Race, Health Equity, and the Opioid Epidemic: A Panel Discussion

RTI’s Jon Zibbell will be among the panelists during the UNC School of Medicine’s panel discussion Race, Health Equity, and the Opioid Epidemic.

Zibbell is a nationally recognized expert on injection drug use, opioid use disorder, and drug overdoses, as well as transmission of infectious diseases, notably Hepatitis C virus, among injection drug users. He also has conducted substantial work on the effectiveness of fentanyl test strips for reducing overdoses.

He will be joined in the public discussion by

• Helena Hansen, associate professor, Department of Psychology, New York University
• Jennifer Carroll, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology, Elon University
• Virgil Hayes, Appalachian harm reduction services coordinator, NC Harm Reduction Coalition

This discussion is sponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Social Medicine, Center for Bioethics, Center for Health Equity Research, Moral Economies of Medicine working group, and the 2019 UNC Merrimon Lectureship

Learn more about Zibbell’s work:

• New study finds that using fentanyl test strips can lead to safer drug use behaviors
• Study Suggests Opioid Interventions Reduce Hepatitis C Transmission