The Office of Foster Care and Adoption is fortunate and proud to have had the following esteemed experts as members of the Senior Fellows Program (listed in alphabetical order):

Senior Fellow, Mary Hansen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics, American University
Area of specialty: Economics of adoption; adoption from foster care.

Mary Hansen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at American University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Hansen's research examines the impact of federal adoption programs and laws. She has considered how families choose among the many alternatives to adoption from foster care (especially international and private adoption), how the U.S. should regulate international adoption under international private law, how many children are placed transracially, and how different types of adoptive families are treated differently under the law. Her work helps us to understand the effectiveness and fairness of current adoption programs.
For a list of relevant publications, please click here. 

Senior Fellow, Joanne Nicholson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychiatry, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School 
Area of specialty: Families with mental illness.

Joanne Nicholson, Ph.D. is a clinical and research psychologist, and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She directs the Child and Family Research Core of the UMass Medical School's Center for Mental Health Services Research. Dr. Nicholson has established an active program of research on parents with mental illnesses and their families in partnership with people in recovery. Her team of researchers, providers, and people in recovery is developing education and skills training materials for parents, integrating the current knowledge on parents with mental illnesses, and evaluating programs for families, including homeless mothers and children, and the pilot Family Options program. Dr. Nicholson and her team have received funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Alliance for Mental Illness Research Institute, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, and private foundations. Dr. Nicholson is the lead author of “Parenting Well When You’re Depressed: A Complete Resource for Maintaining a Healthy Family,” published by New Harbinger Publications. Written by parents for parents, it is the first self-help manual for parents living with depressions or other mental illnesses. Dr. Nicholson established SAMHSA’s National Advisory Group on Parents with Psychiatric Disorders. She writes extensively on the challenges facing these families, and provides training and consultation to professional and advocacy groups. Dr. Nicholson is currently a W.T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellow, and a Senior Fellow at the UMMS Center for Adoption Research. She is the 2006 winner of the USPRA Loeb Award for her career contribution to research in psychiatric rehabilitation.
For a list of relevant publications, please click here.   
 
Senior Fellow, Daniel Pollack, M.S.W., J.D., Professor of Social Work at Yeshiva University
Area of specialty: Social work and the courts; social work liability.

Daniel Pollack, M.S.W., J.D., senior fellow from 2002 through 2008, is a full professor at Yeshiva University's School of Social Work in New York City. He has been an expert witness in New York, Maryland, District of Columbia, California, South Carolina, and Vermont. Since 1980, Professor Pollack has held high-level executive and management positions in social welfare agencies in Maryland and Ohio, including Deputy Executive Director for Maryland's Social Services Administration and principal advisor for Health and Human Services to Ohio's governor. His experience includes liability of agencies and workers in child welfare, licensing of public and private facilities, record management, confidentiality and ethics. Professor Pollack is the author of Social Work and the Courts and more than a hundred articles on social welfare law and policy.  For a list of relevant publications, please click here. 

Senior Fellow Linda Sagor, M.D., M.P.H., Division Director of General Pediatrics, UMass Medical School
Area of specialty: Medical needs of children in foster care.

Linda Sagor, M.D., M.P.H., is Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at University of Massachusetts Medical School and Division Director of General Pediatrics at UMassMemorial Health Care. Dr. Sagor is also the current Chair of the Foster Care Committee of the Massachusetts chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics. She is the founder and medical director of the FaCES (Foster Children Evaluation Services) Clinic, open at UMMHC since 2003. Dr. Sagor has been an Associate Faculty member of the Office of Foster Care and Adoption Education and Policy since 2000, and has worked collaboratively with Office staff on a number of projects including a model course for medical schools called Adoption and Foster Care: Considerations for Medical Practice.
For a list of relevant publications, please click here.