Karen Tabb Dina

Karen Tabb Dina, PhD, MSW, FAASWSW, is a nationally and internationally recognized social work scientist and tenured Full Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with appointments in the School of Social Work and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Karen Tabb Dina has spent her career building the science and systems needed to improve maternal mental health and child health for populations who have historically been underserved by research and health care. With more than 140 publications and scholarly works, her interdisciplinary research advances maternal and child health through the integration of perinatal mental health, health services research, health disparities, patient and community engagement, implementation science, and environmental health. Her scholarship also contributes to the Global Burden of Disease Study.

Dr. Tabb Dina is a multiple investigator on the PCORI-funded Pathways Center, an investigator with the Illinois cohort of the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Children’s longitudinal study, and a co-investigator on NIMH- and NIMHD-funded research addressing maternal mental health policy, home visiting, health services, and health disparities. She has led the All Our Kids (AOK) Networks grant for approximately nine years, building community systems and data infrastructure that support early childhood development throughout Illinois.

A recognized national expert in the science of patient and community engagement, Dr. Tabb Dina partners with people with lived expertise and hard-to-reach populations to strengthen the relevance, rigor, and impact of research. She serves as a board member for the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health to bridge translation of research evidence with industry, policymaking, and funding priorities.

In a 2026 national bibliometric analysis of leading U.S. social work faculty, she ranked #1 on the g-index and #4 on the career-adjusted hi-annual index. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) and serves as President of the National Association of Perinatal Social Workers (NAPSW).

Her work is distinguished by translating social work science into interdisciplinary health research, community systems, and evidence-based approaches to improving care for mothers, children, and families.