Welcome New Faculty Member Zach Cooper
As an undergraduate student, Dr. Zach Cooper was fascinated with clinical psychology and sociology, with a strong desire to be a therapist providing clinical services while also being trained to address social determinants of health. When he discovered social work, he realized he had found the field that converged these interests.
Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Dr. Cooper joins the FSU College of Social Work faculty this fall of 2026 as an assistant professor. He comes to Florida State after recently completing his doctoral degree from the University of Georgia School of Social Work.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Augusta University, he earned his MSW from the University of South Carolina and worked for more than nine years in community mental health and primary care settings.
While working in community mental health, he performed case management services on an assertive community treatment (ACT) team for people living with severe and persistent mental illness. He then went on to become trained in alcohol and substance use disorders, working as a substance use counselor for the ACT team. This experience allowed him to engage in interprofessional treatment for patients experiencing complex mental and physical health problems. And finally, he transitioned to a role providing outpatient therapy for individuals and groups. “All of these experiences increased my awareness of the complex connections between mental and physical health,” said Dr. Cooper, noting how often these ailments were treated separately.
When he became the first behavioral health provider at a primary care clinic, he gained firsthand experience in setting up an integrated health model, including workflows and best practices for incorporating behavioral health assessments and treatments at each clinical site. While in this position, he noticed a lack of evidence-based interventions needed to adapt behavioral services into primary health care. This motivated him to pursue a doctoral degree and a career dedicated to intervention research.
“My research centers on developing behavioral health interventions for integration into healthcare settings to better address the management of chronic and co-occurring conditions, including diabetes, depression, cardiovascular conditions, and anxiety,” Dr. Cooper shared.
He added, “My work aims to optimize behavioral health interventions and improve access to integrated care models through rigorous implementation and dissemination strategies.”
With his research strongly rooted in quantitative methods, he ultimately wants to make integrative health models work for the providers and their patients to improve health outcomes. This passion for interprofessional healthcare social work practice is something he also enjoys sharing with students as an instructor.
Even as an undergraduate student, he engaged in research on Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment grants, learning from the preceptor teaching methods, utilizing motivational intervention and behavioral activation skills. This included simulation sessions using test patients to provide a more realistic experience, an immersive method he continued to use while teaching undergraduate courses as a doctoral student at the University of Georgia.
“These were some of the most impactful learning experiences for me as a student, and I always aim to provide that as an instructor,” shared Dr. Cooper. “I have found several ways to do this with students, including using test patients, training students how to present clinical cases, and utilizing role play with students. I always try to incorporate experiences within students’ field placement or clinical experiences to make the content connect with the real-world, direct service experiences.”
He looks forward to sharing his experience and enthusiasm for health social work and interprofessional social work practice, teaching at Florida State this fall, and partnering on future research endeavors at FSU.
“FSU is truly unique in how it embodies interprofessional research and education. FSU was the perfect fit for me with the initiatives of FSU Health and the aim to enhance health service research and training,” he enthused. “The College of Social Work is also well-positioned to ensure social work practice, research, and values are included within the mission of FSU Health and related centers. The Center for Behavioral Health Integration and the Center for Translational Behavioral Research provide a robust research infrastructure to support collaborations”