Mary
Beth Quaranta
Morrissey
mary.morrissey@yu.edu
- Dr. Mary Beth Morrissey has been appointed Chair of the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Medical Aid in Dying and will be leading the work of the Task Force in examining a range of legal and ethical issues concerning the proposed legislation (A.995A), including workforce education and training goals for social work and allied professions in the event the bill is enacted before the end of the current legislative session or next year.
- Earlier this year, Mary Beth accepted an invite to serve as Co-Host of the First Friday Radio Show on WVOX 1460, a program for lawyers addressing current legal issues that was first founded by Mary Beth’s brother, the late Honorable Kevin J. Quaranta. In recent shows, Mary Beth and co-host Shari Gordon, Esq., have interviewed New York State Senator Pete Harckman on hot legislative topics including education spending, the Radioactive Water Bill (S. 5181), and several other environmental bills. Mary Beth also recently led a discussion with Ms. Gordon and guests addressing the maternal mortality and morbidity public health crisis, a priority social policy issue and area of research interest for many students in the WSSW PhD Program.
- Mary Beth is a contributing chapter author in a newly released book edited by colleague Dr. Sarah H. Kamens titled, Reconceptualizing Schizophrenia: The Phenomenology of Urhomelessness, in Routledge’s International Society for Psychologists and Social Approaches to Psychosis Book Series. Mary Beth is last author on Dr. Kamens’ chapter titled, Urhomelessness As A Way of Being in the World. The chapter presents the general findings of Dr. Kamens’ dissertation study of schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum disorder from the phenomenological data analysis in which Mary Beth participated at Dr Kamen’s invitation. The book is of note for WSSW PhD students who are interested in phenomenological research methods for their dissertation work.
- Mary Beth is also a contributing author to a recent publication in The American Psychologist titled Health Inequities and Social Determinants of Health in Refugee and ImMigrant Communities. The publication is the product of a collaboration of the Refugee and Immigrant Communities Committee chaired by Dr. Falu Rami and Dr. Monica Indart, one of 11 working groups of the American Psychological Association Interdivisional Task Force on the Pandemic that commenced in late March 2020. Mary Beth served as an active member of the working group and also led the writing of a January 2021 Statement of several APA Divisions, the National Latinx Psychological Association, and the Georgia Human Rights Clinic calling attention to medical neglect and serious human rights violations of noncitizen women held at the Georgia Irwin County Detention Center. This detention center has since been closed in response to the robust outcry and advocacy efforts of numerous advocacy groups.
mary.morrissey@yu.edu