People

Luther Elliott
Luther C. Elliott, PhD
NYU School of Global Public Health - Associate Research Scientist
Email: luther@nyu.edu
Education
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Science Training Program, NDRI, Inc.
PhD, Anthropology, New York University
MA, Anthropology, New York University
BA, English/French, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Research Interests
Opioid dependence and overdose, Substance use careers, Interactive media, Non-traditional treatment paradigms, Behavioral "addictions", Ethnographic methods, Psychedelics
BIO
Luther Elliott is a cultural and medical anthropologist who focuses on pathways to substance misuse and behavioral addictions. Dr. Elliott’s interests in vulnerable subcultures and populations led him to the Institute for Special Populations Research (ISPR) at NDRI following his PhD work (New York University, 2006) with emergent subcultures of psychedelic drug use. Since then, he has collaborated with senior researchers, Bruce Johnson, Eloise Dunlap, and Andrew Golub on studies of marijuana use (R01DA013690), Hurricane Katrina’s evacuees (R01DA021783), and veterans’ health (R01AA020178). Dr. Elliott recently served as principal investigator on a 3-year study of developmental relationships between video game and substance use (R01DA027761) and is currently serving as co-investigator on a study of opioid treatment program disruption in the wake of Hurricane Sandy (6HITEP140014-01-03) and Co-Investigator and Project Director on a prospective study of military veterans’ overdose risks and prevention efforts (R01DA036754).
Projects
Principal Investigator, Evaluation of a Community-Based Education, Navigation, and Support (CENS) Intervention to Reduce Opioid-Related Harms Among Military Veterans. Active
Principal Investigator, Expanding Opioid Overdose Prevention Program Capacity in New York City. Active
Principal Investigator, Impact of Pharmaceutical Industry Messaging on the Opioid Crisis among U.S. Military Veterans. Active
Principal Investigator, Overdose Risk Management and Compensation in the Era of Naloxone. Active
Principal Investigator, Exploratory Mapping of Kratom Use Patterns and Markets in NYC. Completed
Publications

Recent

Frank D, Bennett AS, Cleland CM, Meyerson BE, Russell DM, Walters SM, Simon C, Scheidell JD, Elliott L (2025).
“I still can feel the sickness”: Withdrawal experiences of people on methadone maintenance treatment
Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 170, 209616. doi: 10.1016/j.josat.2024.209616.

Bennett AS, McCollum DR, Elliott L (2024).
Navigating the COVID-19 risk environment, overdose prevention, and self care practices of people who use illicit opioids in New York City
Substance Use and Misuse [Epub 2024 Dec 2]. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2024.2434681.

Scheidell JD, Chueng T, Ciraldo K, Hervera B, Dakoulas S, Mahachi M, Bennett AS, Elliott LC (2024).
Reaching people who use drugs with sexual and reproductive healthcare through syringe services programs: Potential promise and missed opportunities
Harm Reduction Journal, 21 (1), 198. doi: 10.1186/s12954-024-01116-5. PMCID: PMC11566571.

Martin SI, Bennett AS, Elliott L, Gorgens KA (2024).
Overdose risk and brain injury (traumatic brain injury/acquired brain injury), a commentary
Substance Use and Misuse, 59 (11), 1656-1659. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2024.2359722.

Bather JR, Han L, Bennett AS, Elliott L, Goodman MS (2024).
Detecting univariate, bivariate, and overall effects of drug mixtures using Bayesian kernel machine regression
American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse [Epuib 2024 Jul 23]. doi: 10.1080/00952990.2024.2380463.

Dr. Elliott's Google Scholar Profile