American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

In Memoriam

Jeffrey Draine, PhD

Inducted in 2013

Bio

Jeffrey Noel Draine, 62, of Wallingford PA, died on September 7, 2025, from complications of young-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Born on December 14, 1962, in Lively, Virginia, Jeff was a “preacher’s kid,” moving among Methodist parsonages throughout Virginia. He attended the University of South Carolina before transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated with a B.S. in rehabilitation and urban affairs in 1986. He went on to receive an MSW in social planning from Temple University in 1990 and a Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.

Jeffrey Draine, PhD, was a Professor and chair of the School of Social Work at Temple University. Dr. Draine’s primary research interests included rehabilitation, empowerment and recovery oriented services for people involved with the justice system who also live with behavioral health concerns. These include psychiatric disabilities, HIV, and addiction. He began his career as an activist for prison, homelessness and housing related causes in Richmond, Virginia.

Dr. Draine was focused on the intersection of behavioral health and the justice system since 1990. Beginning with the population of people with mental illnesses in jails and prisons, he eventually incorporated a broader array of behavioral health concerns such as HIV risk related behavior and substance use in addition to a comprehensive set of legal and law enforcement contexts, such as police interactions, probation and parole supervision, and community corrections facilities. These justice system contexts are often a concentrated nexus of health related risk and need for research on creative prevention and treatment ideas. Read more about his life here.

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