Webinars

Dr. Willis is currently a faculty at the University of Washington and a recent Society for Research in Child Development and American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also served as the Manager for Reentry Initiatives at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University where she oversaw all federal and state grants related to reentry programming. In her role as lead evaluator, she navigated the complex relationships between county stakeholders, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, community partners, and systems including community mental health, county jails, Michigan Department of Corrections, probation/parole, case managers, and peer support specialists. Her research examined the interface of the criminal legal system and child welfare public policies, specifically the impact of child welfare policy on incarcerated parents and the clinical, educational, and behavioral outcomes for their children in state care. Her child welfare work includes research identifying some essential skills and competencies to promote permanency and foster youth transition to adulthood. Her criminal justice work examined police interactions with individuals with mental illness and substance use disorder, law enforcement training on crisis intervention, and police use of force. Dr. Willis holds a Ph.D. in Social Work with minors in criminal justice and statistics from Wayne State University, and a graduate certificate in Mixed Methods Research Analysis from the University of Michigan.