Jessica Strong, Ph.D., is a military family researcher specializing in the well-being of military and veteran families, serving as a Military Behavioral Health Child Social Worker at the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. In this role, she supports the DoD Child Collaboration Study to identify best practices for enhancing and expanding accessibility to care for military-connected children and adolescents. Dr. Strong earned her doctoral degree in Social Work from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, her master’s in social work at Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, NC, and her bachelor’s degree in social work from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN.

Dr. Strong’s work has focused on military families, spanning academic, nonprofit, and government sectors, underscoring her commitment to evidence-based practice and meaningful policy change. She has led and contributed to numerous publications addressing topics such as family resilience, the impacts of deployment, and the unique challenges faced by military-connected children. Prior to joining the Center for Deployment Psychology, Dr. Strong led the applied research team at Blue Star Families, designing, executing, and disseminating an extensive research portfolio on military and veteran families that advanced policy and programmatic support for military and veteran spaces, from congressional legislation to local school board policies. She also brings clinical experience in crisis counseling for youth as well as teaching and research experience as an assistant professor in social work at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

As a military spouse and parent to military children, Dr. Strong brings both personal insight and professional expertise to her work, ensuring her research and advocacy are grounded in the lived experiences of the communities she serves.