Epidemiology

Current Fellows

Predoctoral

  • Erin Annunziato

    Erin Annunziato, MPH, is an SAETP pre-doctoral fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. She is interested in researching structural-level determinants of substance use-related harms. Her current research examines relationships between state-level drug policy programs, criminal legal system exposure, and substance use treatment. Erin completed her MPH in Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health in 2021. 

    Selected publications:

    • Mauro, P. M., Gutkind, S., Annunziato, E. M., & Samples, H. (2022). Use of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Among US Adolescents and Adults With Need for Opioid Treatment, 2019. JAMA network open, 5(3), e223821. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.3821
    • Mauro, P. M., Gutkind, S., Askari, M. S., Hasin, D. S., Samples, H., Mauro, C. M., Annunziato, E. M., Boustead, A. E., & Martins, S. S. (2024). Associations between cannabis policies and state-level specialty cannabis use disorder treatment in the United States, 2004-2019. Drug and alcohol dependence, 257, 111113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111113

  • Stanford Chihuri

    Stanford Chihuri, MPH, is a SAETP pre-doctoral fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. His research interests include examining the intersection between substance use, substance use policies and consequent harm outcomes such as injuries from motor vehicle crashes, falls, and self-harm. His previous research has explored these topics among vulnerable populations such as older adults, amputees, and pregnant mothers. Stan completed his MPH in Epidemiology with a certificate in Advanced Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. 
     

    Selected publications:

    ·       Chihuri S, Li G. Use of Prescription Opioids and Initiation of Fatal 2-Vehicle Crashes. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(2):e188081. Published 2019 Feb 1. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.8081

    ·       Chihuri S, Li G. State marijuana laws and opioid overdose mortality. Inj Epidemiol. 2019;6:38. Published 2019 Sep 2. doi:10.1186/s40621-019-0213-z

    ·       Chihuri S, Li G. Trends in Prescription Opioids Detected in Fatally Injured Drivers in 6 US States: 1995-2015.Am J Public Health. 2017;107(9):1487-1492. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303902

    ·       Chihuri S, Li G, Chen Q. Interaction of marijuana and alcohol on fatal motor vehicle crash risk: a case-control study. Inj Epidemiol. 2017;4(1):8. doi:10.1186/s40621-017-0105-z

  • Lina Demis

    Lina Demis, MPH is an SAETP pre-doctoral fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. She is interested in researching adolescent mental, neurological, and substance-use (MNS) disorders in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and conflict affected settings. Her research examines the relationship between cognitive and socio-emotional development with substance use and other MNS during adolescence, with a regional focus in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Lina completed her BS in Biology from Brooklyn College, and her MPH in Epidemiology and Humanitarian Action at the Mailman School of Public Health in 2021.


    Selected publications:

    • Greene, M. C., Wimer, G., Larrea, M., Jimenez, I., Angulo, A., Guevara, M. E., Vega, C., Heard, E.,Demis, L., … Tol, W. (2024). Strategies to improve the implementation and effectiveness of community-based psychosocial support interventions for displaced, migrant and host community women in Latin America. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health, 11, e32. doi:10.1017/gmh.2024.29
    • Demis, L. Y., Kane, J. C., & Greene, M. C. (2022). Associations of conflict and migration on childhood cognitive development in Ethiopia: Evidence from a longitudinal study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(11), 1279–1287. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13571 
    • Greene, M. C., Haddad, S., Busse, A., Ezard, N., Ventevogel P., Demis, L., Inoue, S., Gumm, J.-C., Campello, G., Tol, W. A., & Kane, J. C. (2021). Priorities for addressing substance use disorder in humanitarian settings. Conflict and Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-021-00407-z 

  • Amy Pitts

    Amy Pitts is a SAETP pre-doctoral fellow in the Department of Biostatistics. Her research primarily focuses on causal inference approaches to enhance the external validity of clinical trials related to substance use disorders and methods to understand prenatal anesthesia exposure. In previous research, she explored the inference of health outcomes among patients with HIV during COVID-19 pandemic and used MRP model to improve survey representativeness.  Amy entered into the PhD program directly after receiving her BS in Applied Mathematics and Data Science & Analytics from Marist College in 2020.
     

    Selected publications: 

    • Pitts, A. J., & Fowler, C. R. (2024). Comparison of open-source software for producing directed acyclic graphs. Journal of causal inference, 12(1), 20230031.
    • Singh, T., Pitts, A., Miles, C., & Ing, C. (2024). Anesthetic Exposure During Early Childhood and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: Our Current Understanding. Current Anesthesiology Reports, 14(1), 15-24.
    • Duong, N. Q., Pitts, A. J., Kim, S., & Miles, C. H. (2023). Sensitivity analysis for transportability in multi-study, multi-outcome settings. arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.02904.
    • Lawlor, M. K., Ng, V., Ahmed, S., Dershowitz, L., Brener, M. I., Kampaktsis, P., Pitts, A., Vahl III, T.P., Nazif, T., Leon, M.B., George, I., Hahn R.T, & Kodali, S. (2023). Baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes of a tricuspid regurgitation referral population. The American Journal of Cardiology, 196, 22-30.

