ROBERT M. ORTEGA, Ph.D., L.M.S.W. is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. He is Co-Chair and clinical instructor of the Child Welfare Certificate Program. He also serves as Co-Director of the Family Assessment Clinic located at Jewish Family Services – Ann Arbor. Dr. Ortega is involved in research, writing, teaching, training and service in the areas of child maltreatment, permanency planning, and child welfare workforce. He provides assessments and treatment involving families in which child maltreatment is substantiated.  He conducts case record reviews where issues focus on child maltreatment, child welfare and social work best practice. He has conducted over 200 juried conference presentations at state, national and international conferences and has provided over 150 workshops. He has authored and co-authored over 40 research and clinical articles in the areas of child welfare disparities and disproportionality, permanency planning, social work clinical practice and culturally responsive practice. He is the recipient of the National Association of Social Work – Michigan Chapter 2011 Lisa Putnam Award for Excellence in Child Welfare Practice and 2013 National Council on Social Work Education Distinguished Recent Contributions in Social Work Education as a result of his work on training child welfare workers within a cultural humility paradigm, 2015 Outstanding Service and Advancement of Cultural Competency in Child Maltreatment Prevention and Intervention Award from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and the 2017 University of Michigan School of Social Work Distinguished Faculty Recognition.