Nishi Dsouza

Population Health and the Carceral Continuum: A Narrative Review Mass incarceration in the US constitutes only one facet of a larger carceral network. Key carceral logics such as punishment, policing, surveillance, …

📖New Publication Alert! 📖

Population Health & the Carceral Continuum: A Narrative Review (Social Science and Medicine)

"...there is a clear lack of community-level empirical research examining the carceral tools used by the 'care' arms of the state."

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The coolest thing about a job in academia is teaching, but also learning. I am sharing this reflection as I sit in a seminar about thermo fluid applications in mechanical engineering, something I know nothing about. Interdisciplinary research is as much about learning as it is knowledge generation.

Overdose Prevention Centers: Advancing Harm Reduction and the Right to Health in the United States This paper advocates for Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) to advance the right to health among people with opioid use disorder in the United States. Despite a recent decline in overdose fatalities, ...

New Publication Alert! This paper advocates for Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs), which provide people with opioid use disorder with dignity and treat them with empathy, necessary prerequisites to engaging individuals in behavior change.

www.qeios.com/read/ZMSIKO

"How are chocolate and research related?" I asked my students before I conducted a chocolate tasting - OOPS! I mean guided research exercise using the senses to examine physical properties of cacao confections.

#Fall2025 #PublicHealthResearch #ResearchMethods #UNForgettable

Frontiers | System dynamics modeling in support of community-based decision-making to reduce opioid overdose fatalities Both New York State (NYS) and the United States have experienced heightened levels of opioid overdose death and prevalence of opioid use in recent decades. W...

New publication alert!

"The [Systems Think Tank] demonstrated how [system dynamics] modeling can be used to build mutual understanding and inform exploration of complex health problems, such as the opioid crisis, within diverse communities."

www.frontiersin.org/journals/pub...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Authors: Max Spaderna, Jennifer Krebs, Jewell Benford, Aaron Greenblatt, Charles Callahan, and Samuel B. Little, PhD.

@univofmaryland.bsky.social ‬; @medschool.umaryland.edu

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

A fantastic paper by about a pilot feasibility study of stipdents for housing among people using methadone for opioid use disorder (MOUD) experiencing homelessness. My favorite quote from the paper was from a participant of the study: "'If we apply ourselves, good things happen.'"

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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

"...results suggest that housing assistance is feasible and beneficial for patients receiving MOUD...[however], providing temporary financial assistance for housing without accounting for how the rent will be paid once the assistance ends risks making patients homeless again."

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Save us, o Lord, while waking, and guard us while sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ & asleep may rest in peace. #nightprayer

"How do we design housing systems so that people can thrive, not just survive?"

Deeply inspired by the community centered systems focused interventions shared in this seminar and the dedicated people driving them forward.

#HxHLab

"A new economy inspired by Francis of Assisi can and must become an economy of friendship with the earth and an economy of peace.” - Pope Francis

#RIP #PopeFrancis #EconomyOfFrancesco

I am overjoyed to share that I will be joining the faculty at the University of North Florida Brooks College of Health as an Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Science. Thanks be to God and my wonderful support system of family, mentors, and friends. North or nowhere; it's time to soar! 🦅

Public art is a unique gift; something this beautiful has to be enjoyed by the masses.

Academic turns city into a social experiment — Harvard Gazette Antanas Mockus had just resigned from the top job of Colombian National University. A mathematician and philosopher, Mockus looked around for another big challenge and found it: to be in…

One way of changing behavior? Clowns!

Bogota implemented street mimes, which led to decrease road rage. An important intervention to replicate because road rage is associated with domestic violence.

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

The future of transportation? Solution for urban challenges?

The tropical island named the world’s most family-friendly country in 2025 Cheap childcare and bags of inspiring wildlife – what more do you need

This is one of many articles comparing the livability of places, specifically how family-friendly they are. The article immediately starts with a call for people to move abroad. What if we instead reframe this to a call for universal design of family friendliness?

www.timeout.com/news/the-tro...

