Grand Challenges for Social Work: February 2025
Dr. Whitney Grube, assistant professor of social welfare, will be joined in conversation by representatives from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and practitioners in the early childhood system.
Dr. Grube's research focuses on child and adolescent mental health services, Child and adolescent mental health policy, Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance, Child and adolescent wellbeing, Impact of mental illness on children and their families.
Dr. Kiley Liming is an Associate Researcher Senior at the University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, and is the Principal Investigator and lead Evaluator of an HRSA-funded grant initiative implementing, enhancing, and evaluating infant-toddler courts in the state of Oklahoma. Dr. Liming earned her PhD, with honors, from the University of Kansas in 2020, and was the recipient of the University’s doctoral distinguished dissertation award. Her scholarly work centers on the intersection of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and foster care, and the design and delivery of services/interventions to address the complex needs of child welfare-involved families. Additionally, Dr. Liming has worked on two Regional Partnership grants across two U.S. states, has made several contributions to the peer-reviewed literature on ACEs and early childhood interventions, and has presented nationally on her topic areas.
David Jordan is the President of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, joining the Fund in February 2018. Before joining the Fund, David served as the executive director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, a coalition of over 100 organizations working to improve health and access to health care in Kansas. David oversaw the Alliance’s operations and the effort to expand KanCare, Kansas’ Medicaid program. David joined the Alliance after spending nearly seven years at Community Catalyst, a leading national consumer health advocacy organization, as the Dental Access Project Director. At Community Catalyst, David led a national campaign to expand access to dental care by initiating and supporting state campaigns to establish the practice of dental therapists. David has also served as chief of staff to a Massachusetts state senator and led integrated communications campaigns at Solomon McCown & Company. He also managed the successful MassACT! ballot campaign, which in part led to Massachusetts’ landmark 2006 health care law.
Chad Childs has over 20 years of experience in the mental and behavioral healthcare field in Kansas and management and leadership experience in other nonprofit organizations in the fields of higher education, child welfare and prevention. He has a wealth of experience volunteering for various agencies and has served as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer. Chad’s career focus has been on providing both direct services and facilitating larger systems changes with the goal of helping people to both overcome barriers to their well-being and use their strengths and resources to improve their quality of life. He is interested in the integration of social services, healthcare, science, and research and he values community efforts to make and sustain lasting changes for the better.