Abigail "Abby" Palmer Molina became a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago in 2024.
Palmer Molina’s research focuses on promoting infant and early childhood mental health and parent/caregiver resilience, with an emphasis on advancing mental health equity for marginalized, low-income parents of young children. Much of her work centers on developing and implementing cross-system family interventions for multiply stressed mothers, particularly those experiencing depression. The overarching goal of her work is to promote a “whole family” approach to mental health and well-being that co-locates services for both children and parents and views caregivers as deeply deserving of support and investment. Palmer Molina is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has completed fellowships in neurodevelopmental and related disabilities at the University of Illinois at Chicago and child and family mental health at the Yale Child Study Center.
Palmer Molina received her PhD in Social Work from USC, her AM from the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, and her BA in English and Communication Studies from UCLA.