Dr. Shelley Cohen Konrad is Professor and Director of the University of New England School of Social Work and founding Director (2009) of the UNE-Interprofessional Education Collaborative, an initiative that promotes shared learning, research, collaborative practice and service. Shelley has 30 years of clinical social work experience serving children and families. She co-founded two community programs, Kids First and Touchstone that offer low barrier services to children and their identified family systems. Shelley’s research and scholarship focuses on relational practices, arts and social work, affective learning, cultural stakeholder engagement, and interprofessional pedagogy. Her book Practice with Children and Families: A Relational Perspective was published in 2013.

Shelley has keen interest in developing transformative educational methods that prepare health and social care workers to balance the rigor and constraints of twenty-first century health care with person-centered, caring approaches. She is an avid reader, art collector, gardener, baker, and enjoys time with her family on the coast of Maine.