About: Senior Fellows
In an effort to enhance the quality and impact of its work - and to improve adoption generally - the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute launched a new Senior Research Fellows Program in June 2006. This unprecedented initiative will, for the first time, regularly convene a group of the most accomplished experts in the field to share their knowledge, disseminate their findings, and help to shape better adoption policies and practices.
The Senior Research Fellows enhance and expand the initiatives of the Adoption Institute by contributing their knowledge and expertise, by providing substantive content from their research and experience, by helping to shape and vet Institute products so they achieve the highest possible standards and impact, and by assisting in focusing our efforts on the vitally important issues that affect tens of millions of children and families in our country every day.
The Institute's Senior Fellows are among the most prominent and esteemed researchers, lecturers and writers in the fields of adoption and foster care today. The following are short biographies in alphabetical order. For more information about the program, contact us at info@adoptioninstitute.org
Richard P. Barth, Ph.D.
Richard P. Barth is the Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was recently named Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland.
He serves on the editorial boards of several professional journals, is the Principal Investigator of the California
Long-Range Adoption Study (in its 14th year), has conducted many other studies, and has evaluated post-adoption
services in numerous states. He received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1990, the 1998 Presidential Award for Excellence
in Research from the National Association of Social Workers, and the 2005 Flynn Prize for Research. Dr. Barth
lectures internationally, and has written many books and articles.
Devon Brooks, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Devon Brooksis an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, where he also serves as the
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs. His scholarly interests and expertise revolve around adoption and child welfare services and policy.
Much of his work on adoption focuses on identifying risk and protective factors related to child and family adjustment and well-being.
He has been involved in several long-term and large scale adoptions studies, including Building Understanding and the California Long-Range Adoption Study.
Dr. Brooks has published numerous articles, book chapters and reports on adoption-geared toward different audiences,
including adoptive families, social workers, policy-makers, and the general public. His publications have addressed a wide
range of issues, such as adoption and race, transracial adoption, gay and lesbian adoption, identify development, and foster care adoptions.
Harold Grotevant, Ph.D.
Harold Grotevant is Distinguished University Teaching Professor of Family Social Science and adjunct professor of Child
Psychology at the University of Minnesota. His scholarly work focuses on relationships in adoptive families and on the
development of children and adolescents within their families, especially with regard to identity formation and adjustment.
An international leader in adoption theory and research, he has greatly shaped the world's understanding of adopted people
and adoptive family functioning. He is highly sought as an adoption lecturer and has written several books, including:
Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections (with R. McRoy) and
Emotional Disturbance in Adopted Adolescents: Origins & Development (with R. McRoy and L. Zurcher),
as well as numerous book chapters and articles on adoption.
Victor Groza, Ph.D.
Victor Groza is Grace F. Brody Professor in Parent-Child Studies at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland,
Ohio. He is best known for his adoption outcomes studies, evaluating the effects of pre-adoption history of children adopted from the public
system in the United States, as well as the effects of pre-adoption institutionalization on international adoptees and their families.
He has conducted eminent research in Romania, India and the Ukraine. He is on the editorial boards of several child welfare journals,
has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, and has authored or co-authored several books.
Dana E. Johnson, M.D.
Dana E. Johnson is the Director of the International Adoption Clinic and of the Division of Neonatology at the University of Minnesota
Children's Hospital and is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. His ongoing research focuses on
the short- and long-term effects of early childhood institutionalization on child health and early development. A pioneer in the field
of adoption medicine, Dr. Johnson directs the largest adoption-related medical program in the world. He serves on the editorial boards
of several publications and has written more than 200 journal articles, book chapters and abstracts.
Ruth Gail McRoy, Ph.D.
Ruth McRoy is the Director of the Center for Social Work Research and is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the University of
Texas at Austin. In addition, she holds the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professorship in Services to Children and Families. A preeminent
practitioner, researcher, and lecturer in the field of adoption for over 20 years, her professional interests include family preservation,
open adoptions, adoption outcomes, transracial adoptions, racial identity issues and post-adoption services. Among her influential
adoption-related research projects are, "Longitudinal Outcomes of Openness in Adoption (1997-2001),"
"Changing Adoption Agency Practices: Mental Health Implications for Birthparents, Adoptive Parents, and Adopted Children (1999-2000),"
and "Evaluation Study of Post Adoption Services (1994-1996)." She has written seven books, including:
Special Needs Adoptions: Practice Issues and Openness in Adoption: Family Connections (with H. Grotevant), and numerous articles
and book chapters on adoption.
Ellen Pinderhughes, Ph.D.
Ellen Pinderhughes is the incoming Chair of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. She is a developmental
and clinical psychologist who has worked as a therapist and a clinical consultant. Her research focuses primarily on the complex interplay
of family dynamics in adoptive and biological families with children at risk for problem outcomes. With 20 years of clinical and research
experience in adoption, Dr. Pinderhughes is nationally known for her work on older child adoptions, and has recently initiated research on
international adoptions. She serves on several professional editorial boards, including Adoption Quarterly, and has written extensively on
adoption-related issues in books and journals.
Scott Ryan, Ph.D.
Dr. Ryan is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at Florida State University's College of Social Work, and is also the Director of the Institute for Social Work Research. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds several advanced degrees: a Master's in Social Work from Columbia University, a Master's in Business Administration from Howard University, and a Doctorate in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Ryan has worked extensively with adoptive families for over a decade as a clinician, educator, trainer and researcher. He has led research projects on an array of significant topics relating to adoption and child welfare; they include: the efficacy of play therapy, adoption disruption, child development in same-sex adoptive families, the impact of institutionalization on children adopted from Romania, and post-placement support services. Dr. Ryan serves on the Editorial Board of Adoption Quarterly and, for the last three years, has led a study to identify those factors contributing to successful outcomes for special needs adoptees and their families funded by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
