Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series: Elizabeth Evans

Join us for the first Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series of 2026-2027 with Professor Elizabeth Evans. From Harm to Support: How Public Health Research Is Transforming Drug Policy. The overdose epidemic is a major public health challenge of our times, worsened by decades of public policies that have harmed the most vulnerable people in our communities. Massachusetts has taken a remarkable public health approach to confront the problem. In this talk, Professor Elizabeth Evans will highlight how her research on justice-involved people who use drugs helped advance understanding of the benefits of investing in treatment instead of punishment. She will present results from her Massachusetts Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (MassJCOIN) project in which she studied the implementation, outcomes, and costs of a legislative mandate requiring Massachusetts jails to offer treatment for opioid use disorder during incarceration and linkage to care post-release. She will end by sharing how inclusive partnerships—involving people with lived experiences of drug use and incarceration, carceral-legal actors, health-care practitioners, and policymakers—can enrich our ability to find evidence-based solutions for better public health.