Esther Son, MSW, Ph.D. is joining the Department of Social Work as an Assistant Professor and she will teach research methods to students enrolled in BSSW program. Her primary research interest is the enhancement of the health and well-being of children and adults with disabilities and their families. In particular, she is interested in the school adjustment and social inclusion of children with developmental disabilities, including autism, and their health and mental health status and health disparities. She received her Ph.D. in social work from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. She is currently working on a project examining longitudinal population trends of racial and ethnic disparities for children with disabilities. Her long-term research goal is to understand how individual and contextual characteristics interact to influence the well-being of children and adult with disabilities and their caregiving families. Her work has appeared in Children and Youth Services Review, Exceptional Children, American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, Disability and Health Journal, Families in Society-the Journal of Contemporary Social Services, Journal of Community Practice, and Public Health Reports.
