Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

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Search Influential People

Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Social Work,

#51

Jeffrey B. Halter

#130607

Overall Influence

#52

Karl Pillemer

#122929

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (70 years)

Karl Andrew Pillemer is an American sociologist and gerontologist who is the Hazel E. Reed Professor of Human Development at Cornell University, and Professor of Gerontology in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. His research focuses on intergenerational relations in later life, long-term care for frail and disabled older persons, and social engagement and involvement of older persons. Pillemer is the founder of the Cornell Legacy Project, which since 2004 has collected accounts of the life wisdom of over 2,000 older Americans, and the Cornell Family Reconciliation Project, which researches ...

#53

Catherine M. Tangen

#135026

Overall Influence

#54

Gloria M. Gutman

#103224

Overall Influence

1939 - Present (85 years)

Gloria Margaret Gutman is a gerontologist. She is a Professor Emerita at Simon Fraser University Gerontology Department and a Research Associate in the Gerontology Research Centre. Early life and education Gutman completed her bachelor's degree in Psychology and English in 1961 at the University of British Columbia. She received her masters in Psychology of Aging in 1964 at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and finished her Doctor of Philosophy in Developmental and Social Psychology in 1970 at the University of British Columbia.

#55

George L. Maddox

#141571

Overall Influence

#56

Dianne F. Harrison

#60443

Overall Influence

Dianne F. Harrison is a retired American university administrator and former social worker. She was the president of California State University, Monterey Bay from 2006 through 2012. In June 2012, she became the fifth president of California State University, Northridge, where she retired in January 2021. Previously, she worked for thirty years at Florida State University.

#57

Christine Stephens

Christine Stephens

#42635

Overall Influence

Christine Vivienne Stephens is a New Zealand psychology academic. She is currently professor of psychology at Massey University based in the Palmerston North. She is one of the founding members of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology, which she has also chaired. She is currently the society's treasurer.

#58

Michael W. Sherraden

#143130

Overall Influence

#59

Freda Briggs

#95836

Overall Influence

1930 - 2016 (86 years)

Freda Briggs was an Australian academic, author and child protection advocate. In 2000, she was named Senior Australian of the Year for her pioneering work in child protection. Early life and education Briggs was born Freda Akeroyd on 1 December 1930 in Huddersfield, England. She has one brother, nine years her junior. She attended Deighton Council School and Royds Hall School.

#60

Liat Ayalon

#145618

Overall Influence

#61

C. E. Eisdorfer

#145832

Overall Influence

#62

Jon Pynoos

#117884

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

Dr. Jon Pynoos is the UPS Foundation Professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. He is the author of six books and numerous articles on housing and the elderly. He received his AB degree at Harvard College in 1964, his MCP at Harvard University in 1971 and his PhD at Harvard in 1974. He has written extensively and advised government and non-profit sectors on how to improve housing and long term care for the elderly. He is on the Public Policy Committee of the American Society of Aging and has been a delegate to three White House Conferences on Aging. He is a founding member of th...

#63

Steven P. Schinke

#125661

Overall Influence

1945 - 2019 (74 years)

Steven Paul Schinke was an American academic. Steven Schinke was born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, to parents Edward and Vera Schinke on 9 May 1945. He graduated from Elkhorn Area High School and joined the United States Air Force. Upon his discharge from military service in 1967, Schinke enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a bachelor's and master's degree in social work, and a doctorate in social welfare. Schinke began teaching at the University of Washington in 1975, and left for Columbia University in 1986, for an appointment as D'Elbert and Selma Keenan Professor of Social Work.

#64

Jeffrey Edleson

#148368

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Jeffrey L. Edleson is a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School and the Harry & Riva Specht Chair Emeritus in Publicly Supported Social Services at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare. He served a Dean from 2012 to 2019 and was a Professor in the University of Minnesota School of Social Work for 29 years before moving to Berkeley in August 2012. He was also the Founding Director of the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on children exposed to domestic violence and has published over 120 articles and 12 ...

