Bio
Daria is a doctoral student at Columbia University School of Social Work on the Advanced Practice track. Their research focuses on gentrification, social determinants of health, and the impacts of racism and discrimination on mental health, self-determination, and self-worth. As their research takes a community-focused approach to systems of oppression, Daria intends to improve policy that disproportionately criminalizes and incarcerates communities of color by leveraging data that amplifies the voices of the communities directly impacted by these policies with the goal of identifying actionable and equitable recommendations. As a Fellow in the NIH T-32 Predoctoral Training Program on HIV and Substance Use in the Criminal Justice System, Daria hopes to focus their work on those incarcerated who have been impacted by substance use, housing insecurity, and other social determinants of health.
Prior to coming to Columbia, Daria was a therapist at the Valley Youth House Achieving Independence Center, where they empowered clients to achieve wellness goals through individual solution-focused brief therapy and group therapy. Daria earned their Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice in 2022, where they had rich clinical experiences at the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia where they conducted trauma-focused therapy sessions, and at Delaware County Memorial Hospital where they facilitated substance use therapy sessions with individuals and groups. Daria graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2020, where they assisted with research on methods and sex differences, facilitated dialogues for high school students on power and privilege, and researched implicit gender stereotypes in parents and children using open source software.