Saba Rouhani, PhD, MSc
NYU School of Global Public Health - Assistant Professor
Email: saba.rouhani@nyu.edu
Education
PhD, Global Disease Epidemiology & Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthMSc, Control of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
BSc Medical Microbiology, University of Edinburgh
BIO
Saba Rouhani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and core faculty member at the Center for Anti-racism, Social Justice, and Public Health.Dr. Rouhani’s research is focused on characterizing the structural environment which influences risk of overdose and other drug-related harms. Her work has investigated impacts of harm reduction and overdose prevention initiatives on outcomes ranging from naloxone accessibility in the community to COVID-19 vaccination uptake among people who use drugs, using results to identify gaps in implementation and inform upcoming policy. She is especially interested in how the design and implementation of drug policy has fueled mass incarceration and impacted racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, and in studying how changes to the drug policy and policing landscape may promote or hinder equity in health and social outcomes. Her current program of research is focused on characterizing emerging drug decriminalization policies in the United States and modeling their impacts on equity in criminal legal involvement and health outcomes. Dr. Rouhani’s research has been published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Journal of Urban Health, American Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
Dr. Rouhani completed a T32 Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2020 and worked as research faculty in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health prior to joining NYU.
Projects
Publications
Recent
Tomko C, Rouhani S, LaSalle L, Sherman SG (2024).
Public support for reinvesting resources from enforcing drug possession to health-promoting alternatives: A nationally representative poll of adults in the United States
International Journal of Drug Policy, 126, 104370. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104370.
Public support for reinvesting resources from enforcing drug possession to health-promoting alternatives: A nationally representative poll of adults in the United States
International Journal of Drug Policy, 126, 104370. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104370.
Kozak Z, Urquhart GJ, Rouhani S, Allen ST, Park JN, Sherman SG (2024).
Factors associated with daily use of benzodiazepines/tranquilizers and opioids among people who use drugs
American Journal on Addictions, 33 (1), 83-91. doi: 10.1111/ajad.13483.
Factors associated with daily use of benzodiazepines/tranquilizers and opioids among people who use drugs
American Journal on Addictions, 33 (1), 83-91. doi: 10.1111/ajad.13483.
Sisco E, Nestadt DF, Bloom MB, Schneider KE, Elkasabany RA, Rouhani S, Sherman SG (2023).
Understanding sensitivity and cross-reactivity of xylazine lateral flow immunoassay test strips for drug checking applications
Drug Testing and Analysis [Epub 2023 Dec 3]. doi: 10.1002/dta.3612.
Understanding sensitivity and cross-reactivity of xylazine lateral flow immunoassay test strips for drug checking applications
Drug Testing and Analysis [Epub 2023 Dec 3]. doi: 10.1002/dta.3612.
Tomko C, Rouhani S, Johnson RM, Susukida R, Byregowda H, Parnham T, Schneider KE, Gibson M, Heath T, Rickard R, Boyd CE, Park JN (2023).
Implementation of overdose prevention in Maryland: Implications for resource allocation, program scale-up, and evaluation
Health Promotion Practice [Epub 2023 Nov 22]. doi: 10.1177/15248399231209935.
Implementation of overdose prevention in Maryland: Implications for resource allocation, program scale-up, and evaluation
Health Promotion Practice [Epub 2023 Nov 22]. doi: 10.1177/15248399231209935.
Rouhani S, Tomko C, Silberzahn BE, Weicker NP, Sherman SG (2023).
Racial disparities in drug arrest before and after de facto decriminalization in Baltimore
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 65 (4), 560-567. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2023.04.004.
Racial disparities in drug arrest before and after de facto decriminalization in Baltimore
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 65 (4), 560-567. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2023.04.004.
Notable
Perceived vulnerability to overdose-related arrests among people who use drugs in Maryland
International Journal of Drug Policy, 98, 103426. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103426.
Rouhani S, Decker MR, Tomko C, Silberzahn B, Allen ST, Park JN, Footer KHA, Sherman SG (2021).
Resilience among cisgender and transgender women in street-based sex work in Baltimore, Maryland
Womens Health Issues, 31 (2), 148-156. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2020.11.002. PMCID: PMC8005437.
Rouhani S, Park JN, Morales KB, Green TC, Sherman SG (2020).
Trends in opioid initiation among people who use opioids in three US cities
Drug and Alcohol Review, 39 (4), 375-383. doi: 10.1111/dar.13060.
Dr. Rouhani's ORCID Profile