Message from the Executive Director

This has been a year of profound momentum at the NYU McSilver Institute — one marked by the addition of new researchers whose scholarship is unparalleled. Together, they have expanded McSilver’s capacity, and produced the kind of rigorous, evidence-based research that drives meaningful change across communities.

After a national search, NYU McSilver announced the appointment of Dr. Fred M. Ssewamala as our inaugural Faculty Director. Dr. Ssewamala brings extensive experience in poverty and health-equity research, with a particular focus on youth and families both domestically and globally. His appointment represents not only the addition of an exceptional scholar, but the establishment of a true co-leadership model at McSilver. This new leadership structure that I, as Executive Director, and Dr. Ssewamala, as Faculty Director, are building together allows us to seamlessly bridge our collective institutional vision and scholarly depth enabling McSilver to move with greater agility and turn research insights into innovative practice and policy. Dr. Ssewamala was joined by Dr. Ozge Sensoy Bahar and Dr. Samuel Kizito; together, they bring a wealth of expertise and vision that expands our global reach, while continuing to strengthen our domestic footprint.

We have expanded the reach of our Technical Assistance Centers (TACs), led by Deputy Executive Director Dr. Andrew F. Cleek. The TACs provide training, consultation, and educational resources to practitioners in all behavioral health agencies in the state of New York, as well as perinatal, infant and early childhood mental health providers throughout New York City. In 2025, we secured more than $14.5 million in new and continued external funding, spanning federal, state, and city grants, foundation support, and public-private partnerships. One such partnership is a landmark two-year, $4.6 million grant from the New York State Office of Mental Health supporting the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Curriculum and Resource Development Project. This project will expand access to high-quality, evidence-based training and technical assistance for mental health providers across New York State.

The AI Hub at McSilver continued to provide cutting-edge thought leadership on the ways in which artificial intelligence can be harnessed to equitably address poverty, as well as the challenges it presents to marginalized groups and mental health concerns surrounding this relatively novel, unregulated technology. At the invitation of Assemblymember Emérita Torres, Dr. Kara Emery (Director of Data Science at the NYU McSilver AI Hub), and Chris Hemphill (NYU McSilver Fellow) presented at the SOMOS 2025 Conference, a major gathering in Puerto Rico that brings together New York City and Albany-based policymakers. Their work highlighted the ways in which community control of data can drive equity and empower Latino communities.

McSilver has continued to invest in amplifying our research through media and events, convening sector leaders who challenge and inspire one another. For one such initiative, designed to call attention to the alarming rates of maternal mortality, particularly among Black women, we partnered with the Greater New York Chapter of The Links, Inc. and AmeriHealth Caritas to launch an ambitious project: a video podcast called “After Birth, Aftercare, Afterthought: The Fourth Trimester” (debuting this fall). Recorded before a live audience at BRIC Arts Media, the event brought together health experts, birthing people with lived experience, leading personalities, advocates and policymakers for an examination of the crucial months after childbirth. Guest speakers identified solutions and strategies for creating better support systems during this vulnerable stage. The podcast was an outgrowth of our longstanding commitment to highlighting and reducing disparities in maternal healthcare outcomes, a commitment that is further demonstrated by the appointment of our inaugural Maternal and Reproductive Health Fellow, Dr. Damali M. Wilson (in partnership with NYU Langone Health’s Institute for Excellence in Health Equity).

The work outlined in this report reflects a McSilver that is rising to meet this moment — building on a legacy of impact and creating a future of possibility.

With gratitude and determination,

Rosemonde Pierre-Louis, JD
Executive Director, NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research

Message from the Faculty Director

It is a privilege to write to you as the inaugural Faculty Director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. Since joining the Institute on July 1, 2025, I have been continually inspired by the depth of commitment I find here — to rigorous scholarship, to communities bearing the heaviest burdens of poverty and inequality, and to the understanding that research must translate into action.

I came to McSilver from Washington University in St. Louis, where I spent eight years on the faculty as the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor. Before that, I was on the faculty at Columbia University in New York where I spent close to 15 years as a tenured full professor. Overall, my work, which spans over two decades, began at Columbia University, and it is centered on a single conviction: that the most effective interventions for youth and families living in poverty address mental and physical health, economic empowerment, and community resilience together, not in isolation. That conviction finds a natural home here. I bring with me a talented team whose work spans continents and disciplines, including Senior Research Scientists and Research Faculty Professors Dr. Ozge Sensoy Bahar and Dr. Samuel Kizito, as well as Research Director and Grants Administrator Amanda Erekson and Training Programs Manager Melissa Reyes. Program Manager Bethel Mandefro has expertly supported our transition to NYU.

We have spent years developing and testing interventions in some of the world’s most resource-constrained environments through the International Center for Child Health and Development and the SMART Africa Center. The lessons learned there have profound implications for communities here in New York and across the United States. I am excited about the bidirectional learning this global perspective makes possible, and about the new NIH-funded studies and training programs we are bringing into the McSilver ecosystem to develop the next generation of global child behavioral health researchers.

Abroad, McSilver’s reach continues to grow. This year, we formalized a partnership with Uganda’s Ministry of Health, and the NIH Fogarty International Center awarded $2.1 million to the ACHIEVE Training Program to build implementation and data science research capacity among early career researchers invested in addressing health disparities affecting children and families worldwide. In Ghana, the NIH also awarded $3.12 million to the Anzansi (Resilience) Project, led by Dr. Ozge Sensoy Bahar, to rigorously test family-based interventions for adolescent girls and evaluate their cost-effectiveness. Also crucial to our global research efforts is Dr. Samuel Kizito, a physician and epidemiologist who provides expertise in research design, biostatistics, and machine learning. Their collective work generates the kind of evidence that can move policy at scale, and strengthens McSilver’s leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve lives across global contexts. This influx of new projects and academic talent also further strengthens the vital, ongoing collaboration between the McSilver Institute and the NYU Silver School of Social Work.

During my first year, I’ve been most struck not by one single program or grant, but by the organization’s vibrant and ambitious culture. The Technical Assistance Centers. The AI Hub’s work on algorithmic equity. The education and equity roundtables supported by city partners. The podcasts that carry our research into public conversation. Our newly launched speaker series hosting top national scholars. All of these initiatives are evidence of an institution committed to the belief that knowledge without tangible reach is incomplete. I share that worldview deeply, and I look forward to building on it in the years ahead.

I am honored to be part of this community of scholars, practitioners, and advocates, and am deeply grateful to Dean Michael Lindsey, the Silver School faculty, and the dedicated McSilver staff for their support. Thank you for entrusting me with the honor of serving as McSilver’s inaugural Faculty Director. The challenges ahead are serious, but so is our collective resolve. I am confident that, together, we will continue advancing research, policy, and practice that improve the lives of children, families, and communities both here in New York and around the world.

With great enthusiasm for the work,

Fred M. Ssewamala, PhD
Faculty Director, NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research; and Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies, NYU Silver School