Liliane C. Windsor, PhD, MSW, joins the Mandel School as the Lillian F. Harris Professor of Social Work on July 1. A leading figure in the quest for health equity, her groundbreaking research is dedicated to elevating marginalized communities—through the application of critical consciousness theory, she has developed innovative interventions across substance use disorders treatment, infectious diseases and the criminal legal system.
Windsor's research methodology integrates community-based participatory research principles and the multiphase optimization strategy, employing diverse scientific approaches such as ethnography, randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis. She is the founder and chair of the Critical Consciousness Collaborative (3C), a pioneering group that partners with marginalized communities to create evidence-based health interventions. Notably, the 3C developed Community Wise, a groundbreaking intervention aimed at reducing substance use in underserved Black communities.
As principal investigator, she has led numerous large-scale randomized controlled trials funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Her contributions extend beyond academia—she served as a 2019–20 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, working in Senator Dick Durbin’s office to shape health policy.
“Welcoming an esteemed international scholar as an endowed professor at the Mandel School is a tremendous honor,” said Dean Dexter Voisin. “Dr. Windsor’s contributions will not only enrich our academic community but also elevate the transformative, community-driven research that defines our school and university.”
Before joining Case Western Reserve University, Windsor co-led the Behavioral Health Working Group at the Institute for Government and Public Affairs and served as associate dean for research and professor of social work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is an active member of the Society for Social Work Research, the National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education.
Originally from Brazil, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from Faculdade de Ciências Humanas – Fundação Mineira de Educação e Cultura (FCH-FUMEC) in 1998 and her Master of Science and doctoral degrees in social work from the University of Texas at Austin beginning in 2000.