Radhika Prasad
PhD Student at University at Albany, SUNY

Radhika is a Sociology PhD student at University at Albany, SUNY and fellow at the Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities. Her research examines the social determinants of substance use and mental health issues from adolescence to adulthood. Radhika uses a life course perspective and longitudinal methods to examine these issues. She has also worked with the New York chapter of the American College of Physicians’ (NYACP) pain management task force, on drug policy and treatment, which is especially important given the rising trends in opioid overdose and deaths since the pandemic. With this task force, Radhika worked on updating the opioid training course required for all New York State doctors to include data on racial disparities in drug overdose specific to NYS. Additionally, Radhika provided recommendations to NYACP’s Health and Public Policy Committee on legislation concerning opioid overdose prevention in NYS K-12 schools. She drafted a legislative memo on behalf of NYACP, which included practical suggestions about how schools and families can work together in opioid overdose prevention and intervention. Radhika’s goal is to translate her research into actionable steps by informing proposed policy and educational training among the health-care workforce.