Mercedes Bern-Klug is an Associate Professor specializing in gerontology, with a focus on long-term services and supports for older persons and persons with disabilities.

Amber is interested in contributing to research in the areas of sexuality, health disparities, and mental health of people with disabilities. She is currently working on a project with Dr. Mercedes Bern-Klug evaluating the impact of quality of services for people in end-of-life care in nursing homes with family support. 

Kara Carter is completing her dissertation, studying the lived experiences of COVID-19 hospitalization for older adults in Iowa.

Dana Cheek's research interests involve examining the integration of the primary care clinics with behavioral health consultants and/or social workers. Her research will look at the role of the social worker to help improve patient wellness and reach health outcomes. It will focus on social services necessary for treating the whole person, and she hopes to identify specific tasks that the behavioral health consultant/social worker performs that are consistently noted to be useful in the setting by other healthcare providers and patients, such as referrals for entitlement programs. 

Alyssa Clayden is interested in research that identifies the barriers that refugees face when pursuing mental health supports. This includes issues of education, fear, and prejudice in mental health practitioners and systems, as well as the complexity of intergenerational struggles as refugee youth grow up in the U.S. without access to cultural and social brokering and guidance at home.

Dr. Conrad's research examines the social determinants that reduce child maltreatment and promote family wellbeing. Past projects include linking material hardship (food/housing insecurity) to child abuse, and validating the Spanish version of the Protective Factors Survey. 

Professor Coohey has over 25 years of experience directing and evaluating community-based programs, validating assessment tools, and researching the relationship between childhood adversity and academic and behavioral health outcomes among children and adults. Her most recent research has focused on suicide prevention.

Stephen Cummings is a clinical associate professor with over 20 years of practice in social service fields, including 10 years as a licensed social worker in a Trauma I level hospital setting. His areas of interest include ethical use of technology in social work practice, clinical supervision, and preparing students for the social work licensure exam.