Nathan Aguilar, PhD, LCSW

Nathan Aguilar, PhD, LCSW, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. His research focuses on preventing and responding to community-based firearm violence. A central area of his scholarship explores the roles of community violence intervention (CVI) workers in responding to homicide, interactions with law enforcement, and the personal and professional impacts of this work. A second area of his scholarship has focused on how gang-affiliated youth use social media to express grief and loss, including how digital spaces shape responses to violence, incarceration, and bereavement.

His current research examines how firearm violence affects family systems by centering the experiences of both survivors and their family members. He is also engaged in research centering women affected by firearm violence, including survivors, family members of people who have been shot or killed, women living in communities with high rates of violence, and professionals who work with survivors and their families.

Dr. Aguilar’s scholarship and approach to teaching is grounded in nearly a decade of practice experience working alongside individuals and communities affected by firearm violence as a community- and hospital-based violence intervention worker in Chicago and Brooklyn. He welcomes opportunities to connect with community members, organizations, researchers, and practitioners in Milwaukee, throughout Wisconsin, and across the United States who are engaged in violence intervention or work with communities affected by firearm violence and incarceration. Please feel free to contact him to discuss opportunities for collaboration.

Education:

• PhD, Columbia University School of Social Work, 2024
• MSW, Washington University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work, 2013

Curriculum Vitae