María Gandarilla Ocampo

María Gandarilla Ocampo is a third-year social work doctoral student at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests involve child maltreatment epidemiology and child welfare policy, with a focus on mandated reporting policies and their role in bringing families, particularly families of color, to interact with child welfare systems. María is currently a graduate research assistant for the Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy, Research, and Training and the Parents and Children Together-St. Louis (PACT-STL) grant project. In these roles, María engages in research evaluating child maltreatment prevention strategies aimed at strengthening families and preventing future interaction with child protective services. María values the unique strengths and contributions of quantitative and qualitative research methods and she engages in the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data to inform her work. Ultimately, María hopes to engage in mixed methods research that informs the development and implementation of policies and interventions that prevent child maltreatment, bolster families, and promote child well-being.