Liliane Windsor, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Fellowship Year(s): 2019-2020
Profession: Social Work
Specialty: Social Worker
Fellowship Details:
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work
Case Western Reserve University
Sen Durbin (D-IL)
Illinois
At time of Fellowship
Liliane Cambraia Windsor is an associate professor at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign’s School of Social Work. Her research focuses on the
development of multilevel interventions designed to reduce health inequalities
related to substance use disorders and HIV prevention. Her most recent work
focuses on optimizing Community Wise, an innovative, multilevel substance
use intervention for individuals transitioning home from incarceration. She is
also developing and testing a participatory action research online training
protocol to engage community members from rural communities affected by the
opioid epidemic in research and behavioral health services.
Windsor is the founder of the Newark Community Collaborative Board, the group of researchers,
service providers, and consumers who developed Community Wise. Windsor has overseen numerous
research studies in the United States and Brazil. She is affiliated with the Lemann Institute for
Brazilian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Windsor earned a bachelor of science in education from Faculdade de Ciências Humanas-FUMEC,
Brazil. She obtained her master of science and doctoral degrees in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. (Updated 12.8.21)
Current Info:
Lillian F. Harris Professor of Social Work
Case Western Reserve University
Health Disparities;Mental Health/Substance Abuse;Public Health;Social Determinants of Health
Since Fellowship:
Liliane C. Windsor joined the Mandel School as the Lillian F. Harris Professor of Social Work in July 2025. A leading figure in the quest for health equity, her groundbreaking research is dedicated to elevating marginalized communities—through the application of critical consciousness theory, she has developed innovative interventions across substance use disorders treatment, infectious diseases and the criminal legal system.
Windsor’s research methodology integrates community-based participatory research principles and the multiphase optimization strategy, employing diverse scientific approaches such as ethnography, randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis. She is the founder and chair of the Critical Consciousness Collaborative (3C), a pioneering group that partners with marginalized communities to create evidence-based health interventions. Notably, the 3C developed Community Wise, a groundbreaking intervention aimed at reducing substance use in underserved Black communities.
As principal investigator, she has led numerous large-scale randomized controlled trials totaling more than $6 million funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Her contributions extend beyond academia—she served as a 2019–20 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, working in Senator Dick Durbin’s office to shape health policy.
Before joining Case Western Reserve University, Windsor co-led the Behavioral Health Working Group at the Institute for Government and Public Affairs and served as associate dean for research and professor of social work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is an active member of the Society for Social Work Research, the National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education.