The Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy (COEP) at NYU Langone launched in 2018 and is led by Magdalena Cerdá, DrPH, MPH, director and professor, and Noa Krawczyk, PhD, associate director and assistant professor, in the Department of Population Health. At COEP, our mission is to advance overdose prevention and substance use epidemiology, to alleviate substance-related harms and promote health equity within our communities. We do this through three Center aims that promote innovative research, comprehensive training, and effective dissemination.

Reduce Overdose and Harm

Investigate promising policy, health services, community, and treatment approaches to reduce overdose and drug-related harms through four areas of focus:

• Understanding Drivers: Examining the social and policy drivers of population-level rates of overdose and disparities in overdose rates
• Evaluating Solutions: evaluating the impact of existing and evolving social, policy, community, and health service solutions to the epidemic to build health equity.
• Leveraging Data Science: integrating advanced analytical and data science techniques with epidemiologic research to more precisely measure, forecast, and understand the drivers of overdose and related harms
• Exploring Connections: investigating the links between substance use and related health and social concerns including violence, infectious disease, and evolving crises

Provide Training Opportunities

COEP faculty provide training opportunities in overdose prevention and substance use epidemiology through three core activities:

• Building Expertise: Providing rigorous training for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to develop their research skills and translate findings into practice.
• Promoting Professional Development: Offering opportunities for students, fellows and faculty to cultivate individual research interests and career advancement in substance use epidemiology.
• Fostering Diversity and Equity: Ensuring diversity in our training initiatives to cultivate an inclusive scientific workforce that addresses health disparities.

Translate and Disseminate Research Findings

COEP aims to effectively translate and disseminate research findings to diverse audiences, including academic researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and directly impacted groups via multiple avenues:

• Communicating Research: Making research findings accessible and relevant to community stakeholders, practitioners and policymakers.
• Engaging with Communities: Collaborating with community partners to ensure research addresses the most pressing needs and incorporates diverse perspectives.
• Infusing Dissemination Thinking: Incorporating research translation and dissemination strategies throughout the research process to ensure actionable outcomes.

Together, we strive to drive meaningful change that reduces overdose and drug-related harms, contributing to healthier, more equitable communities.

A Multidisciplinary Approach

The center is a trusted research source on the United States’ rapidly shifting overdose epidemic, sharing evidence and metrics with researchers, policymakers, and the public, nationally and internationally, with the aim of informing policy and practice around treatment.

Our center is comprised of a multidisciplinary team conducting cutting-edge work on the social determinants of substance use, the impact of state and national policies on substance use, and the effects of different treatment regimens and medications on substance use disorders. We are expanding these efforts through training and education in opioid epidemiology and public policy for the next generation of researchers.

Contact Us

For all inquiries, please contact Caroline Barnes, MPH, senior program manager, at Caroline.Barnes@NYULangone.org. To stay up to date with developments in opioid epidemiology and policy, please join our mailing list.