Johanna Greeson

Johanna Greeson is an influential scholar at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice, where she focuses on improving outcomes for vulnerable youth in the child welfare system. Her groundbreaking research centers on natural mentoring and the transition to adulthood for foster youth aging out of care. As managing faculty director of The Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice & Research, she has pioneered innovative approaches to supporting older youth in foster care. Her work includes developing and testing interventions that promote natural mentoring relationships for older foster youth, studying child traumatic stress, and investigating commercial sexual exploitation of children. She has earned recognition for her research on resilience among marginalized youth populations and her development of evidence-based practices in child welfare. Her expertise spans areas including foster care youth development, trauma-informed care, and social support networks for vulnerable adolescents, with particular emphasis on implementing sustainable mentoring programs within child welfare systems.