Debra Furr-Holden
Professor of Epidemiology
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Professional overview
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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.
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Education
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BA, Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Baltimore, MAPhD, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MA
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Publications
Publications
A scoping review of health inequities in alcohol use disorder
Racial and Ethnic Composition of Departments of Health Policy, Management, Education, and Behavioral Sciences
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Perioperative Health Care Among Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: JACC State-of-the-Art Review
Development of a systematic social observation tool for monitoring use of harm reduction supplies
AbstractNesoff, E. D., Aronowitz, S. V., Milam, A. J., & Furr-Holden, C. D. M. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Journal title
International Journal of Drug PolicyVolume
122AbstractBackground: Harm reduction services such as safer injection supply distribution are essential to reducing morbidity and mortality among people who use drugs (PWUD); however, local use of harm reduction supplies (e.g., tourniquets, saline solution) is difficult to routinely and systematically monitor. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a systematic social observation tool designed to assess use of harm reduction supplies at the street block level. Methods: Data collection took place on a random sample of 150 blocks located throughout the Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia from November 2021 to January 2022. We measured inter-rater reliability by two-way mixed-effects intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) with the consistency agreement definition and internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega. Exploratory factor analysis with principal component extraction and promax rotation assessed internal consistency. We validated scales against locations of public syringe disposal boxes, a proxy measure for areas of concentrated drug use, using logistic regression. Results: Naloxone canisters, syringe caps, saline and sterile water solution bottles showed the highest reliability (ICC≥0.7). Items also showed high internal consistency (alpha, omega>0.7). Exploratory factor analysis identified one, three-item scale with high internal consistency: syringe caps, vials, and baggies (alpha = 0.85; omega = 0.85)—all supplies used concurrently with drug injection but not discarded in syringe disposal boxes. Drug use (OR = 1.78, 95 % CI = (1.48, 2.23)), harm reduction (OR = 3.53, 95 % CI = (2.20, 6.12)), and EFA scales (OR = 1.85, 95 %CI = (1.51, 2.34)) were significantly and positively associated with being within walking distance (≤0.25 miles or 0.4 km) of a syringe disposal box. Conclusion: This study provides an efficient tool with high reliability and validity metrics to assess community uptake of harm reduction supplies designed for use by community organizations, policy makers, or other groups providing resources to PWUD.Establishing the Relative Accuracy of Using City Directories as Proxies to Define and Reconstruct Historical Alcohol Environments
In Reply to Yung and Morris
Linking Historical Discriminatory Housing Patterns to the Contemporary Alcohol Environment
Organizational Leaders Perceptions of Barriers to Accessing Behavioral Health Services in a Low-Resource Community
Peer Recovery Coaches Perceptions of Their Work and Their Implications for Training, Support and Personal Recovery
An Evaluation Framework of a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Equity Research
Experiences of Discrimination, Institutional Responses to Seminal Race Events, and Depressive Symptoms in Black U.S. Medical Students
Mission, Organization, and Future Direction of the Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19 (SeroNet) Epidemiologic Cohort Studies
AbstractFigueiredo, J. C., Hirsch, F. R., Kushi, L. H., Nembhard, W. N., Crawford, J. M., Mantis, N., Finster, L., Merin, N. M., Merchant, A., Reckamp, K. L., Melmed, G. Y., Braun, J., Mcgovern, D., Parekh, S., Corley, D. A., Zohoori, N., Amick, B. C., Du, R., Gregersen, P. K., … Skarbinski, J. (n.d.).Publication year
2022Journal title
Open Forum Infectious DiseasesVolume
9Issue