Postdoctoral

  • Emilie Bruzelius

    Emilie Bruzelius is a SAETP post-doctoral research fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. Her research examines relationships between substance use and social policies and health outcomes, with a focus on pregnant people and families. Emilie received her PhD in Epidemiology and MPH in Sociomedical Sciences from MSPH at Columbia University.
     

    Selected publications:

    • Bruzelius E, Underhill K, Askari MS, Kajeepeta S, Bates L, Prins SJ, Jarlenski M, Martins SS. Punitive legal responses to prenatal drug use in the United States: A survey of state policies and systematic review of their public health impacts. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2024 Apr 1;126:104380. PMID: 38484529 PMCID: PMC11056296
    • Bruzelius E, Cerdá M, Davis CS, Jent V, Wheeler-Martin K, Mauro CM, Crystal S, Keyes KM, Samples H, Hasin DS, Martins SS. Naloxone expansion is not associated with increases in adolescent heroin use and injection drug use: Evidence from 44 US states. Int J Drug Policy. 2023 Apr;114:103980. PMID: 36863285. PMCID: PMC11268161
    • Bruzelius E, & Martins SS. US Trends in Drug Overdose Mortality Among Pregnant and Postpartum Persons, 2017-2020. 2022 JAMA, 328(21), 2159–2161. PMID: 36472602. PMCID: PMC9856503
    • Bruzelius E, Baum A. The Mental Health of Hispanic/Latino Americans Following National Immigration Policy Changes: United States, 2014-2018. Am J Public Health. 2019 Dec;109(12):1786-1788. PMID: 31622153. PMCID: PMC6836785
    Emilie Bruzelius

  • Kechna Cadet

    Kechna Cadet, PhD, MPH (she/her) is a NIH T32 SAETP Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Cadet’s research explores the impact of socio-structural determinants on substance use and negative health outcomes among marginalized communities. Dr. Cadet received her PhD from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and received her training and funding from the NIH T32 Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training program. Her dissertation used multi-level latent variable modeling and social epidemiological theories to examine the impact of structural contextual factors (e.g., residential segregation, income inequality, area deprivation, exposure to violence, spatial access to drug-related programs) on polysubstance use typologies and distal outcomes of HIV, HCV, and non-fatal overdose among people who inject drugs. Her current research examines polysubstance use related mortality through interdisciplinary research that incorporates drug use epidemiology, structural equation modeling, Bayesian modeling, and machine learning techniques. Dr. Cadet earned her MPH in Community Health and Social Sciences from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and received her B.S. in Psychology from Drexel University. 

     

    Selected publications:

    • Cadet, K., Hill, A.V., Gilreath, T.D., Johnson, R.M. (2024). Grade-Level Differences in the Profiles of Substance Use and Behavioral Health Problems: A Multi-Group Latent Class Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(9),1196. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091196
    • Webb, L., Cadet, K., Musci, R., Kurani, S., Clary, L. K., German, D., & Johnson, R. M. (2024). Polysubstance Use among Maryland High School Students: Variations across County-Level School Districts. International journal of environmental research and public health, 21(5), 639.
    • Kurani S, Webb L, Cadet K, Ma M, Gibson M, Jallah N, Park JN, Johnson RM. Area-level deprivation and adverse childhood experiences among high school students in Maryland. BMC Public Health. 2022 Apr 23;22(1):811. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13205-w. PMID: 35459200; PMCID: PMC9034595.
    • Bauer AG, Ruglass LM, Shevorykin A, Saraiya TC, Robinson G, Cadet K, Julien L, Chao T, Hien D. Predictors of therapeutic alliance, treatment feedback, and clinical outcomes among African American women in treatment for co-occurring PTSD and SUD. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2022 Aug;139:108766. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2022.108766. Epub 2022 Mar 22. PMID: 35346534; PMCID: PMC9187592.
    Kechna Cadet

  • Evan Eschliman

    Evan L. Eschliman, PhD, MS is a SAETP postdoctoral research fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. Broadly, Evan’s research focuses on the negative health effects of stigma—particularly structural stigma—and culturally and structurally-responsive stigma intervention. Their current projects investigate how structural stigma toward substance use drives health inequities and overdose. Evan completed their PhD in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where their dissertation focused on the concept of structural stigma and how it negatively affects the health and well-being of people who use opioids and people with a history of injection drug use. Prior to their PhD, Evan earned their MS in Sociomedical Sciences from MSPH and a BA in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago.
     

