Esther O. Chung

Dr. Esther Chung is a social epidemiologist focused on community health and implementation research at RTI International. She has over ten years of experience conducting public health research in both global and domestic settings, with a focus on understanding how social environments and behaviors influence population health, particularly among marginalized populations. These populations include rural families in low- and middle-income countries, people experiencing homelessness, and racial and ethnic minorities. Dr. Chung employs various research methods, such as causal inference, longitudinal methods, trajectory analysis, and qualitative, and mixed methods.

Before joining RTI in 2023, Dr. Chung worked extensively on maternal and child health and development studies in low- and middle-income countries in East Africa and South Asia. Her research experience includes early child development, maternal and child health, mental health, and intervention evaluations.

At RTI, Dr. Chung contributes to two National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded community-based studies; these studies aim to understand the relationships between substance use, criminal legal involvement, housing access, harm reduction interventions and implementation, overdose, and other health and social outcomes. She also contributes to studies on drug policy impacts, including Oregon's Ballot Measure 110, and the implementation of syringe services programs using the National Survey of Syringe Services Programs.