Clinical DSW Program  

Faculty

Leslie Alexander, PhD
Dr. Leslie Alexander, a graduate of Wellesley College, holds MSS and PhD degrees from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, where she is currently a member of the standing faculty. Dr. Alexander has performed empirical research on the therapeutic alliance with adults with severe mental illness and their case managers, caregivers and case workers in in-home services in child welfare, and children with chronic physical disorders, their parent/guardian, and health care professionals. Over the past ten years, she has received research funding from the National Institutes of Mental Health, the William Penn Foundation, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, the State of Pennsylvania, and most recently, from the Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services. She currently serves on the Board of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society and the Editorial Board of Child and Adolescent Social Work, and is a frequent reviewer for other scholarly journals.

Jeffrey Applegate, PhD
Dr. Jeffrey Applegate received his undergraduate and MSW degrees from Indiana University and a PhD from Boston College. He has extensive clinical social work practice with individuals, couples and families. Trained in psychiatric social work at the Menninger Foundation, Dr. Applegate has a primary interest in human development. Until his retirement in 2007, he was a member of the standing faculty of the Bryn Mawr College School of Social Work & Social Research, where he taught course in clinical practice, human behavior and issues in cultural diversity.He is co-author, with Jennifer Bonivitz, of the book The Facilitating Partnership: A Winnicottian Approach for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals, and has recently published articles in The Clinical Social Work Journal, Psychoanalytic Social Work, and The Smith College Studies in Social Work. A member of the Social Work Division of the National Academies of Practice, Applegate is a recent recipient of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Joan Berzoff, MSW, EdD
Dr. Berzoff is a Professor on the faculty of the Smith College School for Social Work, where she also directs the End of Life Care program.  She has co-edited four books: Inside Out and Outside In: Psychodynamic Theories in Multicultural Contexts, Dissociative Identity Disorders: the Controversy in the Diagnosis and Treatment; Living with Dying: A Handbook for End of Life Care Practitioners; and has a forthcoming textbook on psychodynamically oriented practice with vulnerable, at risk and oppressed populations. Her interests include: women's development, intersubjectivity, curriculum development, women's friendships, death, dying and bereavement, psychodynamic theory and practice, program evaluation of telephonic teaching, end of life care curriculum, psychodynamic theory and disenfranchised populations. 

Dr. Berzoff was the recipient of one of the first Social Work Leader Awards from the Project on Death in America funded by the Soros foundation and was a recipient of the Outstanding Scholar Award from the National Academies of Practice. Currently she is the only social worker serving on the Compassionate Care Advisory Board for Aetna. She is also in private practice in Northampton, Mass and she lectures widely on issues of death and dying.

Sandra L. Bloom, MD
Dr. Bloom is a psychiatrist and the President and CEO of Community Works, a systems consulting firm. Dr. Bloom served as Founder and Executive Director of the Sanctuary programs from 1980-2001, inpatient psychiatric programs for the treatment of trauma-related disorders. She is a Past-President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) and in 1998 received the Sarah Haley Award for Clinical Excellence from the ISTSS. She is the Past-President of the Philadelphia chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and during her tenure helped to develop award winning domestic violence training programs for health care settings. She is the author of Creating Sanctuary: Toward the Evolution of Sane Societies, and co-author of Bearing Witness: Violence and Collective Responsibility.