#65

Lena Dominelli

#148884

Overall Influence

1922 - Present (102 years)

#66

Malcolm Payne

#110715

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (77 years)

Malcolm Payne , is a retired English academic and writer in the field of social work. He is best known for his Modern social work theory textbook, which is in its fourth edition. He is an Adviser at St Christophers Hospice, London, Emeritus Professor of Community Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Honorary Professor, Kingston University St Georges Medical School.

#67

Sheryl Itkin Zimmerman

#151223

Overall Influence

#68

Audrey Mullender

#107113

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

Audrey Mullender FAcSS FRSA is a British academic who was Principal of Ruskin College, Oxford, from April 2004 to November 2013. Education Mullender was educated at the University of Sheffield, as well as the University of Bordeaux, University of Nottingham, and the University of Warwick, where she obtained a PhD and a DLitt.

#69

Moira Gibb

#89048

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Dame Moira Margaret Gibb is a British public servant and social work adviser. After qualifying as a social worker, she worked for the London boroughs of Ealing, Kensington and Chelsea, and Camden, where she served as the chief executive of Camden London Borough Council from 2003 to 2011. Gibb served as a Civil Service commissioner from 2012 to 2016, and chaired the boards of City Lit and Skills for Care until 2022. She led a serious case review into safeguarding at Southbank International School, and into the Church of England's response to the case of Peter Ball.

#70

Arlan G. Richardson

#153421

Overall Influence

#71

Judith Phillips

#130463

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Judith Eleri Phillips has been Professor of Gerontology and Social Work at Swansea University since 2004. She was educated at Pontypridd Girls' Grammar School, Aberystwyth University , Jesus College, Oxford and the University of East Anglia . She was a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of East Anglia from 1989 to 1993, and Professor of Social Gerontology at Keele University from 2001 to 2004. She has been Scientific Director of the Centre for Innovative Ageing and Director of the Research Institute for Applied Social Science at Swansea University since 2009.

#72

Fernando Torres-Gil

#95895

Overall Influence

Fernando Torres-Gil graduated from San Jose State University in 1970 with a BA in Political Science, PhD, was the first Assistant Secretary for Aging at the Administration on Aging within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 and served in the position until 1997. Currently, Torres-Gil sits on the National Council on Disability as an appointee of President Obama. He is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He is the Director of the UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging and is a member of the AARP Board of Directors.

#73

Karen S. Haynes

#23983

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (78 years)

Karen Sue Haynes is an American academic and college administrator who previously served as the president of California State University San Marcos. She also served as president of the University of Houston–Victoria.

#74

Yung-Ping Chen

#120201

Overall Influence

1930 - 2022 (92 years)

Yung-Ping Chen was an American economist and gerontologist of Chinese origin. He pioneered the concept of home equity conversion in the United States and developed innovative approaches to the funding of Social Security benefits and long-term care. His scholarship contributed to a better understanding of the economic, political, and social implications and challenges created by the "mass aging" phenomenon—the ongoing and unprecedented shift to an increasingly elder-populated society.

#75

Frederick G. Reamer

#159507

Overall Influence

#76

Vishanthie Sewpaul

Vishanthie Sewpaul

#128575

Overall Influence

Vishanthie Sewpaul was a senior professor of social work at the University of KwaZulu Natal , Durban, South Africa where she remains an Emeritus Professor, and she held a professor II position at the University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway. Her research and teaching interests are in the fields of social justice, human rights, critical social work, and globalization among others. Sewpaul holds a bachelor's and a master's in social work. She obtained her PhD from the University of Natal in 1995. The title of her dissertation was Confronting the pain of infertility: Feminist, ethical and re...

#77

Terry Fulmer

#71784

Overall Influence

Teresa Thomas "Terry" Fulmer, is the current president of The John A. Hartford Foundation. Earlier positions include distinguished professor and dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University and dean of the College of Nursing at New York University. She is known for her extensive research in geriatrics and elder abuse. She has received funding from the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research and other foundations for her research regarding elder abuse.

