Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Linda M. Callejas, PhD Research Assistant Professor Phone: 813-974-6328 Fax: 813-974-4640 Office: MHC-2439 Send an email View Curriculum Vitae

Linda M. Callejas, Ph.D. is an applied cultural anthropologist with expertise in community-engaged research and qualitative methodologies. Her research and evaluation activities are focused in three main areas: 1) understanding the experiences of historically underserved communities to illuminate the mechanisms that lead to behavioral health inequities; 2) examining efforts for genuine research collaboration between researchers and diverse community stakeholders; and 3) the use of culturally rooted healing interventions developed within community settings. Through her work, Dr. Callejas seeks to contribute to knowledge and practice focused on reducing the burden of inequities in communities that experience social marginalization. Most recently, she has focused on better understanding the experiences of parents involved in child welfare systems in the state of Florida, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Callejas leads the Parent Partners for Families of Miami-Dade Evaluation, a federally funded study including child welfare involved families, who are at risk of permanently losing custody of their children. This study is being conducted collaboratively with Citrus Family Care Network, the lead child welfare agency in Miami-Dade County, FL and evaluates the effect of peer support on the reunification of families in foster care. Building on this work, Dr. Callejas is working to better understand the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on child welfare system workers and families in Florida.

Dr. Callejas serves as a lead faculty member and advisor for the USF Master of Science Program in Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, which prepares students to serve in public sector and nonprofit organizations that address the behavioral health needs of children, youth, and families. She leads the program’s Leadership Focus Area and teaches courses designed to prepare students for positions of executive leadership with skills and knowledge in organizational capacity building, program implementation, and research translation.