(L-R) Mihaela Metianu, Ph.D., asst. provost, Center for Global Engagement; Nuria Godon, Ph.D., head of the Spanish Program in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters; Mauricio Ureta, Ph.D.; Naelys Luna, Ph.D., dean of the College of Social Work & Criminal Justice; and Maria de los Angeles Ortega Hernandez, DNP, assoc. dean of clinical practice in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.

 

CHILE

Dean Luna recently welcomed to campus Mauricio Ureta, Ph.D., director of the School of Social Work at the Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile. During his visit, Ureta met with a multi-disciplinary team to continue the discussion he began with Dean Luna during her October visit to South America, where she delivered a keynote presentation together with Manny Gonzalez, Ph.D., LCSW-R, associate professor in the Sandler School of Social Work, to Universidad de Valparaiso at the 6th International Clinical Social Work Conference. 

This conference was well attended by practitioners, academicians and students from Chile, the United States, Argentina, Peru, and Spain. Their presentation outlined a conceptual framework for clinical social workers (pictured below). “Our enthusiastic conversations to develop and support international programs in Chile were invigorating, and I’m confident will result in long-lasting collaborations between our two universities,” Dean Luna said.

COLOMBIA

Dean Luna also served as a member of the scientific committee that organized and launched the 1st International Mental Health and Addiction Conference in Latin America held in October 2022 in Bogota, Colombia. The conference was well attended by multiple international mental health leaders, practitioners, and academics from Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Spain, and Ecuador. Dean Luna joined the conference virtually and presented commentary at the plenary session on “The implications of opioid use and other substances in Latina America”. She also served as moderator on a panel discussing specific problems related to mental health in indigenous populations and in mental health providers in Mexico.