Arthur Caplan, PhD
Dr. Caplan is the Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and the Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is the author or editor of twenty-five books and over 500 papers in refereed journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and health policy. His most recent book is Smart Mice Not So Smart People (Rowman Littlefield, 2006). Dr. Caplan has served on a number of national and international committees including as the Chair National Cancer Institute Biobanking Ethics Working Group, the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on Human Cloning, the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Health and Human Services on Blood Safety and Availability, a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, the special advisory committee to the International Olympic Committee on genetics and gene therapy, the ethics committee of the American Society of Gene Therapy, and the special advisory panel to the National Institutes of Mental Health on human experimentation on vulnerable subjects. Dr. Caplan writes a regular column on bioethics for MSNBC.com, and is a frequent guest and commentator on various media outlets. He is the recipient of many awards and honors including the McGovern Medal of the American Medical Writers Association, Person of the Year-2001 from USA Today, one of the fifty most influential people in American health care by Modern Health Care magazine, one of the ten most influential people in America in biotechnology by the National Journal and one of the ten most influential people in the ethics of biotechnology over the past ten years by the editors of the journal Nature Biotechnology. He holds seven honorary degrees from colleges and medical schools. He is a fellow of the Hastings Center, the NY Academy of Medicine, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Ram Cnaan, PhD
Dr. Ram Cnaan received his BSW and MSW from The Hebrew University in Israel, and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the Associate Dean for Research, Professor, and Chair of the Doctoral Program in Social Welfare. He is also the Director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research. Dr. Cnaan is a world-renowned expert in studying faith-based social services. He carried out the first national study on the role of local religious congregations in the provision of social services as well as the first one-city census of congregations. Dr. Cnaan has published numerous articles in scientific journals on a variety of social issues. In addition, he serves on the editorial board of seven academic journals. He is the author of: The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership (Columbia University Press, 1999) and: The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare (New York University Press, 2002). His forthcoming book, The Other Philadelphia Story: How Local Congregations Support Quality of Life in Urban America (University of Pennsylvania Press) deals with congregations in one large city. In addition, along with Stephanie Boddie (Washington University), he edits Assessing the Impact of Faith-Based Social Services: Methodological Challenges and Practical Solutions (Haworth Press).

Kevin Corcoran, PhD
Dr. Kevin Corcoran received his MSW and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, and his JD from the University of Houston Law Center. He is a Professor in theGraduate School of Social Work, Portland State University, where he has taught courses on social work research, social work practice, mediation, social welfare policy and history, legal issues in social work, mental heath and the law, and human behavior and the social environment. Dr. Corcoran has written twelve books and seventy-five articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics including, measures for clinical practice, evidence-based internships, and brief treatment and crisis intervention. He also serves on the editorial boards of five publications. In addition to his teaching, scholarship and research activities, Dr. Corcoran is a practicing mediator, who engages in family, community and commercial mediations.

Christine A. Courtois, PhD
Dr. Christine A. Courtois is a Psychologist in independent practice (Christine A. Courtois, PhD & Associates, PLC) in Washington, DC. She is Co-Founder and past Clinical and Training Director of The CENTER: Posttraumatic Disorders Program at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington. She received her PhD from the University of Maryland in College Park, in 1979. Dr. Courtois has authored three books, Recollections of Sexual Abuse: Treatment Principles and Guidelines (1999), Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: A Workshop Model (1993), and Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (1988) and is currently co-editing a book on complex trauma treatment; she has also published numerous articles and chapters on related topics. Dr. Courtois has received the following professional awards: the 2007 University of Maryland College of Education Alumni Outstanding Professional Award; the 2007 Outstanding Contributions to Professional Practice Award from Division 56 (Psychological Trauma), American Psychological Association; the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, the 2005 Distinguished Contribution to the Psychology of Women Award from the Committee on the Psychology of Women, American Psychological Association; the 2003 Sarah Haley Award for Clinical Excellence, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; the 2001 Cornelia Wilbur Award, International Society for the Study of Dissociation; and the 1996 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology As A Professional Practice, American Psychological Association. She routinely conducts professional training locally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to traumatic stress. Currently, Dr. Courtois is Co-Director of the Maryland Psychological Association’s Post-Doctoral Institute on Psychological Trauma (2007-2008).

Laurene Finley, PhD
Laurene Finley, Ph.D. is a Licensed Psychologist and former Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioral Healthcare Education at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University (now Drexel University) where she taught for 15 years.  Currently, she is on the faculty of the PRIME Institute (Partners Reaching to Improve Multicultural Effectiveness) at Drexel University, College of Medicine, Behavioral Healthcare Education. Dr. Finley has consulted with state, county and local organizations seeking to reduce racial/ethnic disparities and improve employee cultural competence.  Most recently, she was the Project Director for a 3-year, Workforce Research and Training Grant to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Mental Health Disparities funded as one of four national models by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  Currently, she is the Project Director for a 7-year, regional hospital’s diversity consultation and training program. Dr. Finley has received special recognition from the Pennsylvania Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services for “an outstanding state contribution” to the development of cultural competence in psychiatric rehabilitation and the distinguished career award. She served on the editorial board of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal.  She’s been a member of the USPRA Certification Committee and published professional journal articles and chapters in multiculturalism, psychiatric rehabilitation and mental health.  She is a frequent workshop presenter.

