Jodi Cardoso

Jodi Berger Cardoso is an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Her research focuses on the impact of trauma and psychosocial stress on the mental health of immigrants and their children throughout the migration process. She was recently funded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health to study parenting stressors linked to addressing deportation risk.

Collaborating with colleagues, she explored how migration and legal status influence parental stress and depression by interviewing parents. Jodi's research also delves into developing evidence-based treatment approaches for trauma and substance use specifically tailored for Latino immigrants. She actively works with humanitarian organizations in Houston, providing legal and mental health services to immigrants, unaccompanied children, and refugees who have faced trauma.

Previously a Peace Corps volunteer in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, she initiated a program to reintegrate working youth into primary school, which ignited her commitment to social justice. Jodi's extensive experience includes serving as an expert on immigration cases concerning traumatic exposure and migration in children. Before earning her Ph.D. in Social Work from The University of Texas at Austin, she worked as a bilingual mental health clinician supporting Latino immigrant families in various agencies across Houston.