    Selected publications:

    • Eschliman, E. L., Choe, K., DeLucia, A., Addison, E., Jackson, V. W., Murray, S. M., German, D., Genberg, B. L., & Kaufman, M. R. (2024). First-hand accounts of structural stigma toward people who use opioids on Reddit. Social Science & Medicine, 347, 116772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116772
    • Eschliman, E. L., Choe, K., Fei, Y. C., Kang, C., Koetje, J., Harocopos, A., Harris, M. N., DeWalt, J., Christopher, S. A., Jackson, V. W., & Yang, L. H. (2024). Evaluation of Two Videos that Apply Evidence-Based Strategies to Increase Self-Efficacy and Reduce Opioid-Related Stigma Among Medical Students. Academic Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-024-01945-3
    • Eschliman, E. L., Patel, E. U., Murray, S. M., German, D., Kirk, G. D., Mehta, S. H., Kaufman, M. R., & Genberg, B. L. (2024). Drug Use-Related Discrimination in Healthcare Settings and Subsequent Emergency Department Utilization in a Prospective Cohort Study of People With a History of Injection Drug Use. Substance Use & Misuse, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2330906
    • Eschliman, E. L., Adames, C.N., & Rosen, J.D. Antidiscrimination laws as essential tools for achieving LGBTQ+ health equity. (2023). JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.0944

  • Nicole Fitzgerald

    Nicole D. Fitzgerald, PhD, is a NIDA T32 SAETP postdoctoral research fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. Broadly, her research focuses on improving our understanding of the real-world landscape of substance use patterns, trends, and outcomes. Most of this work has involved examining indicators of emerging substance use, availability, and associated harms––particularly related to the use of fentanyl and fentanyl-stimulant combinations, hallucinogens, and new psychoactive substances. Nicole received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Florida and received her pre-doctoral training and funding from the NIDA T32 UF Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health. Her dissertation used data collected through the NIDA-funded National Drug Early Warning System U01 center at UF to examine the prevalence, typologies, and associated adverse effects of self-reported new psychoactive substance use among adults from 20 US cities. Prior to her PhD, Nicole completed her BA in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University.


    Selected publications:

    • Fitzgerald ND, Liu Y, Wang A, Striley CW, Setlow B, Knackstedt L, Cottler LB. Test-retest reliability of a new instrument to capture detailed temporal patterns of polysubstance use. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2022;31(3):e1912. doi:10.1002/mpr.1912.
    • Palamar JJ, Fitzgerald ND, Grundy DJ, Jewell JS, Cottler LB. Characteristics of poisonings involving ketamine in the United States, 2019–2021. J Psychopharmacol. 2022;37(8):802–808. doi:10.1177/02698811221140006.
    • Fitzgerald ND, Liu Y, Wang A, Striley CW, Knackstedt L, Setlow B, Cottler LB. Sequencing temporal patterns of sequential and simultaneous polysubstance use among persons who use cocaine, alcohol, and cannabis: a back-translational approach. Drug Alc Depend. 2024;258:111272. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111272.
    • Palamar JJ, Fitzgerald ND, Carr TH, Cottler LB, Ciccarone D. National and regional trends in fentanyl seizures in the United States, 2017–2023. Int J Drug Policy 2024:104417. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104417.

Affiliated Fellows

  • Rachael Ross

    Rachael K. Ross, PhD is a SEATP affiliated post-doctoral research fellow in the MSPH Department of Epidemiology. She is a pharmacoepidemiologist and her research focuses on medications for opioid use disorder. Rachael received her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina where her dissertation focused on developing and evaluating epidemiologic methods for missing data and measurement error. Prior to her PhD, Rachael worked for 7 years at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia conducting pharmacoepidemiology and health services research focused on antibiotic treatment in children. Rachael previously earned an MPH from Emory University and a BA from University of Pennsylvania.

  • Megan Marziali

    Megan Marziali, MPH, is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and an Affiliated Fellow in the Substance Abuse Epidemiology Training Program. She was recently awarded a NIDA R36 grant (PI: Marziali) for her dissertation work, which seeks to examine the relationship between loneliness, substance use outcomes, and HIV-related outcomes. She is also interested in conducting evaluations of various policies in the United States, and how distinct policies impact substance use outcomes. Alongside collaborators in Canada, she is working to examine mortality outcomes among people with HIV who experience a nonfatal overdose. Megan received her BSc in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia and completed her MPH in Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health in 2021.