Otima Doyle

Associate Professor

University of Illinois, Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work

Dr. Otima Doyle is an Associate Professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois Chicago. She earned an A.M. at the now Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, and a PhD from the University of Maryland School of Social Work. She completed postdoctoral training in intervention research and clinical trials as a PREMIER (Partnership for Excellence in Mental Health Interventions Education and Research) postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University. There, she also earned a Masters’ of Health Science in Clinical Research (MHSc). Dr. Doyle has received research support from the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at UIC and the National Institute of Mental Health. She has published as the lead author in journals such as Family Process, Social Work Research, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, American Journal of Public Health, Research on Social Work Practice, and the Psychology of Men and Masculinity. Her research focuses on the protective role of fathers in the prevention of youth aggression and depression. The Voices ‘n Visions study, for which Dr. Doyle was the Principal Investigator, added the largely unrepresented perspectives of African American fathers to the growing scholarly discourse on the gendered, cultural, and other unique contexts that shape African American fathers’ parenting. The most recent article from this project, “All About How You Couch It:” African American Fathers’ Visions of Interventions for their Sons” focuses on fathers’ visions for interventions and was featured as Editor’s choice in the Journal of Child and Family Studies. In 2022, Dr. Doyle, in collaboration with Dr. Branden McLeod, co-founded a fatherhood research lab at UIC to better support the overall health and well-being of fathers and families living in urban settings.