Research Team

Iris Cardenas, PhD, LSW
Assistant Professor
University of Maryland School of Social Work
Affiliate, InCommunity Lab at Arizona State University
Email: iris.cardenas@ssw.umaryland.edu

Dr. Iris Cardenas is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, conducting research on intimate partner violence (IPV) within the Latinx community. She obtained her doctoral and master’s degrees in social work from Rutgers University and gained valuable experience as a fellow with the National Institute of Justice Research Assistantship Program.

Her research is characterized by a strong emphasis on Latinx culturally concordant translational research, employing person-centered approaches and intersectionality methods. Dr. Cardenas is particularly dedicated to the development and evaluation of trauma-informed, culturally responsive interventions aimed at preventing and mitigating the consequences of IPV, with a keen eye toward reducing the social and health disparities prevalent in the Latinx population. Her work delves into survivors’ help-seeking behaviors and cross-cultural scale adaptation and the validation of psychometric properties, ensuring the validity and reliability of measurement tools in Latinx cultural contexts. Dr. Cardenas has presented her research at national and international conferences.

Research interests: Intimate partner violence in the Latinx communities; victimization and help-seeking behaviors; health and well-being; culturally responsive interventions; cross-cultural scale adaptation and psychometric properties validation.

Laurie M. Graham, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor
University of Maryland School of Social Work

Dr. Laurie Graham, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work in Baltimore, has committed her social work career to violence intervention and prevention. She came to this position with more than a decade of experience addressing intimate partner and sexual violence in community settings.

Dr. Graham’s experience offering supportive services to people who have experienced violence and implementing intimate partner and sexual violence prevention programs guides her research and teaching. Using an intersectional, healing-engaged lens, Dr. Graham supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of culturally responsive, youth-centered violence and fatality prevention strategies, while also educating social work graduate students.

Dr. Graham received her MSW and PhD from the University of North Carolina at School of Social Work in Chapel Hill, where she was a Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Fellow and Injury and Violence Prevention Fellow.

Seferina Kim, PharmD
Advanced Practice Pharmacist
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
Email: seferina.kim@rx.umaryland.edu

Seferina Kim is a clinical pharmacist board-certified in pharmacotherapy and serves as chair of the Intimate Partner Violence Collaborative at UMB. She is researching knowledge gaps for identifying, triaging, and referring victims of IPV by people who provide direct patient care. Dr. Kim is coordinator for the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Residency Program at UMB and clinical staff for the School of Pharmacy with a primary site at the outpatient Medication Therapy Management Clinic at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Marcela Sarmiento Mellinger, MSW, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Maryland, Baltimore County School of Social Work
Email: msmell@umbc.edu

Marcela Sarmiento Mellinger is an associate professor in the School of Social Work, teaching primarily at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. As a practitioner, she worked as a systems advocate and an administrator. She has extensive experience working with individuals impacted by intimate partner violence and in training practitioners and para-professionals who encounter survivors and victims in their work.

She has experience working with government administrators, the courts, legislators, and the community in determining social needs and developing strategies to raise awareness and bring about change. She teaches courses that address gender-based violence and policy. Her main areas of research include advocacy, intimate partner violence, and social work education.  

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