Social Work Meet Our Team

Dr. Jen Currin-McCulloch (she/her/hers)  is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Colorado State University.  Her practice and research focus on enhancing the psychosocial quality of life among individuals and families facing cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. She worked for two decades as an oncology and palliative care social worker in hospital, hospice, and nonprofit healthcare settings. Her work with both pediatric and adult populations uncovered glaring disparities in access to health and mental health services for people with life-limiting illnesses and their caregivers.  Her doctoral training was funded through the Doctoral Training Grant from The American Cancer Society as she explored the meaning and function of hope among young adults with advanced cancer. 

Dr. Currin-McCulloch is drawn by the intricacies of personal narratives and understanding what brings joy, hope, meaning, and purpose to life. Her work with medical aid in dying explores how individuals find meaning and hope at the end of life and the ways in which this option impacts the grief experiences of their loved ones. 

She employs mixed method designs and photovoice methods to investigate existential quality of life; identity development amidst life-limiting illness; health communication preferences at the end of life; and the impact of social determinants of health on physical and psychosocial functioning.

Dr. Currin-McCulloch’s Google Scholar page

Kim Mooney (she/her/hers)  is an internationally-recognized Thanatologist (a student of dying, death, and grief and their effects on people and society) and the president of Practically Dying, LLC (Practically-Dying.com).  Since 1991, she has been a professional advocate for ethical and quality end-of-life choices and grief education and support.  She has worked with hospices and as a consultant for individuals, families, faith communities, corporations, health care organizations, and national end-of-life initiatives.  She has also been a community educator for statewide Advance Care Planning projects, the Colorado End-of-Life Options Act (Medical Aid in Dying), and The Conversation Project in Boulder County, and serves on ethics committees in hospitals and hospices.  Kim is a keynote speaker, published author, and has developed teams and programs on grief, crisis response, caregiving and end of life planning, locally and nationally.  Kim is the recipient of the international Association for Death Education and Counseling’s 2018 Community Educator award.  Practically Dying is an educational and support resource whose mission is to help us remember how to engage birth, life and death as opportunities to live without hesitation and die without regret.  

Email: kimmooney22@icloud.com 

Juliana Borrego-Villanueva (she/ella) is a dual masters public health and social work student with a global health and health disparities concentration candidate, as well as the Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Jennifer Currin-McCulloch. She is also a native Spanish speaker. 

Juliana has had experiences at skilled nursing facilities, community health clinics and now hospital settings working with diverse populations. Juliana has interests in older adults, health disparities and cancer prevention within the Latinx community. Her long-term goals include continuing working with the Latinx community to improve health outcomes. Juliana has a passion for using her native language and helping patients feel a little piece of peace knowing there is someone that truly understands them. She believes language has the power in connecting people and bringing cultures together. She has been able to see most of the levels of healthcare and how patients are affected in different ways and the lack of Latinx representation in these settings. She would like to continue to be in a healthcare setting and advocate for all patients and add to the Latinx representation in healthcare. It’s important that the Latinx community is involved in health education and can increase participation from other community members. Her dual degree MPH/MSW gives her a unique insight into an integrated approach to preventing, addressing, and solving global health and behavioral health problems. It has also given her an even deeper insight on social justice, behavioral health and holistic community and population health and well-being.

Yixuan Wang (She/her/hers) is a doctoral student in the School of Social Work and a Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Jennifer Currin-McCulloch.

Yixuan’s focus on pediatric palliative care stems from her passionate interest in interdisciplinary research and an enlightening internship with the Pediatric Palliative Care Specialty Fund in China. In particular, her previous studies of illness-related stress, coping strategies, and parent-child communication patterns in children with cancer have led to her commitment to emphasizing their subjectivity by conducting child-centered research. In addition, she desires to explore the potential of technology (e.g., smart devices, virtual reality) in developing, training, and defining new interventions and service delivery models in pediatric palliative care. She believes it would empower social workers with creative tools, improve the efficiency and accessibility of social services, and facilitate the application of technology for social good.

Dr. Shivani Kaushik has significant clinical experience as a medical social worker, with a special interest in end-of-life care and aging. Having resided in cities such as Montreal, Vancouver (BC), New York City, and Boston, she is well-versed in supporting diverse and vulnerable populations. She also possesses a great interest and vast knowledge in working with and supporting individuals who have experienced loss and/or anticipatory grief. With her extensive practice experience in end-of-life and bereavement care practices, she has transcended this knowledge to explore end-of-life care interventions in correctional settings, specifically peer-support programming. Dr. Kaushik published the first systematic review of compassionate release policies in the United States (2023) and has shared her knowledge at 30 (and counting) national and international conferences. Dr. Kaushik also served as a VPR Research Fellow at Colorado State University. She is an assistant professor at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work at Florida International University.