Public Health Research Scientist

Career History

Associate Research Scientist 07.2023 - present

Yale School of Medicine. Connecticut, USA

  • Research social and structural factors shaping addiction treatment implementation in criminal justice settings in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan

International consultant 09.2021 - present

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Assess the feasibility of implementing the first opioid agonist treatment to treat opioid dependence among people who inject drugs in Pakistan

European Prison Litigation Network. Kyiv, Ukraine

  • Organize the investigation of Russian war crimes in de-occupied Ukrainian territories by training local researchers in qualitative methods
  • Lead the first ever systematic review of the medical ethics of European prison governance

Postdoctoral fellow 09.2021 - 06.2023

Yale School of Public Health. Connecticut, USA

  • Research social and structural factors shaping addiction treatment implementation in criminal justice settings in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan
  • Independently secured funding (Fogarty Fellowship, R21 grant) to address emerging public health challenges among most at-risk populations in Eastern European and Central Asia
  • Regularly liaise with and brief US and European public health policymakers
  • Design the first methadone treatment program in Ukrainian prisons and lead engagement with local and international policymakers

Public health researcher 09.2011 - 05.2020

Yale University Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. Connecticut, USA

  • Developed and executed two implementation science grants from the National Institute of Health aimed at optimizing the delivery of addiction treatment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
  • Disseminated mixed-methods research findings among top-level stakeholders to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue and implement prison health policy change
  • Published policy relevant research (25+ peer-reviewed publications) on infectious diseases, criminal justice, and health

Research consultant 09.2012 - 08.2013

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - Central Asia

  • Implemented the first representative biobehavioral health survey in the prisons of Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan surveying 1,000+ people in prison to determine drivers of the HIV epidemic

Education

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK 2020

Ph.D. in Public Health & Policy PhD: Methadone as ‘indiscipline’: the making of the virtuous subject in Kyrgyz prisons, with honors

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK 2014

M.Sc. in Control of Infectious Diseases

Wesleyan University, CT, USA 2008

B.A. in Eastern European Studies

Fellowships and Awards

Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies (FLAGS) Research Award 2022

LGBT Studies, Yale University, CT, USA

Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program Fellowship 2021 - 2020

Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. CT, USA

Jerry Morris Prize for outstanding doctoral reseearch 2021

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. London, UK

Global Health Equity Scholarship Post- & Pre- Doctoral Fellowships 2017 & 2021

National Institutes of Health. Maryland, USA.

European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction Scientific Award 2016

EMCDDA. Lisbon, Portugal

Fulbright Research Fellowship in Ukraine 2009 - 2011

U.S. State Department. Washington D.C., USA

Center for Humanities Research Fellowship 2007 - 2008

Wesleyan University. CT, USA

Languages

English (native), Ukrainian (fluent), Spanish (fluent), German (fluent), Swedish (fluent), American Sign Language (intermediate), French (intermediate), Yiddish (intermediate), Russian (native)