Ryan Assaf, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor

Email: elna.nffns@hpfs.rqhude.fscu@fassa.nayr

Overview

Ryan Assaf, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Equity and Society. He received his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health where he also received his MPH and earned his BS at the University of California, Irvine. He recently completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, where his work centered on substance use, treatment, overdose, and harm reduction among people experiencing homelessness. Throughout his postdoctoral fellowship, Ryan presented data from the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness at academic conferences, in scientific publications, and through op-eds-- one of which was published in the LA Times.

Ryan’s work applies community-engaged practices, social determinants of health frameworks, and epidemiological methods to examine the intersections of infectious diseases, substance use and drug-related overdose, and sexual health among people experiencing homelessness and sexual and gender diverse populations.

Prior to joining BHHI, Ryan was an epidemiologist at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. With nearly a decade of community- and academic-focused service, he continually worked for organizations that promote advocacy and provide services and protections for marginalized populations, including sexual and gender diverse groups, individuals who use substances, and people experiencing homelessness.

PhD, 06/2022 - Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles

MPH, 03/2019 - Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles

BS, 12/2016 - Public Health Science, University of California, Irvine

Postdoctoral research fellowship, - , University of California, San Francisco

Puff, Puff, Don't Pass: harm reduction for cannabis use during a viral respiratory pandemic. (Harm reduction journal)

Pediatric emergency department organization and social care practices among U.S. fellowship programs. (AEM education and training)

Evolving Primary Care Utilization of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People at a Community Sexual Health Clinic. (Transgender health)

Changes in secondary substance use after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic among people who use cannabis: Findings from a web-based sample of adults in the United States. (Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology)

Social care practices and perspectives among U.S. pediatric emergency medicine fellowship programs. (AEM education and training)

High proportions of rectal and pharyngeal chlamydia and gonorrhoea cases among cisgender men are missed using current CDC screening recommendations. (Sexually transmitted infections)

Changes in medical and non-medical cannabis use among United States adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. (The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse)

Selective Changes in Medical Cannabis Use Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a Web-Based Sample of Adults in the United States. (Cannabis and cannabinoid research)