Hope Conference Speakers

Susan L. Parish, PhD, MSW
Nancy Lurie Marks Professor of Disability Policy
Brandeis University

Susan L. Parish, PhD, MSW, is the Nancy Lurie Marks Professor of Disability Policy, the Director of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, and the Director of the PhD Program at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Her research examines the health and financial well-being of children and adults with disabilities, as well as their caregiving families. She is particularly interested in family support and the impact of health policy and poverty policy on people with disabilities and their families. She teaches classes in research methods and disability policy.

Dr. Parish’s research has been recognized by the Arc of the United States, which selected her for its Research Matters! Distinguished Research Award; and by the Society for Social Work and Research, which gave her the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award. She is a Fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She is also an associate editor for the journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. She won the overall outstanding teaching award three times from the social work student body during her seven years at the School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also active in community service in the developmental disabilities field.

Dr. Parish earned her MSW from Rutgers University and her PhD from the University of Illinois.

>> Back to Conference Speakers