Shandra Forrest-Bank

Shandra Forrest-Bank, director of the Social Work Office of Research and Public Service, has expertise in the transition to adulthood, risk and resilience, positive youth development, and racial microaggression. Her main focus is understanding how poverty and racism are factors impacting young adult trajectories.

She also has a background as a clinician and administrator in community-based addiction treatment programs and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with opioids, other drugs, and alcohol. These experiences led her to research substance abuse prevention, especially for disadvantaged youth.