Dr. Parrish is Associate Director of the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute (HBRT) and Steve Hicks Professor in Addictions and Substance Abuse Services at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) School of Social Work. Prior to joining UT-Austin, she was a Professor at the Houston campus of Baylor’s Diana G. Garland School of Social Work. As a nationally recognized expert in the prevention of substance-exposed pregnancies, Dr. Parrish aims to serve youth in the juvenile justice system and beyond.
Dr. Parrish started off her career as a mental health practitioner and saw gaps in the juvenile justice health care system for young women. She was awarded a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test comprehensive risk education intervention efforts for young women — the program called CHOICES-TEEN.
Her mission and goals are to conduct research that supports developmental and rehabilitation approaches with youth that are in the juvenile justice system, aiming to achieve health equity in underserved communities. Dr. Parrish also served as the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Social Work Education from 2020-2025 and co-authored the book, “Practical Implementation in Social Work Practice” (Oxford Press). She was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) in 2026.