Melissa Jonson-Reid

Melissa Jonson-Reid is the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work Research and Associate Dean for Educational Programs at the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis. She directs the NICHD-funded Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy, Research and Training and chairs the Violence and Injury Prevention specialization in the Master of Social Work program. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Her research focuses on improving outcomes for children exposed to trauma, leveraging multi-agency data to evaluate policies and community interventions. Key areas include:

• Child welfare systems and maltreatment prevention
• Interagency data integration for public sector services
• Family violence and trauma response
• Community-partnered program evaluation

Her recent publications emphasize predictive modeling in child welfare, cultural contexts of abuse intervention, and systemic analysis of neglect reports, reflecting a strong focus on translational research.

Awards include:

• World’s Top 2% Scientists (2024)
• Most-Cited Scientists (2022)

She mentors doctoral students and collaborates with the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies. Her NICHD-funded center supports innovations in child maltreatment research.