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I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sociology Department and beginning in July 2023 will be Assistant Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. I use ethnographic and qualitative methods to investigate how place, social networks, and organizations influence health, criminalization, and marginality, particularly with respect to drug use and drug policy. My first book project is a multisite ethnographic study of opioid use and opioid-related services in backcountry California. My research has been published in Social Science & Medicine, Theory & Society, International Journal of Drug Policy, Mobilization, and elsewhere. I hold a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

I am also a harm reductionist, and currently serve as President of the Board of Directors for NEED, a harm reduction services organization in Berkeley, California. For more information, please visit www.berkeleyneed.org

Biography

I was born and raised in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Tutorial Studies from the University of Chicago in 2012. A revised version of my undergraduate thesis on psychopathy and medicalization was published in Theory and Society in 2019.

I moved to California in 2013 and received a Master of Arts in Sociology from UC Berkeley in 2015. A revised version of my Master’s thesis on syringe services in California was published in Mobilization in 2020. I completed my PhD in 2022.

Outside of my academic work, I am active in harm reduction organizing efforts in California. I also enjoy baking, hiking, playing with our dogs Poppy and Duncan, and reality television.