FOCUS
Morgan’s research focuses on the role of government in advancing health equity. Applying an interdisciplinary lens to the opioid overdose crisis, her work will examine its socioeconomic and policy causes, the gendered and racialized barriers to substance use treatment, and the promise of collaboration between courts and the treatment sector. Her research speaks to government as a determinant of health and asks how public organizations can improve health outcomes for vulnerable communities.
MORE ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan is a first-generation student originally from Indianapolis, Indiana. Her professional background in public policy, through the prism of her lived experience with poverty and substance abuse, motivates her to better understand government as a determinant of health.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — SUMMER 2022
Governing the Overdose Crisis: A Multilevel Analysis of Problems, Policy, and Public Capacity
The overdose crisis remains a public health emergency and issue of racial justice: despite national attention and significant public investments, overdose deaths continue to rise especially among non-Hispanic Black and American Indian/Alaska Native people. My dissertation considers how a fragmented governance landscape contributes to the overdose crisis and shapes its policy responses. Specifically, this research examines the relationship between local public services and drug mortality, determinants of state harm reduction policy adoption, and patterns of interactions among actors in regional health-justice collaboratives.
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