Maria Ferrera

Maria J. Ferrera received her PhD and MA from the University of Chicago- School of Social Service Administration (SSA). She received her BS from Loyola University in Chicago, has served for over 20 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the areas of child welfare and medical social work, and continues to do work in the Filipino American and other immigrant communities. Her areas of practice and research involve: decolonization methods; the influence of colonization on ethnic identity development; community-based, socially just practices and mixed methods research with ethnic minority youth; health disparities and the impact of healthcare law on new and undocumented immigrants in Chicago. Her work has been published in Critical Public Health, Family and Community Health Journal, Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work and the Center for Babaylan Studies.