Elizabeth Aparicio, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, was elected to the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) board of directors as its first designated early career member (at large). SSWR is the preeminent social work research organization in the United States and Aparicio is the first scholar to represent the university as part of the board. Aparicio will focus on supporting early career members of the social work research community. Her elected position runs from 2017–2020.
Aparicio has been on faculty since 2014 and is a passionate advocate for community voices and participation in social work research. She co-leads successful research-practice partnerships with several health centers and state organizations.
Aparicio is dedicated both to serving as a leader, especially in interprofessional settings, and to leadership development among social work students. She is the principal investigator of the school’s public child welfare training program, directs the Future Leaders Optimizing Well-being Program for master of social work students and chairs the child and family specialization.
Continually seeking to bridge community and university, Aparicio also serves on the board of directors of the Hawaiʻi Association for Infant Mental Health, where she supports infrastructure development and training, and consults on policy relevant to early childhood mental health and well-being.
Aparicio’s research
Aparicio’s research is broadly focused on examining health disparities for the purposes of informing and testing intervention programs for children, youth and families. She has a particular interest in informing and testing culturally-attuned, two-generation approaches in three interrelated areas to improve health equity: teenage pregnancy prevention and parenting support, early childhood intervention, and intergenerational child maltreatment prevention.
For more on Aparicio and her research, read the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work news release.
