Meet our New PhD Students
Meet our PhD Students Heading link
Chlece Walker-Neal-Murray
Chlece is a licensed attorney, and the Executive Director and co-founder of Chicago Advocate Legal, NFP, a not for profit law firm located in Chicago’s Loop focusing on housing, family, DCFS appeals and the Preventive Law Initiative. She also works as a research assistant on child trafficking issues at the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, as well as facilitating a class on Race and Bias, and working as a teaching assistant in the Masters of Jurisprudence program.
Cheryl Dimonte
Throughout her education, Cheryl worked with various community groups to fight for access to mental health services in rural areas, healthy supermarkets in food deserts, and tools to address vacant housing in low income neighborhoods. After graduation, her passion for macro level social work led to an 8-year career in various roles as a public servant for Columbus City Council in Ohio. Her research interests include policy analysis in the areas of housing stability and affordability as well intervention methods to help prevent evictions.
Shawn Parra
Shawn (he/him/his) is a Dominican male, born in the US. He is a firm believer that individuals behave differently depending on their context, and not solely because of their biology. As such, he looks to this PhD to do more than work one-on-one with individuals but also help change oppressive systems themselves. His research and policy interests include mental health and increasing access for marginalized communities, and creating more culturally and linguistically appropriate treatments for the Spanish-speaking community.
Dana Franceschini
Dana is currently employed by Aging Care Connections as the Transitional Care Supervisor, overseeing the coordination and implementation of two care models supporting older adults within primary care settings, as well as their transition home from the hospital. Her research interests include the social determinants of health, social work-led transitional care initiatives supporting older adults, and the partnership between community-based organizations and healthcare entities.
Doug Barge
While getting his MSW degree Doug interned for a year at the Social Impact Research group at Heartland Alliance, where they emphasized a Housing First approach. His experience there inspired him to continue down a research path, and he hopes to use that approach in studying housing models for the seriously mentally ill population.
Xochitl Guerrero
Xochitl is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 17 years of experience in social work. During her MSW program at UIC, she interned at the UIC Institute for Juvenile Research, providing services to children participating in the Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinic. Most recently, she worked as a clinical social worker with the Cook County Department of Corrections. Xochitl is a proud first generation college graduate and mother of five. She intends to focus her research efforts on the impact of parental incarceration on children.
Antonio J. Wheeler Jr., LCSW, CADC
Antonio’s diverse experiences include counseling victims of gun violence, substance abuse counseling and working with perpetrators of domestic violence. He has worked as a counselor at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, Cook County Hospital, Haymarket, Gateway and PCC Community Wellness Center. As a Chicago native, he has spent over a decade working in different capacities to address trauma. As a PhD student, his interests include the impact of vicarious trauma on Black males.