People

Courtney-McKnight
Courtney McKnight, DrPH
NYU School of Global Public Health - Clinical Assistant Professor
Email: courtney.mcknight@nyu.edu
Education
DrPH, Public Health, CUNY Graduate Center
MPH, Public Health, Hunter College
BA, Sociology, Rutgers University
Research Interests
Substance use policy, health care access for people who use drugs
BIO
Courtney McKnight is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at New York University’s School of Global Public Health where she specializes in mixed methods research focused on the epidemiology of drug use, drug overdose, HIV and HCV infection. Dr. McKnight began her career in public health directing a harm reduction program for women who use drugs and volunteering at a syringe services program. Her research interests include examining changes in the unregulated drug supply, including the use of fentanyl and xylazine, and how these changes impact people who use drugs. She is PI on a CDUHR pilot project examining xylazine test strip use and HIV risk behaviors among a cohort of people who inject drugs in New York City, and a Co-Investigator on the DRIVE project, a community-based intervention study in Haiphong, Vietnam that identifies and links HIV positive people who inject drugs to HIV care through peer support to facilitate individual-level viral suppression with the over-arching goal of reducing population viral load and ending the HIV epidemic among PWID in Haiphong.
Projects
Principal Investigator, Risk Factors for AIDS among Persons Who Inject Drugs: HIV and COVID-19. Active
Principal Investigator, Xylazine Test Strip Use and HIV Risk Behaviors Among People Who Inject Drugs. Active
Principal Investigator, Comparison of Stigmatization of Monkeypox, Injecting Drug Use, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19. Completed
Principal Investigator, Examination of Opioid Overdose Prevention Behaviors Among People Who Use Drugs. Completed
Principal Investigator, Knowledge and Perceptions of Fentanyl Among Opioid Users and Service Providers. Completed
Principal Investigator, Poly Drug Use and Overdose Risk Among Individuals Using Methamphetamine and Opioids. Completed
Publications

Recent

Des Jarlais DC, McKnight C, Weng CA, Feelemyer J, Tross S, Raag M, Org G, Talu A, Uuskula A (2023).
Field testing the “Avoid the Needle” intervention for persons at risk for transitioning to injecting drug use in Tallinn, Estonia and New York City, USA
AIDS and Behavior, 27 (11), 3767-3779. doi: 10.1007/s10461-023-04094-0. PMCID: PMC10227783.

Des Jarlais DC, Weng CA, Feelemyer J, McKnight C (2023).
Non-fatal drug overdose among persons who inject drugs during first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City: Prevalence, risk factors
Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, 8, 100171. doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2023.100171. PMCID: PMC10247299.

Khezri M, Tavakoli F, Schwartz S, Karamouzian M, Sharifi H, McKnight CA, Des Jarlais D, Baral S, Shokoohi M (2023).
Global epidemiology of abortion among female sex workers: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression
Annals of Epidemiology, 85, 13-37. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2023.06.022.

Palayew A, Knudtson K, Purchase S, Clark S, Possehl L, Healy E, Deutsch S, McKnight CA, Des Jarlais D, Glick SN (2023).
HIV risk and prevention among clients of a delivery-based harm reduction service during an HIV outbreak among people who use drugs in northern rural Minnesota, USA
Harm Reduction Journal, 20 (1), 102. doi: 10.1186/s12954-023-00839-1. PMCID: PMC10394878.

McKnight C, Weng CA, Reynoso M, Kimball S, Thompson LM, Des Jarlais D (2023).
Understanding intentionality of fentanyl use and drug overdose risk: Findings from a mixed methods study of people who inject drugs in New York City
International Journal of Drug Policy, 118, 104063. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104063. PMCID: PMC10524892.

Dr. McKnight's MyBibliography Profile
Selected Press