Dr. Sara Bachman to Serve as Interim Director of SSW Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health

“I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Sara Bachman has agreed to serve as Interim Director of SSW’s new Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health,” Dean Gail Steketee said.

Dr. Sara Bachman brings a wealth of experience in the fields of social work and health policy to this role, including twenty years of experience with health policy research and program evaluation, focusing particularly on state and national health care coverage models and financing of health care for children with special health care needs and adults with complex health conditions including HIV/AIDS, disability and substance use. Dr. Bachman holds a joint appoint at the School of Public Health and the School of Social Work.

Madi Wachman (‘14, SPH‘15) is currently serving as the Project Manager for the Center.

The new Center will include seven learning communities that will engage faculty from a variety of disciplines, national leaders, and practitioners in a critical analysis of key areas of social work and health. In additional, the trans-disciplinary teams will produce scholarly research around each key area. The seven areas of focus are: health equity, community health, advancing social work education in health, global health, policy initiatives, health care reforms, and behavioral health.

The Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health aims to expand the impact of social work in health, public health, and global health in order to reduce health costs, improve outcomes and the patient experience, and promote population health and health equity nationally and global. The Center was endowed at $12.5 million in 2014. It is set to open on the Medical Campus this year.