6AbstractBackground: Global efforts are needed to elucidate the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the underlying cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including seroprevalence, risk factors, and long-Term sequelae, as well as immune responses after vaccination across populations and the social dimensions of prevention and treatment strategies. Methods: In the United States, the National Cancer Institute in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, established the SARS-CoV-2 Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet) as the nation's largest coordinated effort to study coronavirus disease 2019. The network comprises multidisciplinary researchers bridging gaps and fostering collaborations among immunologists, epidemiologists, virologists, clinicians and clinical laboratories, social and behavioral scientists, policymakers, data scientists, and community members. In total, 49 institutions form the SeroNet consortium to study individuals with cancer, autoimmune disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, cardiovascular diseases, human immunodeficiency virus, transplant recipients, as well as otherwise healthy pregnant women, children, college students, and high-risk occupational workers (including healthcare workers and first responders). Results: Several studies focus on underrepresented populations, including ethnic minorities and rural communities. To support integrative data analyses across SeroNet studies, efforts are underway to define common data elements for standardized serology measurements, cellular and molecular assays, self-reported data, treatment, and clinical outcomes. Conclusions: In this paper, we discuss the overarching framework for SeroNet epidemiology studies, critical research questions under investigation, and data accessibility for the worldwide scientific community. Lessons learned will help inform preparedness and responsiveness to future emerging diseases.Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Among Black Medical Students: the Role of Peer Connectedness and Perceived Discrimination
Trajectory Modeling of Spatio-Temporal Trends in COVID-19 Incidence in Flint and Genesee County, Michigan
Using trajectory modeling of spatio-temporal trends to illustrate disparities in COVID-19 death in flint and Genesee County, Michigan
Adolescent Development in Context: A Decade Review of Neighborhood and Activity Space Research
Alcohol outlets, drug paraphernalia sales, and neighborhood drug overdose
An NIH investment in health equity - the economic impact of the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions
AbstractMeghea, C. I., Montgomery, B. W., Ellington, R., Wang, L., Barajas, C., Lewis, E. Y., Yeary, S. T., Van Egeren, L. A., & Furr-Holden, D. (n.d.).Publication year
2021Journal title
BMC public healthVolume
21Issue
1AbstractBackground: Health disparities are pervasive and are linked to economic losses in the United States of up to $135 billion per year. The Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES) is a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for health disparities research funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic impact of the 5-year investment in FCHES in Genesee County, Michigan. Methods: The estimated impacts of FCHES were calculated using a U.S.-specific input/output (I/O) model, IMPLAN, from IMPLAN Group, LLC., which provides a software system to access geographic specific data regarding economic sector interactions from a variety of sources. This allowed us to model the cross-sector economic activity that occurred throughout Genesee County, Michigan, as a result of the FCHES investment. The overall economic impacts were estimated as the sum of three impact types: 1. Direct (the specific expenditures impact of FCHES and the Scientific Research and Development Services sector); 2. Indirect (the impact on suppliers to FCHES and the Scientific Research and Development Services sector); and 3. Induced (the additional economic impact of the spending of these suppliers and employees in the county economy). Results: The total FCHES investment amounted to approximately $11 million between 2016 and 2020. Overall, combined direct, indirect, and induced impacts of the total FCHES federal investment in Genesee County included over 161 job-years, over $7.6 million in personal income, and more than $19.2 million in economic output. In addition, this combined economic activity generated close to $2.3 million in state/local and federal tax revenue. The impact multipliers show the ripple effect of the FCHES investment. For example, the overall output of over $19.2 million led to an impact multiplier of 1.75 – every $1 of federal FCHES investment led to an additional $.75 of economic output in Genesee County. Conclusions: The FCHES research funding yields significant direct economic impacts above and beyond the direct NIH investment of $11 million. The economic impact estimation method may be relevant and generalizable to other large research centers such as FCHES.Black, white, or green? The effects of racial composition and socioeconomic status on neighborhood-level tobacco outlet density
Evaluation of a local ordinance to prevent any underage purchases in liquor stores: The need for enforcement
Health Data Disparities in Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths From 1999 to 2018 in the United States
Linking historical discriminatory housing patterns to the contemporary food environment in Baltimore
Reply to Drs. Hart and Cadet: we agree—the challenges of increasing equity, diversity and inclusion include societal issues and actions now are vital
Right Sizing Flint’s Infrastructure in the Wake of the Flint Water Crisis Would Constitute an Additional Environmental Injustice
A novel method for evaluating and comparing community health reports