Cassandra Peel

Dr. Peel is the Interim Program Director and a Faculty Member in the School of Cultural and Family Psychology. Born into an immigrant family in Brooklyn, NY, Dr. Peel is a first-generation scholar practitioner who has taught, served and worked extensively in healthcare (hospitals, academic medical centers, hospice, ambulatory clinics) and higher education industries for over 15 years. She has taught and held leadership roles at The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, The Claremont Colleges, and most recently Pacific Oaks College since 2020. Dr. Peel's research area of expertise is socioemotional support systems for healthcare workers, health disparities, end of life issues, aging, grief, chronic illness, congenital and acquired disability and its intersections, and the socioemotional impacts of COVID-19.

Dr. Peel has published in the Journal of Higher Education, and is currently the Editor for the Health and Social Work Journal. In 2021, Dr. Peel received a Faculty grant to provide a virtual grief programming for the Pacific Oaks College community in response to the long-term socioemotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has expanded into a partnership with Pasadena Unified School District through Pacific Oaks' Center for Community & Social Impact (CCSI), and her work has most recently been recognized by PBS SoCal and The New York Times.

Dr. Peel is a gifted public speaker and facilitator, and has given countless domestic and international presentations at The California Institute of Technology, Point Loma Nazarene University, and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her curricular areas of expertise are within mezzo and macro practice: social welfare policy, advanced qualitative research methods, disability, aging, healthcare and field education/internships/practicums. She is also the Chair of the Faculty Development Committee, advocating on behalf of the Pacific Oaks College Faculty.