CAPS Town Hall presents: Fred Ssewamala, PhD -- The Potential of Economic Strengthening Interventions in the Care and Support of Children and Adolescents Impacted by HIV/AIDS: Lessons from 15 Years of Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Fred Ssewamala, PhD, is a William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine.  He is Director and Founder of the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD) and Director of SMART Africa Center at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.  Dr. Ssewamala leads innovative, interdisciplinary research that informs, develops and tests economic empowerment and social protection interventions aimed at improving life chances and long-term developmental impacts for children and adolescent youth impacted by poverty and health disparities in low resource communities. Dr. Ssewamala established the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD) while a tenured professor at Columbia University. Currently, Ssewamala is conducting three large-scale, NIH-funded longitudinal randomized studies across sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Ssewamala also is the director of the SMART Africa Center (Strengthening Mental health And Research Training), an African regional transdisciplinary collaborative center funded by NIMH and aimed at reducing gaps in child and adolescent mental health services and research in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda through a population approach to child mental health. His research in Africa engages collaboratively with local and national institutions to ensure scale-up and sustainability.

He has over 80 published articles in well-respected journals including in the Lancet, American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Adolescent Health, Social Service Review and; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 

Dr. Ssewamala serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Adolescent Health and is co-editor of the Global Social Welfare journal. He is a member of the Society for Social Work and Research, American Public Health Association, Siteman Cancer Center and Council on Social Work Education, as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.