NYU Silver is proud of our student body — 1,195 strong during the 2022-2023 academic year — who are having an indelible impact in research and practice even as they work towards their degrees.
Our BS program, with Dr. Cora de Leon as its Director, had 159 students; our MSW program, with Dr. Ernest Gonzales as its Director, had 958 students; our PhD program, with Dr. Rohini Pahwa as its Director, had 29 students; and our DSW program, with Dr. Kirk “Jae” James as its Director, had 49 students. Student body members ranged in age from 17 to 65.
Among the students who have been honored for their work in the 2022-2023 academic year:
PhD student Moiyattu Banya and DSW student Caitlin Crenn were selected as NYU Urban Doctoral Fellows to pursue their research on the mental health of adolescent girls and young women in West African cities and the intersection of housing precarity and civic engagement in New York, respectively. Moiyattu was also selected to participate in Washington University in St. Louis’ summer 2023 LEAD Global Training Program, through which she will gain stipended training and hand-on research experience in Africa.
PhD candidate Daniel Baslock was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research (T32) pre-doctoral fellowship to advance his research on integrated mental health and substance use services and rural health equity.
Markie Bledsoe, MSW ’24, and Ruby Cheresnowsky, Carol Lituma, Lydia Gordon, and Spring Kwok, all MSW ’23, were among the 36 graduate students university-wide awarded NYU’s Social Sector Leadership Diversity Fellowship.
Andy Checo, BS ’24, received a Behavioral Health Undergraduate Social Work Fellowship from the Northeast Regional Alliance in partnership with Mount Sinai Department of Social Work, through which he will gain specialized training, supervised clinical experience, and mentoring.
PhD Candidate Sabrina Cluesman received a National Institute on Drug Abuse Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31) for her dissertation research examining the impact of gender minority stress and gender affirmation on HIV preexposure prophylaxis use by Black and Latinx transgender and gender-expansive youth and emerging adults.
Jennifer DiBiase, DSW ’23, whose capstone project focused on trauma-informed care for patients with serious illness, received the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network’s 2023 Award of Excellence in Clinical Practice.
PhD student Fatima Mabrouk was selected as a fellow in the 2023-24 class of NYU’s Urban Doctoral Fellowship Program.
Victoria Juste, MSW ’24, was one of four winners of NYU’s 2022 Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition for her venture Melanated Mom & Pop Box. The idea for the care gift box product for Black expectant parents was sparked in her Interpersonal Psychotherapy class at Silver.
PhD Student Brittney Singletary, whose research focuses on cultural influences on complex trauma and adverse experiences in Black youth was selected as a member of the New York City Reducing Inequality Network’s fifth cohort of Inequality Fellows.
PhD candidate Cliff Whetung was awarded a National Institute on Aging Aging Research Dissertation Grant to Increase Diversity (R36) for his research on inequities in cognitive health among indigenous older adults. Cliff was also one of 13 social work doctoral students selected for the inaugural Grand Challenges for Social Work Doctoral Award cohort.
Regina Wu, MSW ’23, received NYU’s Dr. Patricia M. Carey Changemaker Award, presented each year to one undergraduate and one graduate student leader who embody humility, compassion, and strong character. She also received the CSWE2023 Partners in Advancing Education for International (PIE) Social Work Award.
PhD student Gahwan Yoo was named a Constance + Martin Silver Center on Data Science + Social Equity Pre-Doctoral Fellow.