#78

Rafael De Cabo

#161920

Overall Influence

#79

Wilson A. Head

#72520

Overall Influence

1914 - 1993 (79 years)

Wilson A. Head was an American/Canadian sociologist and community planner known for his work in race relations, human rights and peace in the United States, Canada and other parts of the world. Early life Wilson Adonijah Head was born on September 30, 1914, in Milner, Georgia. He "was the son of a Georgia sharecropper, Evander Head , and of Evelyn Whittle , the eldest of five children"; siblings Frank, Marvin, Glenn, and Minnie Head. He was of African American, Northern European, and Cherokee descent. He grew up in deep poverty in the small black community of Milner, near Atlanta. His father ...

#80

Celia Williamson

#100173

Overall Influence

Celia Williamson is an American University of Toledo Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Executive Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, as well as researcher and community advocate who seeks to combat domestic human trafficking and prostitution. She was named the 26th most influential social worker alive today.

#81

Pete Dimitrijevic

#167024

Overall Influence

#82

Ka Tat Tsang

#119238

Overall Influence

1954 - Present (70 years)

Adolf Ka Tat Tsang is a Chinese-Canadian professor who holds the Factor-Inwentash Chair in Social Work at the University of Toronto. The key themes of his work are developing human services, post-professional outlook, diversity, global community, and the blending of both theory and research. He developed the SSLD System.

#83

Shad Begum

#125291

Overall Influence

1979 - Present (45 years)

Shad Begum is a social worker from Dir Lower, Pakistan. She comes from a religious and middle class family. She is the first university-educated female in her family. She says, she always got support from her father, brothers and husband for her social work.

#84

Thomas Tam

#101477

Overall Influence

Thomas Tam is a Hong Kong-born Canadian businessman. He is a former CEO of the Asian-Canadian immigration services organization S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and was replaced by Queenie Choo in 2012. Career He was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1992. Before immigrating to Canada, he was a lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University, working in the Department of Social Work and was a social worker working with the Stewards' Social Services in Hong Kong. He held the position as CEO of the Asian-Canadian immigration services organization S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and was replaced by Queenie Choo in 2012.

#85

Deidre Palmer

#34719

Overall Influence

Deidre Palmer was the President of the Uniting Church in Australia from 8 July 2018 until 17 July 2021. She is a counsellor, theologian, and social worker. She was the Moderator of the Uniting Church's Synod of South Australia from 2013 to 2016.

#86

Alan Keith-Lucas

#102285

Overall Influence

1910 - 1995 (85 years)

Alan Keith-Lucas , known during the early part of his life as Alan Lucas, was a British-born social worker and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who worked primarily in the field of residential childcare.

#87

Gerald P. Mallon

Gerald P. Mallon

#143168

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Gerald P. Mallon is an American writer and social worker who focuses on LGBTQ+ family issues. He is currently the Julia Lathrop Professor of Child Welfare and Former Associate Dean of Scholarship and Research at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, City University of New York. He is also the director of the National Center for Child Welfare Excellence and an adoptive parent.

#88

Carlene Firmin

#110048

Overall Influence

Professor Carlene Firmin is a British social researcher and writer specialising in violence between young people, and founder of the MsUnderstood Partnership. She is a professor of sociology at Durham University.

#89

Louis Burgio

#133079

Overall Influence

Louis D. Burgio was an American gerontologist formerly the Harold R. Johnson Professor of Social Work and research professor at University of Michigan and previously a UA Distinguished Professor at University of Alabama.

#90

Amy Ai

#116808

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Amy L. Ai is a professor of social work at College of Social Work and Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy of Florida State University. Education and career Ai obtained her B.A. degree in medical and developmental psychology from the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1987. Following graduation, she came to the United States, where she attended University of Michigan, graduating with an M.A. degree in child development and educational psychology in 1990. Three years later she got her M.S.W. from the same institution and then got her M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology and ...

#91

Darlene Yee-Melichar

#102022

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (66 years)

Darlene Yee-Melichar is professor and coordinator of the gerontology program at San Francisco State University where she also serves as Director of Long-Term Care Administration. She is a member on both the SF State and CSU Academic Senates.