Rich Furman, PhD
Dr. Furman, MSW, PhD, is Associate Professor and Director of Social Work at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Rich is the author of over 100 books, articles, and book chapters. His most recent books are Navigating Human Service Organizations and Practical Tips for Publishing Scholarly Articles. In the winter of 2009, his new book, Groupwork: An Experiential Approach, will be published by Lyceum Books. Rich’s main areas of research are social work practice with transnational Latino populations and the use of the arts and humanities in social work practice, research and education. He has conducted research, practiced, volunteered or taught in Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Peru. A qualitative methodologist, Dr. Furman is dedicated to innovations in expressive and creative approaches to research. He has many years of experience running clinical, macro, and educational groups.

Zvi Gellis, PhD
Dr. Gellis is an Associate Professor at the Penn School of Social Policy & Practice. He was most recently at the University of Albany, where he served as Director of the Center for Mental Health and Aging. In 2002, he was selected as a Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar. He is a Research Fellow of the National Institute on Aging. In 2005, he was awarded a National Institute of Mental Health, 5-Year research grant to develop and evaluate mental health screening and cognitive behavioral treatment services for depressed and medically ill older home care patients. As an established gerontologist, Dr. Gellis has over 18 years of clinical and management experience in community mental health programs. His current research interests are in depression and anxiety assessment, and treatment for community-dwelling older adults. He provides leadership to the New York State Evidence-Based Mental Health Training program. Dr. Gellis has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters and has delivered papers and workshops at over 170 conferences nationally and internationally.

Toorjo TJ Ghose, PhD
Dr Ghose received his MSW degree from The Ohio State University and his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice. Ghose’s work focuses on substance abuse treatment and HIV interventions. He is studying the effects of organizational factors on substance abuse treatment outcomes in the U.S. Dr. Ghose is also involved in research on community-level HIV interventions with sex workers in Calcutta, India. He was formerly at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University where he is involved in efforts to design and test intervention strategies with high-risk populations in India.

Lina Hartocollis, PhD
Dr. Hartocollis received her MSS and PhD degrees from Bryn Mawr College. She is Associate Dean for Students and Director of the Clinical DSW Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice. Dr. Hartocollis has been at Penn since 1997, where she has taught courses on generalist social work practice, advanced clinical practice, social work practice with children and adolescents, and psychopathology. Before coming to Penn, she taught in the Masters of Social Work programs at Smith College and Bryn Mawr College. Dr. Hartocollis was a practicing psychotherapist for thirteen years, providing therapy to children, adults, couples, and families before she began devoting all of her energies to higher education administration and teaching.

Nancy McWilliams, PhD
Dr. Nancy McWilliams teaches at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and has a private practice in Flemington, NJ. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process (1994), Psychoanalytic Case Formulation (1999), and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Practitioner’s Guide (2004), all with Guilford Press, and is Associate Editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (2006).She is Past President of the Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association, and on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Psychology. Dr. McWilliams’s books have been translated into thirteen languages, and she has lectured widely both nationally and internationally.Her book on case formulation received the Gradiva Award for best psychoanalytic clinical book of 1999; in 2004 she was given the Rosalee Weiss Award for contributions to practice by the Division of Independent Practitioners of the American Psychological Association; in 2006 she was made an Honorary Member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and in 2007 she was awarded the Robert S. Wallerstein Visiting Lectureship in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.A graduate of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, she is also affiliated with the Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey and the National Training Program of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York City.

Roberta G. Sands, PhD
Dr. Sands is a Professor and Chair of the Social Work Practice Sequence at Penn's School of Social Policy & Practice.She is known for her contributions to clinical social work practice in mental health, postmodern feminism, and qualitative research. She is the author of Clinical Social Work Practice in Community Mental Health and Clinical Social Work Practice in Behavioral Mental Health: A Postmodern Approach to Practice with Adults, 2nd edition; co-author of Interprofessional and Family Discourses: Voices, Knowledge, and Practice; and the author of over 60 articles published in social work and other social science journals. Her research has focused on intergenerational family relations, with a focus on women as adult children, parents and grandparents. She has conducted research on religious and spiritual transformation among Jewish and African American individuals and families; and the development of cultural competence by mental health providers.

