Team Members

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 Dr. Ju Nyeong Park (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology (Research) at Brown University and faculty at the COBRE on Opioids and Overdose. Her research focuses on promoting the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs through harm reduction. She is Co-PI of several projects on overdose and HIV prevention. She earned her Ph.D. and MHS in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University and B.Sc. from the University of Sydney. 

 Erin Thompson (she/her) is the Project Coordinator at the Harm Reduction Innovation Lab where she manages daily operation and logistics. Erin recently earned her M.P.H. from the University of New England.  Being a native Rhode Islander, she is determined to use her degree to positively impact the community around her through her work with the lab.  Her interests include health policy, the intersection between socioeconomic status and health, and the effect of privilege and oppression on individual health.  

Greg Rosen (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of International  Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHU). With training in epidemiology and behavioral sciences, Greg uses mixed methods and implementation science paradigms to strengthen delivery of HIV and harm reduction services for marginalized populations, including people who use drugs. He holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College and M.S.P.H. from JHU.

 Jessie Tardif (she/her) is a research assistant who works on mixed-methods research at HRIL. She is currently most involved in leading the DISCS media analysis and being an interviewer for DISCS in depth interviews. She graduated from Clark University with a B.A. in Sociology, with a concentration in Ethics and Public Policy. Her focus lies in the social determinants of health, and she plans to continue a career in public health and public policy in the future. 

Ralph Welwean (he/him) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health. He holds a M.P.H. in Epidemiology from the University of Georgia.  His professional experience includes managing various surveillance systems, performing quantitative & qualitative statistical analysis, and interpreting findings to inform program and policy changes.

Kristin Koehm (she/her) is an MPH student concentrating in Health Services at Brown University. She graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in Health Science with a concentration in Public Health. Her focus lies in addressing barriers to healthcare and mental health parity.

  Johnny Bird (he/him) is a medical student at Brown University. He is passionate about eliminating barriers to life-saving harm reduction strategies. His research is focused on implementation of drug checking programs in countries throughout the Americas.

  Christina Vasquez (she/her) is a medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School and earned a B.Sc. with honors from Brown University. She is interested in research, advocacy, and public policy that will reduce health disparities. Christina is currently assisting with efforts to pilot overdose detection technology in Rhode Island.