Dr. Karen Urbanoski
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About Karen
Karen is the Canada Research Chair in Substance Use, Addictions and Health Services, scientist at CISUR, and associate professor in Public Health and Social Policy at the 番茄社区. As a social epidemiologist, her research focuses on the social-structural determinants of substance-related harms, the organization of service systems, and population health equity. She leverages large population-based datasets coupled with targeted community-based studies to explore the connections between people’s perceived needs for services of different kinds, their experiences of care, and health outcomes.
Prior to coming to the 番茄社区, Karen completed her training and worked as a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario. She still holds positions as a collaborator scientist at CAMH and assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. After completing her PhD in public health at the University of Toronto, Karen completed post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry.
Karen’s work broadly aims to promote a better understanding of how to ensure equitable access to addiction services among the population in need. Her research interests include pathways to addiction treatment; coercion and compulsory addiction treatment; treatment motivation and therapeutic processes; policies that impact on service access and use; and treatment and systems evaluation.
Videos of Karen
Publications:
Projects
- A mixed methods evaluation of safer supply initiatives to reduce illicit drug overdose in BC
- BC Co/Lab
- Compulsory addiction treatment: toward evidence-based policy and practice
- Evaluation of an inpatient Addictions Medicine Consult Service in Island Health
- Evaluation of the Victoria SAFER program
- Healthy mothers, healthy families: Evaluating integrated treatment for pregnant and parenting women with addictions
- Island Health alcohol and other drug treatment services
- Managed alcohol and cannabis substitution: A feasibility study
- Perspectives of People who use Drugs on Safer Supply: A concept mapping study
- Provincial peer network evaluation
- Reducing Stigma in Primary Care
- The Mothering Co/Lab
- The role of child protection in substance use services for women
- Youth Experiences Project: Police discretion with youth who use illicit substances
Publications
- A Brief on Methodology: Using Proximity Analysis to Study the Impact of Substance Use Services On Local Neighborhoods
- Alcohol and Other-Drug Related Harms in BC's Island Health Region
- Co/Lab Substance Use Monitoring Framework: Equity-Oriented Monitoring of Substance Use and Health (Overview)
- Evidence Brief: Needle and Syringe Exchange Programs
- Evidence Brief: Supervised Consumption Sites are Necessary Public Health Services
- Practice brief: Implementing the Victoria SAFER Initiative