James Whitworth is an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida. He has taught graduate clinical social work courses for ten years. Dr. Whitworth has also provided private practice counseling for military members, veterans, and their families with depression, anxiety, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Lt Colonel (Ret) Whitworth served as a clinical social worker and mental health officer in the US Air Force for 21 years. He is the former Chief of Air Force Family Research at the Pentagon and also worked three years as the Chief of Air Force Family Advocacy Operations and Research. Dr. Whitworth has presented and published research on trauma response/recovery/resilience, PTSD assessment/treatment, alternative treatments for PTSD, family violence and building community capacity within military populations. Dr. Whitworth taught behavioral medicine and research to Family Medicine Residents at Eglin Air Force base for six years.

Dr. Durgin is the Medical Director at Devereux-Florida and serves on Devereux’s National Medical Advisory Committee.

She graduated from Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and completed her General Psychiatry Residency followed by a Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she served as Chief Fellow.

She is Board Certified and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She has served as a Councilor of the Florida Psychiatric Society and served as Chair of the Child and Adolescent Committee for FPS. She has been serving as a member of the Florida Medicaid Workgroup expert panel to develop Guidelines for Psychotropic Medication Use for Children and Adolescents with and without Neurodevelopmental Disorders since 2009.

She was Chair and co-presenter of a workshop at the 2013 and 2014 AACAP annual meetings titled: “A Residential Treatment Model for Dually Diagnosed Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Mental Health Conditions and Developmental Delays.” She has presented at FPS regarding best practices in psychotropic medication prescribing for children, best practices for treatment of youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disabilities, and best practices for treatment of commercially sexually exploited youth. She has provided classes to medical students regarding diagnosing and treating various mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions. She has also provided classes to community foster care providers for the Florida Dept of Children and Families including “Attachment Disorders: The Link Between Infancy and Early Onset Mental Health Issues” and to schools, state advocates, and the local community including “ADHD: What Educators Need to Know,” “When to Consider Psychiatric Medication for Children with Special Needs,” “Adolescence: A Time of Transition” and “Parenting.” She enjoys giving trainings regarding trauma informed care and pediatric psychopathology in developmentally delayed and neurotypical youth. She has provided consultation to local hospitals for evaluation of children for Autism Spectrum.

She enjoys reading, travelling, and spending time with her family and friends.

Nezahualcoyotl “Neza” Xiuhtecutli has been working with the Farmworker Association of Florida since 2016 when he joined the organization’s research team to work on different projects related to farmworkers’ exposure to heat, socioeconomic challenges faced by H-2A guest workers, and developing a curriculum to train farmworkers in pesticide safety. He assumed the role of General Coordinator in December of 2020. He has 20 years working with rural communities in the US Southeast and Mexico and Central America. His training is in anthropology and holds a PhD in that discipline from Tulane University. As part of his training, he became interested in indigenous economic and governance systems and their role in community-driven decisions.

Dr. Asli Cennet Yalim is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida School of Social Work. Prior to entering academia, she worked as a psychologist with children and families across different educational and health settings in Istanbul, Turkey. She received her master’s degree in Social Work from Florida State University and her PhD in Social Welfare from University at Buffalo. Dr. Yalim’s areas of research are refugee and immigrant mental health, barriers to mental health services, forced migration in the Middle East, refugee women, and acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions with refugees. Her methodological approach includes mixed-methods, grounded theory, and community-based participatory approach. She has collaborated on funded projects including an interprofessional, evidence-based virtual program to prevent burnout, suicide, mental health conditions, and substance-use disorders among healthcare workers. She teaches courses on the topics of human development, research methods, micro-level interventions, social work in health settings, and social work with immigrants and refugees.