Daniel Wallace is a Licensed Social Worker who continued to expand his knowledge by pursing a doctoral degree in social work. Currently, Daniel is in his final semester as a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Kentucky, with a concentration in Administrative Leadership. During his academic career, he obtained his master’s degree at Aurora University, with a concentration of Clinical Social Work. Daniel obtained his bachelor’s degree at Eastern Illinois University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology. Throughout Daniel’s doctoral studies, he has obtained two academic honors- Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Alpha.
While pursuing his academic career, Daniel also was motivated to apply what he learned to his practices, which promoted constant professional development opportunities. Throughout his many years of practice in the social work field, he has obtained unmatched experiences. Daniel has worked in mental health, substance use, services for individuals with autism, hospital settings, and therapeutic setting. Currently, Daniel has transitioned from a manager of crisis team in the emergency room setting, to now a Medical Management Specialist, servicing the special needs pediatric population. This transition aided Daniel’s research and studies, while providing a new perspective from an insurance lens.
During his years of practice, he has obtained a deep passion to support and promote change in the underserved population. Specifically, the substance use and mental health population. This passion has led Daniel to purse research surrounding socioeconomic gaps related to substance use and comorbidity, while providing a means of improving access to hospital-setting services. Research indicates that substance use and overdose rates continue to make a significant impact today, causing a grand challenge. As a result, this further caused socioeconomic strain due to gaps and lack of resources to support the demand/need, which is why Daniel chose to focus his capstone project on a proposed modeled supportive team developed to work in hospital settings, specifically in the emergency room.