Dr. Deborah K. Padgett, a professor at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University, has a PhD in anthropology and post-doctoral fellowships in public health and mental health services. Dr. Padgett is known for her expertise in qualitative/mixed methods and is the author of two textbooks in this area. She is an expert on the ‘housing first’ approach to ending homelessness and is first author (along with Ben Henwood and Sam Tsemberis) of a book on housing first (Oxford University Press, 2016). Since 2010, she has been involved in research and services for homeless ‘pavement dwellers’ in India and works with colleagues at The Banyan in Chennai. Since 2023, Dr. Padgett has been collaborating on an unconditional cash transfer experiment with homeless persons in Los Angeles led by Dr. Benjamin Henwood of the University of Southern California. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and former President of the Society for Social Work and Research.