Ryan McNeil, PhD
Yale School of Medicine - Associate Professor
Yale School of Medicine - Director of Harm Reduction Research, Program in Addiction Medicine
Yale School of Medicine - Director of Harm Reduction Research, Program in Addiction Medicine
Email: ryan.mcneil@yale.edu
Education
PhD, Interdisciplinary Studies (Social Medicine/Sociology), University of British ColumbiaMPhil, Interdisciplinary Policy Studies, University of New Brunswick
BPhil, Interdisciplinary Policy Studies, University of New Brunswick
Research Interests
Harm reduction, overdose prevention, safe supply, management of stimulant use BIO
Ryan McNeil is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Harm Reduction Research, Program in Addiction Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. Through community-engaged qualitative and ethnographic research, he examines how forces operating within the risk environments of people who use drugs shape risk and harm. Dr. McNeil is Principal Investigator of multiple grants examining: (1) social, structural, and environmental influences on the implementation and effectiveness of harm reduction and addiction treatment interventions, including supervised consumption services; (2) the influence of housing and housing-based interventions on overdose-related risks; (3) approaches to the management of stimulant use disorders. His foundational research on harm reduction approaches, including supervised consumption services and safe supply, has been instrumental to informing their scale-up.Pursuant to the goal of meaningfully involving people who use drugs in all stages of the research process, he actively collaborates with community-based organizations, including peer-driven drug user, sex worker, and tenant rights organizations, to align his research with community priorities and provide opportunities for people with lived experience to co-lead and engage in research. Dr. McNeil is the co-creator and scientific lead of Crackdown, a podcast launched to mobilize research and amplify the voices of people who use drugs. This innovative media collaboration has been called the “podcast most likely to save lives” and has received the Radio Impact Award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival, Canadian Hillman Prize, and a silver medal from the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
Projects
Principal Investigator, A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Fentanyl-Stimulant Polysubstance Use Among People Experiencing Homelessness. Active
Principal Investigator, An Ethno-epidemiological Study of the Implementation and Effectiveness of an Innovative and Comprehensive Response to the Evolving Overdose Epidemic. Active
Principal Investigator, An Ethno-epidemiological Study to Advance HIV Prevention and Treatment for PWUD. Active
Principal Investigator, Housing and Overdose Risk Environments: A Community-based Participatory Research Study. Completed
Publications
Recent
Mayer S, Jenkins E, Fairbairn N, Fowler A, McNeil R (2024).
“I’m just searching to get better”: Constructions of treatment citizenship on injectable opioid agonist treatment
Social Science and Medicine, 348, 116708. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116708.
“I’m just searching to get better”: Constructions of treatment citizenship on injectable opioid agonist treatment
Social Science and Medicine, 348, 116708. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116708.
Fleming T, Ivsins A, Barker A, Mansoor M, Mayer S, Vakharia S, McNeil R (2024).
Perceptions of prospective pharmaceutical stimulant substitution treatments among people who use illicit stimulants in Vancouver, Canada
International Journal of Drug Policy, 125, 104336. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104336.
Perceptions of prospective pharmaceutical stimulant substitution treatments among people who use illicit stimulants in Vancouver, Canada
International Journal of Drug Policy, 125, 104336. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104336.
Fleming T, Boyd J, Chayama KL, Knight KR, McNeil R (2024).
Using alone at home: What’s missing in housing-based responses to the overdose crisis?
Harm Reduction Journal, 21 (1), 24. doi: 10.1186/s12954-024-00933-y. PMCID: PMC10823649.
Using alone at home: What’s missing in housing-based responses to the overdose crisis?
Harm Reduction Journal, 21 (1), 24. doi: 10.1186/s12954-024-00933-y. PMCID: PMC10823649.
Chayama KL, Ng C, Fleming T, Small W, Sue KL, McNeil R (2023).
Housing-based syringe services programs to improve access to safer injecting equipment for people who inject drugs in Vancouver, Canada: A spatially oriented qualitative study
Harm Reduction Journal, 20 (1), 126. doi: 10.1186/s12954-023-00862-2. PMCID: PMC10483728.
Housing-based syringe services programs to improve access to safer injecting equipment for people who inject drugs in Vancouver, Canada: A spatially oriented qualitative study
Harm Reduction Journal, 20 (1), 126. doi: 10.1186/s12954-023-00862-2. PMCID: PMC10483728.
Olding M, Boyd J, Kerr T, McNeil R (2023).
“We just don’t have the space for it”: Geographies of survival and spatial triage in overdose prevention sites
Health and Place, 83, 103067. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103067. PMCID: PMC10589902.
“We just don’t have the space for it”: Geographies of survival and spatial triage in overdose prevention sites
Health and Place, 83, 103067. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103067. PMCID: PMC10589902.
Notable
Advancing patient-centered care for structurally vulnerable drug-using populations: A qualitative study of the perspectives of people who use drugs regarding the potential integration of harm reduction interventions into hospitals
Addiction, 111 (4), 685-694. doi: 10.1111/add.13214. PMCID: PMC4801725.
McNeil R, Small W (2014).
Safer environment interventions’: A qualitative synthesis of the experiences and perceptions of people who inject drugs
Social Science and Medicine, 106, 151-158. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.051. PMCID: PMC4133147.
McNeil R, Small W, Lampkin H, Shannon K, Kerr T (2014).
“People knew they could come here to get help”: An ethnographic study of assisted injection practices at a peer-run ‘unsanctioned’ supervised drug consumption room in a Canadian setting
AIDS and Behavior, 18 (3), 473-485. doi: 10.1007/s10461-013-0540-y. PMCID: PMC3815969.
Dr. McNeil's Google Scholar Profile