Robert Fullilove of Mailman School Joins the Social Work Faculty

November 1, 2021 @ 7:44 pm

Dr. Robert Fullilove, a longtime faculty member at the Mailman School of Public Health, has joined the Columbia School of Social Work. Dean Melissa Begg shared the news in this announcement:

Dear CSSW Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that I share the news that Dr. Robert Fullilove has joined our faculty with an interdisciplinary appointment between the Mailman School of Public Health and CSSW. Dr. Fullilove was recruited in 1990 to join the faculty at the Mailman School, where he also serves as Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs. He received his BA from Colgate University, MS from Syracuse University, and EdD from Teachers College.

Dr. Fullilove has devoted much of his career to issues concerning the health of marginalized groups. He has authored numerous articles on the health of underserved populations, has served on leadership committees and panels for the CDC, NIH, and National Academy of Sciences, addressing such topics as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and substance abuse and addiction. Since 2010, he has been an instructor of public health courses in six New York State prisons that are part of the Bard College Prison Initiative, serving as the Senior Advisor to its public health program. In recognition of his outstanding teaching, he was awarded the Mailman School’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995, 2001, and 2013. In 2002, he received an honorary doctorate from Bank Street College of Education.

At CSSW, Dr. Fullilove will collaborate with our faculty in our work on critical areas such as racial justice, criminal justice reform, and health equity. He has long collaborated with Dr. Kathy Boudin in the CSSW Center for Justice on the issues of mass incarceration and re-entry programs. In addition, he is Co-PI with Dr. Amy Kapadia on a new project, Trust-building through truth-telling, that received a pilot award from the Irving Institute earlier this year. This project addresses mistrust between historically oppressed communities of color and neighboring institutions of care in Harlem, to enhance community-driven COVID-19 recovery efforts and reduce health disparities.

I’ve had the honor of working on various projects with Dr. Fullilove for decades. He is a wonderful colleague and I hope you will join me in extending a warm welcome to CSSW!

Best,
Melissa

Dr. Bob Fullilove on his appointment:

The Columbia School of Social Work and I go back to the 1990s, when I began my career as a member of the faculty of what is now the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Then as now, I was attracted to its commitment to work in the Harlem community around challenges such as HIV/AIDS. As a new member of the CSSW faculty with an interdisciplinary appointment, I look forward to continuing that work and to strengthening our ties with the vibrant communities of color that are so central to this city.