Mary E. Sormanti

With extensive experience in hospital settings, Dr. Sormanti has developed a body of clinical and community-based work focusing on therapeutic responses to the traumas associated with terminal illness, bereavement, intimate partner violence, and disaster.

Mary Sormanti has experience in direct practice, program development, and research with individuals, families, and communities affected by serious illness, bereavement, intimate partner violence, and disaster. She has worked in partnership with local and national organizations including the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Project Liberty.

Dr. Sormanti is a senior educational partner at the Center for Complicated Grief, where she organizes the field placement program, supervises MSW interns, and participates in research and educational projects. She also teaches a course in narrative medicine through the School of Professional Studies. She serves as a member of the Publication Committee of Columbia University Press, and on the Columbia Commons IPE Steering Committee, which developed and implemented Columbia’s first Interprofessional Day of Action in April 2018. This event brought together more than 1,800 students, faculty, and staff from nine schools and programs across the University, including the School of Social Work.

Dr. Sormanti was the faculty recipient of a 2015 Community-Based Participatory Research Pilot Award from the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. Her research proposal, submitted with Marilyn Pacheco of Isabella, examined feasibility, acceptability, and potential benefits of creative arts groups with community-dwelling older adults.

Dr. Sormanti maintains clinical licensure in New York and in Massachusetts. She holds an MS in narrative medicine from Columbia University, an MSW from New York University, and a PhD from Boston College.