NADINE FINIGAN
Prevention Research Scientist
Nadine M Finigan-Carr, Ph.D., is a prevention research scientist focused on the application of behavioral and social science perspectives to research on contemporary health problems, especially those that disproportionately affect people of color. Her scholarship is grounded in theories and methods found primarily in the field of health behavior change among individuals and the environments that support or impede chronic disease prevention or management, injury, and violence. She is a nationally recognized expert on domestic minor human trafficking and sexual exploitation. In 2018, she presented a TedX talk titled, Child Prostitutes Don’t Exist.
Currently, Dr. Finigan-Carr is a Research Associate Professor and the Deputy Director of the Ruth Young Center for Maryland at the UMB: School of Social Work where she leads the Prevention of Adolescent Risks Initiative. She is the Principal Investigator of research projects at both the state and federal levels designed to intervene with system involved youth – those in foster care or the juvenile justice system. These youth have a double vulnerability – adolescence, a critical stage marked by increased risk for negative social and behavioral outcomes including aggression and sexual risk behaviors; and, being removed from their families of origin.
Dr Finigan-Carr is the author of Linking Health and Education for African American Students’ Success (Routledge Press). She was the guest editor for the Journal of Negro Education’s 2015 special issue on “Out-of-School Time and African American Students: Understanding the Health, Environmental, and Social Determinants of Academic Success;” and the Journal of Violence and Victims’ 2020 special issue on “Human Trafficking of Children and Youth.” She also serves as a Commissioner of Community Relations in the Baltimore City Office of Civil Rights.