Lawrence Shulman, EdD
Dr. Shulman, M.S.W., Ed.D is a Professor and former Dean at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. He has been a social work practice educator for over forty years. He maintains a practice, leading at least one social work group each year, often with single parents, married couple's and more recently, Persons with AIDS in recovery from substance abuse. He has done extensive research on the core helping skills in social work practice, supervision, and child welfare. Dr. Shulman has been a consultant on direct practice, school social work, family work, group work, supervision, field instruction, classroom teaching, administration, residential treatment and the skills of working with other professionals. He has published numerous articles and monographs on direct practice and is the author or co-editor of seven books. These include: The Skills of Helping Individuals, Families, Groups and Communities, 6th Edition, 2009, Wadsworth Publishers; Mutual Aid Groups, Vulnerable and Resilient Populations and the Life Cycle, 2005 (co-edited with Dr. Alex Gitterman), Columbia University Press; and Teaching the Helping Skills -- A Field Instructor's Guide, 2nd Edition, 1993, Council on Social Work Education.

William Silver, DSW
Dr. Silver received his MSW and DSW degrees from the University of PennsylvaniaSchool of Social Work.Dr. Silver, a family therapist, is a clinical member and approved supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.For a number of years he was a Clinical Associate in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and was the Director of Social Work Training at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic.He has been a lecturer at Penn School of Social Policy & Practice since 1983.Dr. Silver has served as a consultant to a number of agencies across the country thatprovide mental health services and family therapy. Dr. Silver teaches advanced clinical social work practice and an elective course in family therapy at the School.

Phyllis Solomon, PhD
Dr. Solomon received her BA from Russell Sage College, and her MA and PhD from Case Western Reserve University. She is a member of the standing faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice. Dr. Solomon is internationally known for her research on clinical services and service system issues related to adults with severe mental illness and their families. Her research has specifically focused on family interventions, consumer provided services, and the intersection of criminal justice and mental health services. Dr. Solomon’s expertise is in mental health service delivery issues, psychiatric rehabilitation, and research methods. Her research has been recognized by such diverse organizations as American Association of Community Psychiatrists, US Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, and Society for Social Work and Research.

Howard Stevenson, PhD
Dr. Stevenson is an associate professor and director of the Professional Counseling and Psychology Program (PCAP) in the Applied Psychology and Human Development Division at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1994 to 2002, he was Faculty Master of the W. E. B. DuBois College House at Penn. In 1993, Dr. Stevenson received the W. T. Grant Foundation’s Faculty Scholar Award, a national research award given to only five researchers per year which funds five years of research. In 1994, Dr. Stevenson was a Presidential Fellow at the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, where he participated with 35 other community activists and researchers from 30 countries to present their community health intervention projects. In 1995, Dr. Stevenson served as a member of a 12-member academic panel to consult on the development of a National Strategic Action Plan for African-American Males, sponsored by the National Drug Control Policy Office in the Office of the President. Dr. Stevenson has 20 years of experience as a clinical supervisor and therapist in family and child psychotherapy. For three years, he served as an administrator, a clinical supervisor, and a family therapy trainer in residential treatment centers for emotionally disturbed adolescents in the State of Delaware’s Division of Child Mental Health. Currently, he consults with various community-based mental health and social work agencies.

Carol Tosone, PhD
Dr. Tosone is Associate Professor of Social Work and recipient of the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Tosone is a Distinguished Scholar in Social Work in the National Academies of Practice in Washington, D.C. In 2007, Dr. Tosone was selected for a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award for teaching and research at the Hanoi University of Education in Vietnam. She also taught as Distinguished Visiting Lydia Rappaport Professor at Smith College for Social Work in 2004. Dr. Tosone completed her psychoanalytic training at the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, where she was the recipient of the Postgraduate Memorial Award. Dr. Tosone is also the author of numerous professional articles and book chapters, and co-editor of two books Love and Attachment: Contemporary Issues and Treatment Considerations and Doing More with Less: Using Long-term Skills in Short-term Treatment. She currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of the Clinical Social Work Journal.