore

Megan’s research focus is access to intimate partner and sexual violence prevention and healing services for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD), and how such access impacts victimization.

Erica Robinson

Fall 2020

Erica Robinson

Her research examines the impact of historical and current U.S. workforce policies on disparities in economic outcomes (retirement, savings, and generational wealth transfers) between Americans comparing gender, race, income and martial and parenting statuses.

Gabrielle Scott

Fall 2020

Gabrielle Scott

Her research interests include treatment retention issues in psychiatric settings, social determinants of health and mental health, community-engaged research, cultural disparities and their influence on substance abuse and addiction, and cross-cultural factors among ethnic minority groups, as well as international social work.

Ahmed Alanazi

Fall 2019

Ahmed Alanazi

Ahmed's research interests oriented around suicide prevention, drug addiction, trauma-informed care, mental illness, and empowerment for marginalized population.

Steven Moore

Fall 2019

Steven Moore

"Steven's research interests include recidivism in prisons, dual diagnoses with PTSD and substance abuse, hospital readmission prevention, domestic violence prevention, military family reunification, suicide prevention, and aging disability services."