“Many of those kids were in foster care for much longer than they needed to be, because as an agency, we weren’t doing anything to reach out to the children’s fathers,” Perry said. “All the caseloads were in the mother’s names, and dads, if anything, were an afterthought.”

Perry said once he understood it was just about “checking off a box” so the system could move forward, it was a gamechanger for him. “It was deeply impactful to me because it set the course of my professional life for the next 25 years.”

It set the stage for his interest and focus on fatherhood within his professional life for the next two plus decades, most of which he has devoted as a professor at . Perry works with agencies and organizations trying to help them improve capacity for helping dads to take more active roles in their children’s lives.

In 2015, Perry was involved in a five-year federally funded fatherhood program for nearly 1,500 non-resident dads that featured 28 hours of parent education and up to six months of case management services. “The program’s aim was to help connect dads to places and spaces that might be able to assist them in removal or reduction of whatever barriers were standing in their way to becoming the type of active and involved fathers that they wanted to be,” Perry said.

The 28 hours came from a curriculum called 24/7 Dad, developed by The National Fatherhood Initiative, along with four additional hours of a co-parenting curriculum called Together We Can. “When people share children but don’t necessarily have a romantic connection or relationship, they need to determine how they can set their differences aside for their children,” Perry said. Outcomes from the fatherhood study included statistically significant improvements in parent education, parenting knowledge and resolution skills.

Since that time, Perry has shared his recommendations and implications for best practices through dozens of conferences, workshops and presentations throughout the country.

“Equipping moms and dads with the necessary skills and knowledge to be able to contribute to the children’s healthy growth and development is what I’m all about,” Perry said.

According to Perry, one vital factor for fathers is to engage with their children early in life. “We can’t expect dads to be the fathers that we want them to be and just flip a switch when the child is four or five years old, if we haven’t adequately prepared them and provided them opportunities earlier on.”

Perry said ideally children need a balance of the two diverse types of development offered by mothers and fathers. “Fathers have the capacity to uniquely impact their children’s development in what they call rough and tumble play,” he explained. “That type of parenting promotes competence and confidence because it teaches children that they can gain mastery over the world.”

In addition, Perry said research indicates when children have active and involved fathers in their lives they tend to do better academically, they’re much less likely to have mental health concerns, less likely to get involved in juvenile delinquency, much less likely to have an unwanted teenage pregnancy, and much less likely to grow up in poverty.

While there are still many challenges to making these paradigm shifts in the role of fatherhood in our society, Perry is proud to have contributed to this work over the years and to see the meaningful growth that has transpired.

“The type of work that I do now, I could not have envisioned 20 years ago,” he said. “So much progress has been made to bring these issues related to fathers and the role that they play in their children’s growth and development to the forefront, so I’m excited about that.”  

Perry said he believes being a father is the “highest calling a man can have on earth. Their role is unique and irreplaceable, and that’s the message I send every single day to the men that I come across,” he said.

, an associate professor in the , and an associate professor at the , has worked decades to help individuals and families impacted by cancer. 

Schapmire was recently awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant from NCI to lead a national training initiative aimed at transforming psychosocial and palliative care in oncology. The grant will support an intensive training and mentorship program, and 50 social workers from across the U.S. will be competitively selected each year to receive fully funded palliative oncology training and structured mentorship.

UofL News connected with Schapmire to learn more about this new innovative initiative.

UofL News: What piqued your interest in oncology social work?

Schapmire: Fresh out of my Masters of Social Work (MSSW) program at UofL in 1996, I discovered my professional calling. Working with individuals and families facing cancer opened my eyes to the profound impact that compassionate, skilled psychosocial support can have. I became deeply committed to improving the quality of life for all those affected by cancer—patients, families and care teams alike—and that sense of purpose has guided my work ever since.

UofL News: What was your response to receiving this grant?

Schapmire: I was absolutely thrilled—both personally and professionally. I felt deeply validated that the National Cancer Institute recognized oncology social workers as essential to high-quality cancer and palliative care yet often lack access to quality training opportunities compared to other disciplines. This award provides the opportunity to elevate our field’s role in transforming cancer care nationwide.

Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (ESPEC) Oncology builds on two prior NCI-funded programs at the UofL School of Medicine that advanced interprofessional palliative care education. Training 250 oncology social workers over the next five years will have a transformative impact on the quality and compassion of cancer care nationwide.

UofL News: What does this mean for patients with cancer? How can it help them and their families cope with the life transitions their diagnosis can bring?

Schapmire: This grant strengthens the ability of oncology social workers to support patients and families through every phase of the cancer journey—helping them manage distress, navigate complex decisions, and sustain quality of life even in the face of serious illness. ESPEC Oncology expands nationally what the Kent School of Social Work and Family Science at UofL has long done through its oncology social work specialization—preparing clinicians to address the full biopsychosocial, spiritual and cultural dimensions of cancer care. Together, they advance a model of compassionate, whole-person care that helps patients and families find meaning and maintain dignity throughout serious illness.

UofL News: What has been the most gratifying aspect of this project?

Schapmire: What I find most meaningful about this project is its potential for lasting, system-level impact. It isn’t just about training 250 oncology social workers—it’s about creating a national community of leaders who will return to their institutions equipped to strengthen teams, improve communication, and integrate psychosocial and palliative care principles into everyday oncology practice.

This initiative also represents the culmination of years of collaborative work with an incredible team of national experts and partner organizations, started by Dr. Myra Glajchen at MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care in New York, who share a vision for transforming the way cancer care is delivered. 

By investing in the people who provide the psychosocial and emotional backbone of cancer care, we’re not only improving patient and family experiences but also supporting the well-being and professional growth of the workforce that serves them.

ESPEC Oncology: Transforming Psychosocial and Palliative Cancer Care is accepting training program applications. For more information, email ESPECO@louisville.edu