Benjamin Scher, DPhil, MA
Princeton University - Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Health and Wellbeing, School of Public and International Affairs
Princeton University - Research Affiliate, Princeton Precision Health
University of Oxford - Research Affiliate, Department of Social Policy and Intervention
Princeton University - Research Affiliate, Princeton Precision Health
University of Oxford - Research Affiliate, Department of Social Policy and Intervention
Email: benjamin.scher@princeton.edu
Education
DPhil, Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation, University of Oxford, UKMA, Public Issues Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Canada
BA, Combined Social Sciences, Durham University, UK
Research Interests
Harm reduction, drug policy, homelessness, health equity, structural stigma, participatory research, rapid ethnography BIO
Ben Scher is a lecturer and postdoctoral research associate in the Global Health Program at Princeton University’s Center for Health and Wellbeing. His research explores health inequalities and social exclusion amongst populations experiencing high levels of overdose and drug-related harm with the direct aim of producing evidence and interventions responding to these harms. He completed his DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention where he conducted participatory rapid-ethnographic research with people who use drugs in street-based settings across the UK, Canada, and Greece. He has presented his work at policy venues including the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UK House of Commons and through a Tedx Talk. He has collaborated extensively with peer-led organizations to co-produce research and has taught on the topics of participatory methods, qualitative methods, drug policy and North America’s overdose crisis in both high school school and university settings. He is currently working on a state-wide evaluation of New Jersey’s expansion of mobile harm reduction services as well as a project examining the disbursement of opioid settlement funds Projects
Principal Investigator, Advancing Evidence on Harm Reduction and Opioid Settlement Governance in New Jersey. Active
Principal Investigator, Evaluating the Rapid Expansion of New Jersey’s Mobile Harm Reduction Program: A Mixed-Methods Study. Active
Publications
Recent
Scher BD, Howard HH (2026).
Opioid-settlement funds – Lessons from tobacco
New England Journal of Medicine, 395 (13), 1249-1251. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2608276.
Opioid-settlement funds – Lessons from tobacco
New England Journal of Medicine, 395 (13), 1249-1251. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2608276.
Greer A, Wood B, Zakimi N, Scher BD (2026).
What’s a policy without trust? How the legacy of policing shapes experiences of drug decriminalization in British Columbia
Social Science and Medicine, 403, 119371. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119371.
What’s a policy without trust? How the legacy of policing shapes experiences of drug decriminalization in British Columbia
Social Science and Medicine, 403, 119371. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119371.
Scher BD, Wood B, Zakimi N, Fraser M, Crabtree A, Fajber K, Kinniburgh B, Loewen OK, Greer A (2026).
Access to health and harm reduction services during drug decriminalization in British Columbia, Canada: A mixed-method study
BMC Public Health, 26 (1), 1700. doi: 10.1186/s12889-026-26978-1. PMCID: PMC13200392.
Access to health and harm reduction services during drug decriminalization in British Columbia, Canada: A mixed-method study
BMC Public Health, 26 (1), 1700. doi: 10.1186/s12889-026-26978-1. PMCID: PMC13200392.
Scher BD, Poulopoulos N, Anastasiou C, Chrisinger BW, Humphreys DK, Shorter GW (2026).
Benefits and barriers: A rapid-ethnographic study on the perspectives of potential and actual clients of Athens’ drug consumption room
Harm Reduction Journal, 23 (1), 37. doi: 10.1186/s12954-025-01371-0. PMCID: PMC12915005.
Benefits and barriers: A rapid-ethnographic study on the perspectives of potential and actual clients of Athens’ drug consumption room
Harm Reduction Journal, 23 (1), 37. doi: 10.1186/s12954-025-01371-0. PMCID: PMC12915005.
Scher BD, Chrisinger BW, Humphreys DK, Shorter GW (2025).
Characterizing ‘Atmosphere’: Exploring determinants of regular service attendance amongst integrated supervised consumption site clients in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Harm Reduction Journal, 23 (1), 3. doi: 10.1186/s12954-025-01272-2. PMCID: PMC12771731.
Characterizing ‘Atmosphere’: Exploring determinants of regular service attendance amongst integrated supervised consumption site clients in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Harm Reduction Journal, 23 (1), 3. doi: 10.1186/s12954-025-01272-2. PMCID: PMC12771731.
Notable
Exploring the need for overdose prevention centers in England: A qualitative community-based participatory study on the perspectives of people who use drugs in public and semi-public environments
International Journal of Drug Policy, 140, 104816. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104816.
Scher BD, Chrisinger BW, Humphreys DK, Shorter GW (2025).
Resident and staff experiences of structural barriers to a housing-based overdose prevention site in Vancouver, Canada: “There is a double standard if you smoke”
Canadian Journal of Public Health, 116 (3), 387-397. doi: 10.17269/s41997-025-01007-7. PMCID: PMC12381312.
Scher BD, Chrisinger BW, Humphreys DK, Shorter GW (2024).
Exploring drug consumption rooms as ‘inclusion health interventions’: Policy implications for Europe
Harm Reduction Journal, 21 (1), 216. doi: 10.1186/s12954-024-01099-3. PMCID: PMC11616241.
Dr. Scher's Google Scholar Profile