Sundania J. W. Wonnum, Ph.D., BCD, LCSW

Social and Behavioral Sciences Administrator (Program Official) Division of Clinical and Health Services Research
sundania.wonnum@nih.gov

Dr. Sundania Wonnum is a Social and Behavioral Sciences Administrator (Program Official) in the Division of Clinical and Health Services Research at NIMHD. She oversees and conducts research to advance the science of child and maternal-child health and health care across biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and health system domains.

Prior to joining NIMHD, Dr. Wonnum was a child mental health policy consultant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she collaborated with leaders and stakeholders and provided technical assistance on policies, programs, and research to enhance children’s well-being statewide, to include school-based health centers, systems of care networks, and mental health workforce development. She was a Scholar in Residence for the Society of Research in Child Development, during which she examined state and federal health policies’ provision of comprehensive health and mental health care for children. Dr. Wonnum is also a U.S. Air Force Reserve officer serving in the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General.

Dr. Wonnum leverages her multilevel experiences in health care research, administration, education, and clinical practice to highlight health care access inequities and to elevate health care quality for vulnerable children and mothers. As such, she applies an intersectional lens to the study of health disparities and health care delivery, modalities, curricula, policies, and systems using quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Dr. Wonnum earned her Ph.D. in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds a postgraduate certificate of health professions education from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, a Master of Social Work degree from Valdosta State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and biological sciences from Pennsylvania State University.

Selected Publications

Wonnum , S. & Krassow, J.L. (2023). Behavioral Health Consult: Tips and tools to help you manage ADHD in children, adolescents. The Journal of Family Practice, 72(1):E1-E9.

Fuentes, R. J. C., Wonnum, S. J., & Bucaj, M. (2021). Functional neurological disorder: how to define, identify, and evaluate. The Journal of Family Practice, 70(2):69-79.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Dixon, M. A., Wonnum, S. J., Alley, E. S., & Hyer, S. M. (2019). Integrating principles of military team development into family medicine education. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 54(4–5):336–343.

Price, K. S., El-Khoury, D., & Wonnum, S. J. (2014). Adolescent pregnancy in the United States. In A. L. Cherry & M. E. Dillon (Eds). International Handbook of Adolescent Pregnancy: Medical, Psychosocial, and Public Health Responses. Springer Publishing: New York, NY.

Page updated February 24, 2023