Ryan McNeil, PhD
Yale School of Medicine - Associate Professor
Yale School of Medicine - Director of Harm Reduction Research, Program in Addiction Medicine
Yale School of Medicine - Director of Harm Reduction Research, Program in Addiction Medicine
Email: ryan.mcneil@yale.edu
Education
PhD, Interdisciplinary Studies (Social Medicine/Sociology), University of British ColumbiaMPhil, Interdisciplinary Policy Studies, University of New Brunswick
BPhil, Interdisciplinary Policy Studies, University of New Brunswick
Research Interests
Harm reduction, overdose prevention, safe supply, management of stimulant use BIO
Ryan McNeil is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Harm Reduction Research, Program in Addiction Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. Through community-engaged qualitative and ethnographic research, he examines how forces operating within the risk environments of people who use drugs shape risk and harm. Dr. McNeil is Principal Investigator of multiple grants examining: (1) social, structural, and environmental influences on the implementation and effectiveness of harm reduction and addiction treatment interventions, including supervised consumption services; (2) the influence of housing and housing-based interventions on overdose-related risks; (3) approaches to the management of stimulant use disorders. His foundational research on harm reduction approaches, including supervised consumption services and safe supply, has been instrumental to informing their scale-up.Pursuant to the goal of meaningfully involving people who use drugs in all stages of the research process, he actively collaborates with community-based organizations, including peer-driven drug user, sex worker, and tenant rights organizations, to align his research with community priorities and provide opportunities for people with lived experience to co-lead and engage in research. Dr. McNeil is the co-creator and scientific lead of Crackdown, a podcast launched to mobilize research and amplify the voices of people who use drugs. This innovative media collaboration has been called the “podcast most likely to save lives” and has received the Radio Impact Award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival, Canadian Hillman Prize, and a silver medal from the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
Projects
Principal Investigator, A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Fentanyl-Stimulant Polysubstance Use Among People Experiencing Homelessness. Active
Principal Investigator, An Ethno-epidemiological Study of the Implementation and Effectiveness of an Innovative and Comprehensive Response to the Evolving Overdose Epidemic. Active
Principal Investigator, An Ethno-epidemiological Study to Advance HIV Prevention and Treatment for PWUD. Completed
Principal Investigator, Housing and Overdose Risk Environments: A Community-based Participatory Research Study. Completed
Publications
Recent
Speed KA, McNeil R, Hayashi K, Maher L, Boyd J (2024).
‘It just doesn’t stop’: Perspectives of women who use drugs on increased overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic
Drug and Alcohol Review [Epub 2024 Dec 19]. doi: 10.1111/dar.13996.
‘It just doesn’t stop’: Perspectives of women who use drugs on increased overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic
Drug and Alcohol Review [Epub 2024 Dec 19]. doi: 10.1111/dar.13996.
Chayama KL, Ng C, Ivsins A, Small W, Knight R, McNeil R (2024).
“Everybody looks at it as drug use instead of pain management”: Experiences of chronic pain and its management among older people living with HIV who use drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 262, 111399. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111399. PMCID: PMC11444243.
“Everybody looks at it as drug use instead of pain management”: Experiences of chronic pain and its management among older people living with HIV who use drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 262, 111399. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111399. PMCID: PMC11444243.
Fleming T, Boyd J, Gagnon M, Kerr T, McNeil R (2024).
Using drugs alone in single room occupancy housing: Understanding environmental drivers of overdose risk
International Journal of Drug Policy, 128, 104444. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104444. PMCID: PMC11420829.
Using drugs alone in single room occupancy housing: Understanding environmental drivers of overdose risk
International Journal of Drug Policy, 128, 104444. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104444. PMCID: PMC11420829.
Ivsins A, Bonn M, McNeil R, Boyd J, Kerr T (2024).
A qualitative study on perceptions and experiences of overdose among people who smoke drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 258, 111275. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111275. PMCID: PMC11088499.
A qualitative study on perceptions and experiences of overdose among people who smoke drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 258, 111275. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2024.111275. PMCID: PMC11088499.
Mayer S, Jenkins E, Fairbairn N, Fowler A, McNeil R (2024).
“I’m just searching to get better”: Constructions of treatment citizenship on injectable opioid agonist treatment
Social Science and Medicine, 348, 116708. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116708. PMCID: PMC11100953.
“I’m just searching to get better”: Constructions of treatment citizenship on injectable opioid agonist treatment
Social Science and Medicine, 348, 116708. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116708. PMCID: PMC11100953.
Notable
Advancing patient-centered care for structurally vulnerable drug-using populations: A qualitative study of the perspectives of people who use drugs regarding the potential integration of harm reduction interventions into hospitals
Addiction, 111 (4), 685-694. doi: 10.1111/add.13214. PMCID: PMC4801725.
McNeil R, Small W (2014).
Safer environment interventions’: A qualitative synthesis of the experiences and perceptions of people who inject drugs
Social Science and Medicine, 106, 151-158. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.051. PMCID: PMC4133147.
McNeil R, Small W, Lampkin H, Shannon K, Kerr T (2014).
“People knew they could come here to get help”: An ethnographic study of assisted injection practices at a peer-run ‘unsanctioned’ supervised drug consumption room in a Canadian setting
AIDS and Behavior, 18 (3), 473-485. doi: 10.1007/s10461-013-0540-y. PMCID: PMC3815969.
Dr. McNeil's Google Scholar Profile