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Final Program


AT-A-GLANCE PDF

Bethlyn Houlihan, MSW MPH

Senior Project Director
Center for Innovaiton in Social Work & Health, BU SSW

Bethlyn Vergo Houlihan, MSW, MPH, is the Associate Director of Community-Driven Innovation for the Smart Tech for Paralysis Hub (ST4P) at the University of Pittsburgh and Senior Project Director at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH) at Boston University’s School of Social Work. With over 24 years of experience at the intersection of social work and public health, she focuses on disability justice and health equity.

For ST4P, she leads qualitative research by the team and unique community engagment approaches. At CISWH, Bethlyn co-directs the Social Work Innovation Lab, fostering interdisciplinary, community-driven innovation. She leads systems change projects, providing technical assistance and training to public health leaders alongside family and community advocates. As Co-Principal Investigator, she leads the Future of Care for Children with Medical Complexity (CMC) Virtual Café Series, developing a framework to advance humanistic care. Bethlyn contributes to research improving measures of child quality of life and family well-being for CMC. Recently, she led key informant interviews for the DIVERSE Collective (PI: Amy Houtrow) to identify strategies advancing care for multiply marginalized children with disabilities.

Bethlyn also co-led the Partners in Pediatric Readiness, Emergency Preparedness, and Response Education curriculum, developing resources for families and first responders of CMC. She co-edited a Pediatrics journal supplement on improving care for these children. Bethlyn held leadership roles at BU School of Public Health, directing research and telehealth projects for people with spinal cord injuries. She led the development of "My Care My Call," a peer-led health empowerment intervention. She has presented extensively at national and international conferences and served nearly 20 years on the Board of the Greater Boston Chapter of the United Spinal Association. Her expertise spans systems approaches, implementation science, strategic partnerships, sustainable financing, workforce capacity-building, and knowledge translation.

Poster(s):