Cassandra Bransford has extensive expertise in clinical social work practice, including over 30 years of experience as a psychiatric social worker. She received her MSW from the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), and her PhD in Social Work, Advanced Practice, from Columbia University. In addition to developing advanced clinical practice courses for the Binghamton University Department of Social Work since its inception, she serves as Director of Applied Clinical Research for the Center on Aging, a division of the Institute for Multigenerational Studies. Bransford has been trained in psychoanalysis, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), among many other therapeutic approaches. Her research focuses on contributing to the knowledge base of evidence-based models to address mental health disparities among high-risk populations, with particular focuses on using IPT to reduce depression among older adults with cognitive impairment and their caregivers and on using attachment-based EMDR to reduce depression and anxiety among mothers and their children in under-resourced neighborhoods. Bransford's scholarship and publications have also focused on the use of professional authority in managed care settings; incorporating critical theory into social work research, theory and practice; and developing advocacy coalitions within managed care settings.
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