#WeAreEmoryEpi: Meet Dr. Hannah Cooper!
Category : #WeAreEmoryEPI
Tuesday, October 10th was World Mental Health Day, and this week we are highlighting Dr. Hannah Cooper! Dr. Cooper is the Rollins Chair of Substance Use Disorders Research and is a jointly appointed faculty member within both the BSHES and EPI Departments. Keep reading to learn more about her background and research!
Tell us a little about your academic history/where you went to school.
I organized my training so that I could study and intervene in the structural determinants of drug-related harms, and of inequities in those harms. My commitment to understanding structural determinants and health equity led me to the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Health and Social Behavior for my graduate studies. My commitment to harm reduction drew me to a post-doc at a research institute that was wholly dedicated to supporting the health of people who use drugs.
What are your primary research interests?
I have dedicated my career to studying and intervening in the structural determinants of drug-related harms, and of inequities in those harms. I think of my career as unfolding in different chapters. First, I focused on how features of places, including War on Drugs policies, shaped these harms, and their distributions within and across US metro areas. Then I turned to the same topic, but in rural areas. Now, I am in a new chapter, on the intersection of harm reduction and reproductive justice.
How did you fall into the research you are currently conducting?
There are two origins for my research. The first is that I am White, and descended from people who enslaved other people. My work on health equity is part of a broader lifelong commitment to reparations. The second is that drug-related harms are common in my extended family, and so I do this work out to honor them.
Are there any exciting projects or manuscripts that you are currently working on that you’d like to share with us?
I get to co-lead a new project called CORAL, which a partnership of Morehouse and Emory that is dedicated to helping Black pregnant and postpartum people flourish, with a focus on community-driven approaches to supporting behavioral health.
What is your favorite part of being at Emory?
The people!
Tell us about any classes that you’re teaching/have taught in the past.
I get to teach two classes here: a proposal development course for BSHES PhD students, and a course on analyzing administrative data and geospatial data that focuses on harm reduction.
What advice do you have for students?
Trust yourself.
What are three fun facts that you want people to know about you?
1. I just started playing the cello again.
2. I love reading.
3. There are only two fun facts about me, sadly.
How have you been spending your free time?
Raising my daughter with my partner.
Thank you so much for your insight, Dr. Cooper! Stay tuned to see who we speak to next on #WeAreEmoryEpi!
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