Our Team
Lab Director
Aimee Hilado, Ph.D., LCSW
Practitioner Scholar
Affiliations
- Assistant Professor, UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
- Faculty Affiliate, UChicago Center for Race, Politics, and Culture
- Faculty Affiliate, UChicago Inclusive Economy Lab
- Fellow, UChicago Center for Health Administration Studies
- Board Member, Bright Promises Foundation, Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health, ZERO TO THREE
Aimee Hilado, Ph.D., LCSW is a community-engaged, mixed methods researcher and seasoned licensed clinical social worker specializing in immigration trauma and immigrant/refugee mental health with over 16 years in the field. Dr. Hilado is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice where she teaches and conducts research on understudied pathways to promoting mental wellness and adjustment for newcomers. Her research lab studies diverse communities across different immigration statuses – refugees, asylum-seekers, migrants, unaccompanied children – and across the lifespan from early childhood to older adults with a focus on mental health outcomes in the context of the organizations and health systems they interface. Dr. Hilado’s work extends the fields understanding of contextual trauma theory, models of adaptive coping and healing, and environmental and sociopolitical conditions that adversely influence mental health.
Dr. Hilado’s work has been published in the Pediatric Annals, Psychological Services, Journal of Early Childhood Research, and Early Childhood Research and Practice. She also contributed to chapters in Refugee Mental Health (American Psychological Association, 2021) and Migrant Workers: Social Identity, Occupational Challenges, and Health Practices (NOVA Science Publishers, 2016). Her most recent edited book is Models for Practice with Immigrants and Refugees: Collaboration, Cultural Awareness, and Integrative Theory (Sage Publications, 2017). Dr. Hilado’s research has also been cited in national policy forums including the Migration Policy Institute and the Urban Institute as well as national and local media outlets including NPR, Fast Company, the Chicago Tribune, and WBEZ Chicago. As a migration trauma and mental health expert, she has been invited to contribute to articles in several magazines and newspapers including The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the South Side Weekly.
Read more on Dr. Hilado’s UChicago Crown Faculty Page.
Thank you to past and present colleagues and collaborators whose passion and shared investment in refugee mental health serves as a guidepost for the Refugee Wellness Lab.
~ Aimee Hilado
Partner Institutions
Research Methodologists
Melissa Bond, Ph.D.
Many to Many, LLC.
Tara Chiatovich, Ph.D.
Rethink First
Christine Leow, Ph.D., Ed.S., M.Ed.
The Hope Center, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Belén Rogowski
Department of Psychological Sciences, Northern Arizona University
Robert E. Wickham, PhD
Department of Psychological Sciences, Northern Arizona University
Research Partners
Patricia Aguirre, LCSW
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Melissa Buchholz, Psy.D.
School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital at University of Colorado – Denver
Yvita Bustos, Ph.D.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Center for Childhood Resilience
Elizabeth Charleston
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago & DePaul University
Ann Chu, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Child Trauma Research Program
Rebecca Ford-Paz, Ph.D.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago & Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber, M.Ed., MA
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Carolyn Ponting, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Research Assistants
Joshua Anaya+
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Ana Castillo James+
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Elizabeth Davisson *, §, †
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Natalie Fick+
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Eivan Herrera-Valdez*
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Ryan Johnson+
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Fawwad Khan, MD+
General Psychiatry Resident
University of Illinois at Chicago
Grace Lee, †
Undergraduate Student
University of Michigan
Abby Palmer+
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Si Hyun Park+
Master’s Student
UChicago MA Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS)
Elizabeth Sanchez, MSW *, §, †
Doctoral Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Lu Tong+
Master’s Student
UChicago MA Program in Social Sciences (MAPSS)
Jonah Valverde*
BA/MA Student
The College and MAPSS Program, University of Chicago
Casey Waskiewicz+
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Vivian Zhan+
Master’s Student
MAPSS Program
Other Contributors
Adrienne Kaplowitz
Web Designer
Past Contributors
Carrie Baker, AM '24*
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Oscar Becerra Hernandez, MPP '24*
UChicago Harris School of Public Policy & Graduate Program in Health Administration Policy (GPHAP)
Ash Campos*
Undergraduate Student
The College, University of Chicago
Alissa Charvonia, Ph.D. ‡
Howard University
Abbey Cliffe, AM '24*
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Kathleen Cox+
LSI Fellow
University of Chicago, Leadership and Society Initiative (LSI)
Maddie Fox, AM '25 §
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Shiyu Lin, AM '25 §
Master’s Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Zean Luo, MPP '25+
Master’s Student
UChicago Harris School of Public Policy
Samantha Martinez, A.M.*
Doctoral Student
UChicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Wendy R. Martinez Araujo, M.D. ‡
NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
Falu Rami, Ph.D. ‡
Independent Researcher & Practitioner
Yiyao Sun, §
Undergraduate Student
The College, University of Chicago
Project Assignments
* “Reimagining Mental Health Supports for Migrant Arrivals” Study (2022-2025) funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Schreiber Catalyst Fund, IFC, Crossroads, and Healthy Communities Foundation
† “New Arrivals Mission Leadership” Study (2022-2023) funded by UChicago Crown Family School
‡ “Pediatric Care for Asylum-seeking Migrants” Study (2023) for the Pediatric Annals Special Issue
§ “Home Visiting with Refugee and Immigrant Families” Study (2024-2025) funded by the UChicago-Chapin Hall Joint Research Fund
+ “Promoting Parent and Family Wellbeing in Refugee Resettlement Contexts” Study (2024-2025) funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services and Jewish United Fund