#92

Leila Patel

#163748

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

Leila Patel is a professor of Social Development and Social Work at the Centre for Social Development in Africa based in the University of Johannesburg. Education She obtained Diploma and Higher Diploma degrees both in Social Work from the University of the Western Cape in 1976 and 1977 respectively. She proceeded to the Western Michigan University where she earned a MSW in Social Policy, Social Planning and Administration in 1979. Finally, she obtained a Ph.D. from Wits University in 1992.

#93

Robyn Munford

#169157

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (68 years)

Robyn Eileen Munford is a New Zealand social work researcher, and professor in the School of Social Work at Massey University. Her research concerns community development, young people's pathway to adulthood, and disability studies.

#94

Jackie Sanders

#154925

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Jacqueline Ruth "Jackie" Sanders is a New Zealand social work academic, and professor in the School of Social Work at Massey University. Academic career Sanders completed her MA at Massey in 1984, and then spent 20 years working in health and social service planning and management. After graduating with a 2004 PhD titled Subject child : the everyday experiences of a group of small town Aotearoa/New Zealand children at Massey University, Sanders joined the School of Social Work, where she is a Professor of Children's and Youth Studies. She is Director of the Children, Youth, and Families Resea...

#95

Mike Hamlin

#150964

Overall Influence

1935 - 2017 (82 years)

Mike Hamlin was an American labor activist and social worker. Hamlin was born in Mississippi and moved to Ecorse, Michigan just outside of Detroit in 1947. Hamlin is featured in the documentary Finally Got The News which documents the formation, movement practices, and philosophy of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers , a Marxist–Leninist organization of Black workers in Detroit that he co-founded.

#96

Kate Cavanagh

#157236

Overall Influence

1951 - 2008 (57 years)

For those of a similar name, see Kate Kavanagh Catherine Cavanagh was a social worker, social science researcher and activist. She worked in the fields of domestic violence, child abuse and rape, with the aim of understanding extreme forms of violence in order to develop prevention strategies.

#97

Jill Levenson

#172197

Overall Influence

Jill S. Levenson is an American social worker and professor of social work at Barry University, known for her research into prevention of sexual violence. She studies and treats both victimization and perpetration as well as policies related to management of people convicted of sexual crimes She has been a co-investigator or consultant on five grants funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, researching the impact and effectiveness of social policies and therapeutic interventions designed to reduce sexual violence.

#98

Loretta Fuddy

#111197

Overall Influence

1948 - 2013 (65 years)

Loretta Jean Fuddy was an American health official and social worker from the U.S. state of Hawaii. Fuddy served simultaneously as the Director of the Hawaii Department of Health and the Mayor of Kalawao County from 2011 until her death. Under Hawaii state law, the Hawaii Department of Health administers Kalawao County, and the Director of the Hawaii Department of Health, who is appointed by the governor, simultaneously serves as the Mayor of Kalawao County while in office.

#99

Gauri Ayyub

#77447

Overall Influence

1931 - 1998 (67 years)

Gauri Ayyub was a social worker, activist, writer and teacher based in Kolkata for most of her life. Married to the philosopher and literary critic, Abu Sayeed Ayyub , Gauri was a writer in her own right, and is known for her short stories, translations, and numerous articles on social issues. She is recognised for her role in the propagation of communal harmony in Bengal, active assistance to the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 and vocal opposition to the curbing of human rights during the declaration of emergency in India in 1974. She assisted writer and social worker Maitreyi Devi in founding Khelaghar, initially as a shelter for Bangladeshi children orphaned during the war of 1971.

#100

Luis Zayas

#123795

Overall Influence

Luis H. Zayas is a psychiatry professor at University of Texas at Austin. He is dean of Austin School of Social Work, president of the St. Louis Group for Excellence in Social Work Research and Education, a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, and a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Deans and Directors of schools and programs in social work. He Advocates for U.S. citizen-children.

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