Nancy K. Grote, a research associate professor emerita who joined the University of Washington School of Social Work faculty in 2007, died December 23, 2021.
“Nancy lived a full life rich with professional accomplishments and personal fulfillment,” said Eddie Uehara, dean of the School of Social Work. “She was warm and generous with her time and willing to help the next generation of clinicians, social workers, researchers and activists. While she will be truly missed, her scholarship, friendship and humanity will live on.”
Grote received a BA in philosophy and religion from Smith College, followed by an M.Ed in elementary education from Tufts University. She received her doctorate in development psychology in 1992 from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also earned her MSW. She received a postdoctoral fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, then became a visiting assistant professor at Reed College before accepting a tenure-track position at the University of Pittsburgh in 2000.
She joined the UW School of Social Work in 2007, where she was also an adjunct associate professor in UW’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. In 2010, she became a faculty affiliate at the School’s West Coast Poverty Center.
As a clinical social worker, Grote had more than 20 years of practice experience with adults, couples, families and children, and this experience informed her research and teaching. She focused on developing, testing and disseminating culturally relevant evidence-based treatments for perinatal depression for socio-economically disadvantaged individuals and families. Her work also included creating and testing engagement strategies to address mental healthcare barriers to reduce racial/ethnic and socio-economic disparities, as well as assessing the association between chronic and acute stress and psychological distress in vulnerable individuals.
In recognition of the importance of her research, Grote received a five-year career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health and served as the principal investigator of a five-year NIMH-funded study entitled, “FOR MOMS: Culturally Relevant Treatments for Perinatal Depression,” which was also funded by the Horizons Foundation.
She published extensively and was the lead author of a landmark study on depression during pregnancy, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Grote is survived by her husband Bob, children Sara and Hobie, and grandchildren. Private services were held in Seattle with services planned later this spring in St Louis.