Jessica Bagneris

Dr. Bagneris joined the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work in August 2022 as an assistant professor.

As a young African American girl who experienced Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Bagneris witnessed as Hurricane Katrina devastated her city, her home. Overtime, she realized that Hurricane Katrina was a catalyst for Trauma, not only because it was a natural disaster, but because of the chronic lapse in governmental recovery efforts among marginalized communities of color and low socioeconomic status. This realization led to a passion about conducting work that focuses on promoting justice and alleviating negative outcomes among marginalized children and families who are at greater risk of experiencing trauma.

To accomplish this aim, Dr. Bagneris maintains an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to research and practice, conducting work across social work, public health, education, and technological sciences. Her research is dedicated to conducting trauma-informed work that focuses on (1) addressing biopsychosocial outcomes impacted by disparities harming marginalized populations and (2) intervening upon those disparities to build resiliency and restructure systems for equity and opportunity.  In addition to her interdisciplinary research, her practice experience also involved working with teams of social workers, public health workers, and educators to alleviate macro- and micro-level concerns for clients and communities.

Currently, her work is focused on developing a better understanding of the disparities impacting marginalized youth within the education and public health systems, focusing heavily on assessing current practices and developing better tools to promote equity across educational systems and systems of health. Her research aims to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of social work practice and research by developing trauma-informed and evidence-based interventions that bridge the divide between disciplines in order to impact change for marginalized populations across systems.