Brief Bio

Abigail (Abby) M. Ross, MSW, LICSW, MPH, PhD is an Associate Professor with a primary appointment at the School of Social Policy and Practice and a secondary appointment in the Perelman School of Medicine (Psychiatry). Dr. Ross is an applied researcher who conducts rigorous, community-partnered, translational research designed to yield sustainable, evidence-based practice improvements and significant, measurable organizational change. Broadly, her program of research seeks to develop and implement evidence-based interventions that both improve youth and family well-being in pediatric health settings and advance equity within youth-serving health systems. Specifically, her research aims to: 1) develop, test, adapt, refine, and implement evidence-based preventive interventions for youth and their families, 2) advance evidence to improve the equitable impact of evidence-based practices within youth-serving health systems, 3) leverage technology in youth-serving health systems to both detect unmet social needs and evaluate the impact of social care interventions that address them, and 4) advance knowledge about the roles and contributions of social work to improving population health and delivering interprofessional, team-based care. Her research has been supported by several federal sources and national foundations, including the American Foundation Suicide Prevention, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Tommy Fuss Center for Neuropsychiatric Disease Research.

Dr. Ross brings over 15 years of clinical practice experience working across a variety of settings across the health care continuum and in the field of home visiting. She has received extensive clinical training in family-based interventions, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and suicide risk assessment, management, and treatment. Dr. Ross completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame; she earned Masters degrees in Social Work and Public Health and a joint doctorate in Social Work & Sociology from Boston University.