James Topitzes, a Social Work Professor and Department Chair at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), received his doctorate in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. After working as a clinical social worker, he assumed a tenure-track faculty position at UWM. His early-career research focused on child maltreatment consequences, prevention, and early intervention. He now conducts applied translational research on the feasibility and efficacy of trauma-responsive services implemented within public service systems. For instance, he designed a trauma screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment protocol, testing it within multiple service contexts. In the 2010s, he developed and directed the Trauma-Informed Care Graduate Certificate program at UWM and co-founded the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being, a community-university partnership between Children’s Wisconsin and UWM. He currently serves as the Institute’s Clinical Services Director. In 2022, he was named a Society for Social Work and Research Fellow.