We need to organize--let’s help each other.

NIH is cancelling grants, but it's not clear exactly what they're cancelling and why. Without this information, we can't respond.

I've started a Google Sheet to track grant cancellations.

Please add any canceled grants you know of and spread the word!

Overdose deaths are going down: health, harm reduction approaches play a big role - Drug Policy Alliance Overdose deaths are finally going down due to public health solutions. Dr. Sheila Vakharia explains, including what we can do to save lives.

"To save lives, it’s critical that elected leaders go all in on a public health approach to drugs—providing better access to health and harm reduction services, treatment, and drug education based in facts, not fear." - Sheila Vakharia, Drug Policy Alliance

drugpolicy.org/news/overdos...

“The lesson of Jesus that we have heard does not allow escape routes... You cannot stonewall a person who is hungry: he must be fed... The works of mercy are not theoretical ideas, but concrete testimonies. They oblige us to roll up our sleeves to alleviate suffering.” - Pope Francis

#QuoteOfTheDay

Mass Deportations Would Worsen Our Housing Crisis Mass deportations would reduce the construction labor force, which is highly dependent on immigrant workers, exacerbating the US housing crisis—but some states are more at risk than others.

"Trump administration’s proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants would worsen the worker shortage—deepening the housing crisis and undermining the administration’s goals to 'lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply.'"

www.urban.org/urban-wire/m... @urbaninstitute.bsky.social

Art is infinite and regenerative, as is hope.

Where there is art, there is hope.

YouTube video by Nishita Dsouza Measuring Livability and its Influence on Health - Nishita Dsouza's Dissertation Defense

"Findings highlight important implications, particularly regarding the potential impact of privatizing public services on residual income, especially for low-income households that may be more dependent on public social infrastructure."

Learn more about livability: youtu.be/FkyvjH9cix0?...

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Stratification of Livability: A Framework for Analyzing Differences in Livability Across Income, Consumption, and Social Infrastructure - Social Indicators Research Livability has become a prominent topic in both academic discourse and policymaking. This paper investigates how societal stratification in livability varies based on residual income and the provision...

Is livability equitably distributed?

"Results reveal significant clustering related to residual income and social infrastructure provision, indicating clear societal stratification in livability."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Peer-assisted telemedicine hepatitis-C treatment for people who use drugs in rural communities: a mixed methods study - Addiction Science & Clinical Practice Background The increase in opioid use disorder among young, nonurban people has fueled sharp rises in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Innovative treatment models are needed that circumvent healthc...

"Peers guided [participants] to services for life necessities such as food and housing [but] expressed frustration with inconsistent policies on how and whether people with current drug use could access wraparound resources such as temporary housing resources."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Building Social Support into Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Trajectories: Insights from a Longitudinal Qualitative and Ethnographic Study with Young People Experiencing Unstable Housing and Homelessness This study explores the opportunities and challenges of fostering social support across street-involved young people’s mental health and substance use (MHSU) treatment trajectories. We conducted in...

"However, many reported not receiving enough assistance from service providers in navigating complex social relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners, [indicating a] need for a more holistic approach to MHSU treatment."

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Links Between Vibrant Retail Business Environments and Resident’s Health

We have completed a series of studies showing that neighborhood access to small and medium size retail businesses that provide for community member’s living needs – the goods and services we need to function, live and…

An integrated framework to guide evidence-informed public health policymaking - Journal of Public Health Policy Evidence-informed policymaking emphasizes that policy decisions should be informed by the best available evidence from research and follow a systematic and transparent approach. For public health poli...

"[This] framework can be used to advocate for the institutionalization of more transparent, evidence-informed policymaking, which is the only way to achieve lasting change in the policymaking process."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

"Finally, the international scientific community must speak with one voice. We must say, loudly and consistently, that what is happening is entirely unacceptable."