American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

Gina E. Miranda Samuels, PhD

Active | Inducted in 2025

Bio

Gina E. Miranda Samuels is a Professor at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice and the Faculty Director of the Center for the Study of Race Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. Her research examines the well-being and healthy development of young people who have experienced foster care, adoption, multiraciality, and/or displacement from home. Her findings have been used in public testimony to Congress, advocating changes in policies affecting young people in foster care and youth navigating homelessness. Dr. Miranda Samuels has been recognized as one of the top 14 most impactful African American social work scholars in the United States and among the top 2% most cited scholars worldwide. She is the founding director of the Interpretive Research Institute: Knowledge For Us By Us, and of the Black Adoption Project, a reparative archive and global memory work initiative.