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Marva L. Lewis, PhD

Photo of Dr. Marva Lewis

Marva L. Lewis, PhD

Associate Professor
Mlewis@tulane.edu
Elk Place, Room 210
504-862-3478
Download CV (295.9 KB)
Faculty Profiles Faculty by Expertise

Program Area:

  • Doctorate of Social Work
  • Master of Social Work

Areas of Expertise:

  • Child Advocacy, Protection, and Welfare
  • Historical Oppression and Marginalization
  • Interpersonal Trauma

 

Education

  • PhD in Sociocultural Psychology from University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
  • MA in Sociocultural Psychology from University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
  • BA in Psychology from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

 

Biography

Dr. Lewis' program of research focuses on the development of culturally valid research methods and measures of racism-based stress during pregnancy, Colorism in African American families, and parental acceptance or rejection of children. Specifically her basic and applied research includes:

  1. Basic research on racism-based stress as an unrecognized factor in racial disparities in perinatal infant outcomes in African American women.
  2. Applied research using narrative therapy techniques and measures to strengthen African American family intergenerational relationships based on issues of Colorism as a legacy of the historical trauma of slavery.
  3. The prevention and reduction of child abuse and neglect and strengthening parent-child attachment through the use of the hair combing task, and a parent-education curriculum, Talk, Touch & Listen While Combing Hair, for use with a community-based parent support group using visualization methods and peer support, infant mental health concepts and techniques.
  4. The development of an evidenced-based tool for use by individuals, organizations, and groups on the topic of Diversity, Privilege and Oppression.

In 2021, Dr. Lewis was endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Mentor-Research/Faculty by the Alliance for the Advancement of  Infant Mental Health.

 

Selected Funding

2021-2022 - Sequential mixed-method research study on Talk, Touch and Listen While Combing Hair parent groups.  The New Orleans Early Childhood Network, PI, M. L. Lewis, $120,000.

2021 - Diversity and Inclusion Training for Social Workers: An Integrated Approach - Tulane University Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) Undergraduate Summer Research Award, $2,500. Bailey Smith, PI, M. L. Lewis Faculty Mentor

2020 - Webinar Series Talk, Touch and Listen Parent Café. Sub-Contract Award from University of South Florida. M. L. Lewis P.I. $20,000.

2016-2017 - Pilot Talk, Touch & Listen While Combing Hair: A hybrid on-line community-based parent group. $9,000. Carol Lavin-Berneck Foundation, M. Lewis & K. Theall Co-PI’s.

 

Selected Publications

Lewis, M. L., Editor, D. Weatherston, Co-Ed. (December 2021) Therapeutic cultural routines to build  family relationships. Talk, touch, and listen while combing hair. Springer Publishers.

Iruka, I. U., Lewis, M. L., Lozada, F. T., Bocknek, E., & Brophy-Herb, H. (2021). Call to action: Centering Blackness and disrupting systemic racism in academic publishing. Infant Mental Health Journal, 42(6). DOI: 10.1002/imhj.21950.

Harden, V., Ramos, I., Romaines, J., Lewis, M. L. (2021). Interlocking theories and practice in treatment and recovery for women with opioid use disorders. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions. https://doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2021.1954398.

Lewis, M. L., & Norwood, R. G. (2019). “When I go to heaven, I’ll be White”:  The ethics of transracial adoption within the context of childhood trauma and racial identity development. Zero to Three Journal, 40(1), 12-21.

Butler Byrd, N. M., Rowe-Odom, M. J., Bushfan, O. L., Gill, A., Baca, K., & Lewis, M. L. (2019). Using hair-combing interactions to enhance relationships between Black women and girls impacted by homelessness. Women and therapy. DOI: 10.1080/02703149.2019.1622912.

Lewis, M. L. (2019).  The Intergenerational Transmission of Protective Parenting Responses to Historical Trauma.  In (Editors) H. E. Fitzgerald, D. Johnson, D. Qin, F. Villarruel, and J. Norder. The Handbook of children and prejudice: Integrating research practice and policy, 43-61. Springer Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12228-7. 

Lewis, M. L. & Craddock, K. T. (2019). Mothering while Black: Strengths and vulnerabilities in a sociopolitical racial context of structural inequality. In, The Routledge Companion to Motherhood, 1st  Edition. Edited by L. O’Brien Hallstein, A. O’Reilly, & M. V. Giles. Routledge.
 

Community Involvement / Board Positions

  • 2019-present - Steering committee for the Task Force on Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience for Council on Social Work Education.

  • 2003-present - Associate Editor and Ad-hoc committee member to address systemic racism in academic publishing for the Infant Mental Health Journal.

  • 2018-present - Associate Editor - Developmental Psychology.

  • 2017 to 2019 - President of the Louisiana Infant Mental Health Association