Debra Furr-Holden

Professor of Epidemiology

Professional overview

Debra M. Furr-Holden is an epidemiologist and passionate advocate for health equity. A public health professional with broad expertise in health disparities and policy-level interventions toward health equity, her scholarship encompasses a range of topics including drug and alcohol dependence epidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology, and prevention science.

Dean Furr-Holden hails from Michigan State University, where she was the C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health and associate dean for public health integration. In announcing her appointment, effective July 2022, NYU President Andrew Hamilton noted Dr. Furr-Holden’s extensive experience working with local and national policymakers, her skill at team-building and success as a mentor, and her exceptional talent as a communicator on public health and health equity issues.

Indeed, it is Dean Furr-Holden’s action-oriented research and commitment to training the next generation of public health practitioners that dovetails perfectly with GPH’s mission to use data-driven interventions and cutting-edge innovation to identify and implement equitable solutions to both domestic and international public health challenges.

In addition to her endowed professorship at MSU, Dr. Furr-Holden served as director of the NIH-funded Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions at the College of Human Medicine. During the Covid-19 pandemic she was appointed to the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, the Greater Flint Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Inequity, and the New York City African American Covid-19 Task Force. Most notably, in Michigan and Flint the racial disparity in Covid-19 cases and deaths among African Americans was eliminated.

Prior to her appointments at MSU Dr. Furr-Holden was an assistant (2007) and later associate (2011) professor at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she retains an appointment as an adjunct professor. Before Johns Hopkins, she was a research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation and a faculty member at Morgan State University.

Dean Furr-Holden is a widely published scholar whose writings include more than 120 peer-reviewed papers in high impact journals. In 2021 she published a seminal article in Addiction that highlighted racial disparities in opioid overdose deaths over the past two decades, and she was recently quoted in an exclusive article in The New York Times examining the demography of deaths nationwide from Covid-19.

Dean Furr-Holden is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Junior Faculty Mentoring Award; and the Meeting the Moment for Public Health Award, recognizing the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, of which she is a founding member.

Education

BA, Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Baltimore, MA

PhD, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MA

Publications

Publications

Impact of Alcohol Tax Increase on Maryland College Students' Alcohol-Related Outcomes

Intercorrelation of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders among a National Sample of Drivers

Managing Conflicts in Urban Communities: Youth Attitudes Regarding Gun Violence

Novel Methods for Environmental Assessment of Pedestrian Injury: Creation and Validation of the Inventory for Pedestrian Safety Infrastructure

Reducing cardiovascular disparities through community-engaged implementation research: A national heart, lung, and blood institute workshop report

Differences in Obesity Among Men of Diverse Racial and Ethnic Background

The Effects of Discrimination Are Associated With Cigarette Smoking Among Black Males

Tobacco policies and on-premise smoking in bars and clubs that cater to young African Americans following the Maryland Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007

ALCOHOL OUTLETS AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG HIGH SCHOOLERS

Association Between Any Major Discrimination and Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adult African American Men

Changes in Attitudes toward Guns and Shootings following Implementation of the Baltimore Safe Streets Intervention

Classifying substance use disorder treatment facilities with co-located mental health services: A latent class analysis approach

Clustering of Black Adolescent Marijuana Use in Low-Income, Urban Neighborhoods

Evaluating nighttime observational measures of neighborhood disorder: Validity of the nighttime NIfETy assessment

Not in my back yard: A comparative analysis of crime around publicly funded drug treatment centers, liquor stores, convenience stores, and corner stores in one Mid-Atlantic City

Racial differences and the role of neighborhood in the sequencing of marijuana and tobacco initiation among urban youth

The inequitable distribution of tobacco outlet density: the role of income in two Black Mid-Atlantic geopolitical areas

The influence of neighborhood context on exposure to and use of substances among Urban African American children

The Moderating Role of Gender in the Relationship Between Tobacco Outlet Exposure and Tobacco Use Among African American Young Adults

The Role of Stress and Spirituality in Adolescent Substance Use

Triangulating syndemic services and drug treatment policy: Improving drug treatment portal locations in Baltimore City

Past 15-year trends in adolescent marijuana use: Differences by race/ethnicity and sex

The role of neighborhood in urban black adolescent marijuana use

The School Assessment for Environmental Typology (SAfETy): An Observational Measure of the School Environment

Neighborhood alcohol outlets and the association with violent crime in one mid-Atlantic City: The implications for zoning policy