Fellows

Yolanda Padilla, PhD, is the Clara Pope Willoughby Centennial Professor in Child Welfare and Director of the Center for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice through the Council on Social Work Education. Dr. Padilla was trained in the joint program in social work and sociology at the University of Michigan, and joined the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work in 1993. Her academic career has been dedicated to the study of the social and economic conditions of Latino families. She was one of the first scholars to incorporate an analysis of the implications of immigration patterns and immigrant policy for social work with immigrants. Dr. Padilla has examined the extent to which the birth health advantage of children of Mexican immigrant mothers, known as the epidemiological paradox, extends into early childhood and across generations. More recently, she has investigated economic insecurity and access to the social safety net among Latino farmworker families. Her research has been funded by NICHD, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, and the Social Science Research Council, among others.

She has published widely including in the Social Science Quarterly, Social Service Review, Social Work, Maternal and Child Health Journal, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, and Social Forces. In 2002, she received the Outstanding Research Award by the Society for Social Work and Research for her study on factors influencing the earnings potential of Mexican immigrants. Dr. Padilla has served on the National Commission on Paternal Involvement in Pregnancy Outcomes of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and is currently a member of NICHD’s National Children’s Study Federal Advisory Committee. Dr. Padilla served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Social Work Education from 2006 to 2009.

To access Dr. Padilla’s Faculty Page, click here: The University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work.