Bio
Dr. Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno is an assistant professor in the Colleges of Social Work and Public Health. Dr. Barboza-Salerno’s scholarship focuses on the manifestation of violence across the lifespan from childhood to old age. Their work explores the multiple contextual influences of risk, including trauma, externalizing behaviors and substance abuse, on manifestations of interpersonal violence (e.g., domestic abuse, adolescent bullying), self-harm (e.g., suicide), and neglect in vulnerable populations (children, adolescents, LGBT individuals and the elderly). Dr. Barboza-Salerno currently serves as the Statistical Associate Editor for the journal Child Maltreatment. Dr. Barboza-Salerno is also an attorney who has worked in the courts as an advocate assisting domestic violence victims navigate the legal and criminal justice system. Dr. Barboza-Salerno’s research utilizes big data, nationally representative datasets, quasi-experimental and longitudinal research designs and methodologies, such as Growth Mixture Modeling, Parallel Process Modeling, and Bayesian Space-Time techniques. Their work has recently appeared in Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, Child Maltreatment, The Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and The Journal of Urban Health.
Education
PhD – Michigan State University, 2008 – Political Methodology
MS – Michigan State University, 2008 – Statistics
MA – Michigan State University, 2002 – Child Development and Family Studies
JD – Michigan State University, 2000 – Law
BA – University of California, Los Angeles – Anthropology
Areas of Expertise
Child abuse and neglect
Youth violence
Trauma and adverse child experiences
GIS and spatial analysis
Social determinants of health and violence prevention
Areas of Interest for Mentoring PhD Students
Child maltreatment/Family violence
Advanced statistical modeling
Spatial analysis
Scholarly writing (publications)
Intersection of child welfare and legal system