Gia Barboza-Salerno
Contact Information
Assistant Professor
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Areas of Expertise
- interpersonal violence
- child welfare
- law and policy
- geospatial analyses
Education
- BA Antrhopology University of California, Los Angeles
- J.D. Law Michigan State University
- M.A. Family and Child Ecology Michigan State University
- M.S. Statistics Michigan State University
- Ph.D Political Methodology Michigan State University
- Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University
| Dr. Gia Elise Barboza-Salerno’s scholarship examines the manifestation of violence across the lifespan, from childhood through older adulthood. Their work focuses on the multiple contextual and developmental influences on violence risk, including trauma exposure, externalizing behaviors, and substance use, and how these factors shape diverse forms of interpersonal harm. This includes domestic and intimate partner violence, adolescent bullying, self-harm (including suicide), and neglect among vulnerable populations such as children, adolescents, LGBTQ+ individuals, and older adults. Dr. Barboza-Salerno’s research integrates big data and nationally representative datasets with quasi-experimental and longitudinal research designs. Their methodological expertise includes advanced statistical and spatial approaches such as growth mixture modeling, parallel process modeling, and Bayesian space-time techniques. Their work has been published in leading interdisciplinary journals, including Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, Child Maltreatment, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Journal of Urban Health. Their research has been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, State Street, and United Way. Dr. Barboza-Salerno currently serves as an Associate Editor for Child Maltreatment and is a member of the editorial board for Discover Public Health. In addition to their academic work, Dr. Barboza-Salerno is an attorney and has worked in the courts as an advocate assisting survivors of domestic violence as they navigate the legal and criminal justice system |