Lekie Dwanyen, who earned both her undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Family Social Science, will be honored by the College of Education and Human Development with a Rising Alumni Award April 30.
She is currently is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Michigan State University. Her research involves the study of traumatic stress and relational health in families affected by war and political violence. She is interested in culturally and contextually relevant strategies to reduce mental health disparities in marginalized communities. Dr. Dwayen is invested in advancing systemic family therapy and global mental health research and practice with immigrant and refugee families, as well as families in post-conflict settings. Along these lines, she has engaged Liberian refugees in the U.S. and stakeholders in the national mental health system in Uganda to examine culturally relevant strategies to address family- and community-level mental health concerns.