Shamra Boel-Studt, PhD, MSW
Director, Institute for Quality Children’s Services
Associate Professor, College of Social Work

Dr. Boel-Studt has 20 years of combined experience in practice, training and technical assistance, research, and evaluation spanning the child welfare, children’s mental health, and juvenile justice systems. Boel-Studt holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Coe College and both a MSW and PhD in Social Work from the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on the quality and effectiveness of services for children and youth served in out-of-home care settings.

Dr. Boel-Studt has extensive experience collaborating with public and private agencies to promote quality services across child service systems. Her major contributions include developing and validating the Quality Standards Assessment for children’s out-of-home care. She serves as Principal Investigator, leading the development of Florida’s legislatively mandated statewide accountability system for residential care. She also collaborates with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the University of Texas Health at San Antonio to lead the development of a comprehensive quality improvement and training platform. This platform is part of the Residential Treatment Center Project that aims to treat children with acute behavioral health needs while supporting family preservation.

Jonathan Huefner, PhD
Co-Director, Institute for Quality Children’s Services

Jon has a Ph.D. in Organizational Social Psychology and more than 39 years of experience conducting research in a wide range of contexts. Strengths include psychometrics, research methodology, statistical analysis, and reporting and presentations. He has spent the last 21 years conducting research at Boys Town. His current research focuses on quality standards for children and adolescent residential care, negative peer contagion in residential care settings, residential care advocacy, psychotropic medication use with at-risk children, family involvement and youth outcomes, and return on investment related to residential outcomes.

Darejan (Daji) Dvalishvili, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, College of Social Work

Darejan (Daji) Dvalishvili is a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Social Work at Florida State University with a Ph.D. in Social Work and 10+ years of experience in research, monitoring, and evaluation services in systems-level initiatives in community, school, and child welfare settings. She is passionate about integrating principles of equity into the evaluations to ensure that the voices of all interested parties are heard and that the findings can inform policy, program development, and continuous improvement efforts. She is interested in both basic and applied research perspectives and is skilled in various research methods to produce actionable evidence.

Daji has a Ph.D. in Social Work from the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, an MSW from Columbia University (New York, US), and an MD from Tbilisi State Medical University (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia). Her research focuses on child and family well-being, the etiology and consequences of child maltreatment and other adverse childhood experiences, child protection and economic Interventions, child protection policies and system reforms. Her interests also include capacity building of the child protection workforce both in the US and globally. Toward that end, she has been working with UNICEF and other international and local non-profit organizations for several years.

Robynn Johnson, ADN
Parent Advisor, College of Social Work

Robynn Johnson, ADN is a former nurse who started out in the medical surgical field but found her passion working in the correctional system. While employed at the local county jail, Robynn enjoyed working with a special needs intra-disciplinary team. The team consisted of security staff, medical staff and mental health staff. The goal of the team was to ensure that clients with special needs were identified and provided adequate resources both in jail and upon release or transferred to another correctional facility. It was during this time that Robynn became aware of the lack of resources needed for the most vulnerable populations and the difficulty in navigating the system in order to acquire the resources for those in need.

Not only did Robynn deal with the frustration of securing resources in her professional life; she also has a more personal understanding of the need for early intervention. Her son Dylan, who is now 17, suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was just 3 years old. He was left with a large cognitive deficit, physical impairments, is medically fragile and has very aggressive behaviors. Four years ago, Robynn made the agonizing decision to commit her son for emergency in-patient services which became the beginning of a long and frustrating journey. Robynn has seen firsthand the positive aspects of pediatric residential care. Dylan is now thriving in a group home with a more structured environment and has a professional team available 24-7 to meet his needs. In providing her personal knowledge and experience, Robynn is hoping to help de-stigmatize the need for and make it easier to obtain pediatric residential services for those who desperately need it. She is hoping her personal experiences can help show where the system is working and where it needs to be improved.

Amy Greenwald, MA
Training Specialist, College of Social Work

Amy has over 20 years of experience in the juvenile justice and child welfare system in Florida. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Florida and a master’s degree from the University of Central Florida. She has years of field experience as well as a robust career in policy development, training, best practices, and research at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Amy also has personal experience as a proud mother of her daughter who was adopted though the child welfare system.

Priya Adhikari, MSW
Graduate Research Assistant, Institute for Quality Children’s Services

Priya Adhikari (she/her) is a graduate research assistant at Florida State University’s Institute for Quality Children’s Services (IQCS). Her research interests focus on policy implementation within the legal and carceral systems and the intersections with the child welfare system. Priya’s academic journey includes a B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Child Development from Florida State University and a Master of Social Work with a concentration in Leadership and Policy from the University of Denver. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Social Work at Florida State University under the mentorship of Dr. Shamra Boel-Studt. Her professional experience is rich and varied; she has served as a Graduate Research Assistant for a project regarding restorative justice under Dr. Shannon Sliva and completed an independent study under the guidance of faculty, Amity Good, focused on women who are justice-system involved. Priya’s professional philosophy is deeply intertwined with her personal beliefs. She advocates for a loving approach to accountability, ensuring that all her academic and professional endeavors are driven by a desire to make the world a better place.

Lauren Tobia, MSW
Doctoral Research Assistant, Institute for Quality Children’s Services

Lauren is a doctoral candidate in the College of Social Work at Florida State University. Her research interests focus on disparities in access to care among underserved populations. Lauren’s experiences as a licensed clinical social worker and research assistant, both globally and locally, inform her focus on bridging gaps in mental health services. She is particularly interested in addressing the needs of those affected by structural injustices, especially at the intersection of complex trauma and health.

Nancy Revell, BA
Website Developer, College of Social Work

Nancy Revell collaborates with internal teams in the design and development of their websites. Her background includes extensive experience in graphic design, website development, and branding with agencies, government and businesses throughout Florida and Kentucky. She is an FSU alumna and imspired by the IQCS team working to promote quality children’s services across child service systems.

DR. MATT VASQUEZ is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Trauma Institute, Vice-President of the Center for Transformational Resilience, Inc., an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa, and a former trauma therapist.

Dr. Vasquez currently provides training and consultation services on stress-mitigation and trauma-informed care practices across a variety of settings, including school districts, residential treatment centers, outpatient mental health practices, hospitals, child welfare agencies, first responder agencies (police, fire, EMS, and dispatch centers), non-profits, along with regional and national entities such as Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Midwest Trauma Services Network, and the International Trauma Center.

JENNIFER D. LUTHER oversees the development and implementation of innovative, research-based strategies to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of professionals assisting individuals in making meaningful, prosocial changes. She leads a team of dedicated professionals who collaborate to design, develop, and implement research-based practices in behavior change.

Jennifer is the lead author of integrated curricula being used nationally. Furthermore, she has been an active Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) member, serving in various leadership roles for fifteen years. In 2019, she became a MINT-Certified trainer and a certification reviewer in 2020. In 2021, she was awarded the US Department of Justice-Special Courage Award, which honors a victim or survivor who has shown exceptional perseverance in dealing with her own victimization and acted bravely to aid others. Ms. Luther is passionate about our individual and collective ability to think outside the box and facilitate pro-social change.