Seven NYU Silver Faculty Rank in the Top 2% of Scientists Worldwide

  • Posted by NYU Silver Communications Office
  • Categories News
  • Date October 16, 2024

Grid of faculty headshots, clockwise from top left with the NYU Silver logo on a violet background in the bottom right corner: Ruopeng An, Marylene Cloitre, Wen-Jui Han, Gary Holden, Jerome Wakefield, Deborah Padgett, and James Jaccard.

The NYU Silver School of Social Work is home to seven scholars who rank among the top-cited scientists in the world, according to researchers from Elsevier and Stanford University. Professors Ruopeng An,  Wen-Jui Han,  Gary Holden,  Deborah K. Padgett, and Jerome C. Wakefield, Research Professor Marylene Cloitre  and Professor Emeritus James  Jaccard were ranked in the top 2% based on citations, according to the 2024 study.

“The presence of our faculty members on this prestigious list reflects not only their individual scholarly reach, but also NYU Silver’s commitment to supporting innovative and transformative research that advances knowledge in social work and related disciplines, such as public health, psychiatry and psychology,” said Dean Michael A. Lindsey. “They are among the many NYU Silver scholars with high impact and influence within our field.”  In addition to making the top 2% overall, each Silver faculty member also ranked very highly among the top 2% within their field subcategories. They ranged from top 0.6% to top 2.5% among their subcategory peers, reflective of their career-to-date standing and excluding self-citations.

Learn more about each scholar:

Ruopeng An, PhD, MPP is a leading expert in obesity epidemiology and policy evaluation, a noted interdisciplinary data scientist, and an internationally-recognized scholar in applying artificial intelligence to address public health disparities and social inequities.

Marylene Cloitre, PhD is an expert in PTSD and the long-term effects of trauma on social and emotional functioning and is dedicated to the development of effective, patient-tailored, flexibly delivered mental health programs for trauma-exposed populations.

Wen-Jui Han, PhD, MSW is recognized for her research on the effects of parental employment, family and school environment, and family policies on children’s development in general and on children of immigrants in particular.

Gary Holden, DSW, MSW has published on a range of topics including behavioral telehealth, bibliometrics, social work education, and the Social Cognitive Theory construct self-efficacy.

James Jaccard, PhD is an expert in decision making and attitude change whose research focuses on adolescent and young adult problem behaviors, particularly those related to unintended pregnancy and substance use, broadly defined.

Deborah K. Padgett, PhD, MPH, MA is widely known for her expertise in qualitative and mixed methods and her research on homelessness and mental health needs and service use of underserved populations.

Jerome C. Wakefield, PhD, DSW, MSW, MA is an authority on the intersection between philosophy and the mental health professions whose scholarly specialty is the conceptual foundations of clinical theory.

About the Rankings

The August 2024 data set titled “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators,” is a comprehensive list that includes over 200,000 top scientists classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields. They are ranked based on a composite indicator calculated with metrics including total citations; citations in which the scientist was the sole, first or last author; h-index, which counts the number of an author’s publications cited by other authors the same number of times, and co-authorship, providing a comprehensive measure of a scientist’s impact, accounting for both the quantity and the quality of their contributions.

About NYU Silver School of Social Work

Founded in 1960 and renowned for a strong tradition of excellence in direct social work practice and dedication to social  justice, NYU Silver has provided rigorous training to more than  20,000 social work practitioners and leaders in every area of the field, making it the leading destination for students who want to become innovative practitioners at the micro, mezzo, and macro  levels of social work practice. The School has four campuses in the heart of New York City, Rockland County, Westchester County, and Shanghai.

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