Madison Haiman is a PhD student at The University of Texas at Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work (SHSSW). Madison completed her Bachelor of Science in Addiction and Recovery and Master of Social Work (MSW) at The University of Alabama. While completing an undergraduate internship at a women’s residential treatment center outside of Nashville Tennessee, she saw first-hand the unique structural barriers that mothers and birthing persons seeking substance use disorder treatment may face. As an MSW student, Madison led a qualitative study where she interviewed doulas (professional support persons for pregnant and postpartum women) across the state of Alabama on their experiences helping clients with substance use and mental health challenges which further highlighted the structural barriers of mothers and birthing persons. After completing her MSW, Madison became a research assistant at the Center for Maternal Health Equity at Morehouse School of Medicine.
As a social work researcher and scholar, Madison’s primary goal is to conduct research that could help the development of and advocacy for evidence-informed policy to improve reproductive and maternal health. Her secondary goal is to help educate the next generation of social workers.
As a SHSSW PhD student, Madison is a part of the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute Student Team where her primary mentor is Dr. Mary Velasquez. Since starting her PhD, Madison has been awarded the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) 2023-2024 Doctoral Policy Fellowship and the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2024-2025 Maternal and Child Health Section Student Fellowship. Additionally, she has been appointed to the Centers for Disease Control Preventing Chronic Disease Student Scientific Writing and Review Training Committee. Madison serves on the Society for Social Work Research Doctoral Committee and SHSSW Dean’s Advisory Council. She previously served as the student committee chair for the SHSSW Strategic Planning Committee. She is also a Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice graduate affiliate.
Madison promotes reproductive and maternal health equity and addresses systemic barriers through qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches, community-based participatory research, implementation science, manuscript development and delivery, dissemination of research at national conferences, and advocacy efforts. She has conducted research focused on preconception and perinatal health as well as prenatal substance use policy. Due to the ongoing and intersecting maternal health and substance use crises in the United States, Madison’s current research is focused on perinatal substance use (substance use during pregnancy and the postpartum period) with an emphasis on prenatal substance use policy.