This summer, Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey, Ph.D., MPH, JD, FCRH ’79, LAW ’82, GSS ’11, assumed the position of chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Health Law Section. She will head the section—comprising over 900 members—and will bring a sharpened focus to issues of inequity in maternal health.
“We’re behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to maternal health outcomes, specifically for Black women and Black mothers,” she said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to influence these conversations.”
Morrissey has held many leadership roles in the New York State Bar Association—including serving in the House of Delegates and chairing the Task Force on Medical Aid in Dying. In addition to her interest in maternal health, Morrissey also brings expertise in palliative and end-of-life care to this position. She will be honored by Calvary Hospital in the Bronx this November for her commitment to providing palliative care education and training to diverse workforces through the organization she founded called the Collaborative for Palliative Care. All three will be agenda topics at this year’s Health Law Section Fall Meeting in October.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for our health lawyers to deepen their understanding of public health problems requiring our urgent attention,” Morrissey said.
The Key to Public Health Success? Research Expertise
Throughout her successful career as an attorney, Morrissey’s interest in health law inspired her to explore health care’s impact on communities and populations. She earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the New York Medical College (2005), to aid this work—supplementing her legal knowledge with the theoretical frameworks shaping public health.
However, to have the impact she desired, Morrissey found she needed to dive even deeper. Research methodology and understanding were crucial to any kind of success with public health outcomes, and she realized she needed to pursue Ph.D. studies. So, she returned to the classrooms of Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus; this time, however, she’d enrolled at the Graduate School of Social Service’s Ph.D. in Social Work program. She remembers with appreciation the sage guidance she received from Dr. Meredith Hanson, the Ph.D. Program Director at the time.
“I needed to understand and be able to do research,” she said. “[It] is absolutely essential to building knowledge. I think it should be integrated into all educational experiences.”
Today, Morrissey uses her research prowess for more than her legal endeavors. As Ph.D. in Social Welfare Program Director and Associate Professor at Yeshiva University Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Morrissey leans on her doctoral education daily. Her most recent grant-funded initiatives have focused on immigrant health, including a study on refugee mental health.
“I’m a qualitative researcher,” she said. “I developed those skills at the Graduate School of Social Service.”
A Fordham Family
Morrissey said her time studying as an undergraduate at Rose Hill was formative, learning from scholars Quentin Lauer, S.J., and Mark Caldwell. Her three Fordham degrees are among the longstanding family legacy at the Jesuit University of New York. Morrissey’s brother, the late Honorable Kevin J. Quaranta, Esq., also graduated from FCRH and Fordham Law. Her daughter, Kathleen (2007), and son, John (2023), graduated from the Gabelli School of Business.
Not to mention, her mother—Mary Ann Quaranta—was a GSS graduate (1950) and Dean of the Graduate School of Social Service for 25 years.
“Mary Ann Quaranta was in many ways the life and soul of the Graduate School of Social Service,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., former president of Fordham, in a previous interview. “Her scholarship and vision helped shape the school’s direction, and her tireless effort on its behalf, and on behalf of several generations of students, made the school what it is today.”
Quaranta was instrumental in GSS’s rise to prominence in the social work educational landscape. She brought in record levels of grant and research funding and developed GSS’s first doctoral program in social work. She also helped create GSS’s Ravazzin Center on Aging and Intergenerational Studies, and its Children and Families Institute, which have continued to serve students through scholarships, events, and field internships—while earning federal grants to empower the local community. Her influence is so strong that GSS has dedicated an Endowed Chair designation in her name, the Mary Ann Quaranta Chair for Social Justice for Children—held by Professor Shirley Gatenio Gabel, Ph.D.
Guided by her mother’s example, Morrissey has set out to pursue meaningful work, foster lasting connections, and empower those around her.
“Mary Ann was able to influence conversations and build bridges across different communities,” Morrissey said. “One thing she really liked to talk about when it came to social work was the strengths perspective—and that has influenced not only me, but my children.”
