Advances in Mental Health Reseach

Implications for Practice

Janet B.W. Williams, DSW, is a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and a professor of clinical psychiatric social work in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City. In 1994 Dr. Williams founded the Society for Social Work and Research and served for two years as its first president. She sits on the board of directors of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research. She is well known for her work on DSM-III, DSM-III-R, and DSM-IV and has authored many rating instruments, interview guides, and more than 200 scholarly publications.

Kathleen Ell, DSW, is professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She has conducted extensive research on psychological distress, morbidity, and mortality resulting from life-threatening illness and on health care–seeking behavior. A hallmark of her research has been its focus on low-income and ethnically diverse populations. She has written more than 40 publications and is a consulting editor of Social Work.