Ronald Asiimwe has joined Family Social Science as an assistant professor of couple and family therapy specializing in culturally responsive practices. Asiimwe (Dr. A) grew up in Uganda. He holds a BA in community psychology from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, an MS in marriage and family therapy from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and a PhD in human development and family studies with a specialization in couple and family therapy from Michigan State University, East Lansing. Dr. A has research and clinical experience practicing in the U.S. and in his home country of Uganda. His research program integrates multicultural perspectives to study how trauma affects parenting, child/youth outcomes, and overall couple and family relationship functioning in underserved communities in the USA and in Sub-Saharan Africa. He also has research interests in measurement and scale validation, alongside the development of systemic family therapy in Africa.
“I am particularly driven to these areas with the goal to discover scientifically proven and culturally responsive practices that can help individuals and families in underserved communities negotiate crises, improve parenting, couple, and family relationships, and improve overall mental and emotional wellbeing of underserved families and communities,” he says.
This fall, Asiimwe was honored with the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy John Douglas Award for his EFT initiatives in East Africa. The John Douglas Award is an annual award given to an EFT member who has made a significant contribution to the growth of the EFT model internationally.
He has also been recognized with the Family Process Institute’s 2022 Dissertation Grant Award, the 2023 New Writers Fellowship from the Family Process Institute, and the 2022 Excellence in Graduate Teaching award from Michigan State University. He is also a former fellow of the Certificate in Leadership program of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and recently joined the AAMFT board.
Fun fact: What do you do in your downtime?
I enjoy playing tennis, traveling, reading and watching comical books or TV shows, running marathons, skiing, watching soccer, and college basketball.
Note: This story was originally published in CEHD Connect magazine, written by Kevin Moe. It has been edited.