Kirk von Sternberg, professor and co-director of the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, has been named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation.
The NASW Pioneers program, founded in 1994, recognizes social workers who have explored new territories and built outposts for human services on many frontiers. von Sternberg joins a 2026 class of 10 inductees.
“Kirk von Sternberg is exactly the kind of scholar and colleague who makes this school exceptional,” said Dean Allan Cole. “He has spent his career doing the challenging work that moves the needle on urgent public health challenges. His dedication to this work is an inspiration to all of us who have the privilege of working alongside him. The NASW Foundation couldn’t have chosen better.”
Over a 35-year career, von Sternberg has led groundbreaking research on behavioral health interventions in partnership with his colleague Mary Velasquez, focusing on preventing substance use disorders in underserved populations. As principal, co-principal or primary co-investigator, he has secured roughly $25 million in grants funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
His research portfolio includes the CHOICES family of clinical trials, which developed and tested interventions to prevent substance-exposed pregnancies, and Be Well Texas, an $8 million-plus statewide Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment initiative that served more than 14,000 Texans between 2021 and 2025. He received the CDC’s Charles C. Shepard Science Award in 2008.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized as a Pioneer, but it is a greater honor to have rigorous research and impactful studies be celebrated through this award,” said von Sternberg. “Social work research is a foundational pillar in behavioral health. It has been a joy in my career to study interventions and improve health in a meaningful way.”
von Sternberg is the 23rd NASW Social Work Pioneer with ties to The University of Texas at Austin. He will also be the third Pioneer who sits on UT Social Work’s current faculty, joining Cynthia Franklin, the Stiernberg/Spencer Family Professor in Mental Health, and Diana DiNitto, Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Cullen Trust Centennial Professor in Alcohol Studies and Education.
A fourth Pioneer, David Springer, will rejoin UT Social Work in August as Centennial Professor in Leadership for Community, Professional, and Corporate Excellence, and University Distinguished Teaching Professor.
von Sternberg will be honored at the NASW national conference in Washington, D.C., in summer 2026.