
David Frank, PhD
NYU School of Global Public Health - Research Scientist
Hunter College - Adjunct Professor
Hunter College - Adjunct Professor
Education
PhD, Sociology, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkMA, Sociology, DePaul University
BA, Sociology, DePaul University
Research Interests
Medication-assisted treatment (MAT), Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), Opioids, Criminalization, Addiction, Harm reduction, Drug user rights, Overdose BIO
David Frank is a Medical Sociologist and Research Scientist at the NYU School of Global Public Health. His research focuses primarily on opioid use, opioid use treatment programs like Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), and the structural and policy context in which opioid use and treatment occurs within. He is also someone who has been on methadone maintenance treatment for more than 15 years and uses those experiences in his research to produce scholarship that more accurately reflects the lives and real-world experiences of people who use illegal substances.Dr. Frank is currently working on a NIDA diversity supplement to a study (PIs: Drs. Alex Bennett, Luther Elliott) and Chuck Cleland, that examines how the frequency and intensity of opioid withdrawal could be a catalyst for both treatment initiation and overdose risk behaviors. It is based in part on data he collected from a CDUHR-funded pilot study that examined how well MAT’s organizational structure aligns with the needs and goals of people on the program. Dr. Frank has also worked on projects exploring better ways of linking people who inject drugs with Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP); how COVID-19 has affected the lives and substance use experiences of people that use illegal opioids; and on the overdose knowledge and experience of young, non-medical opioid users. He is currently developing proposals that aim to examine the potential benefits of MAT for people who continue to use illegal drugs, and to re-frame diversion of methadone through the lens of harm reduction. He is committed to using his dual role as a scholar with lived experience of to amplify the voices of people who use drugs and to dismantle the systems that negatively the lives and health of people who use drugs.
Projects
Principal Investigator, Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Medication for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: Factors Influencing Patient Uptake and Retention. Completed
Publications
Recent
Frank D, Krawczyk N, Arshonsky J, Bragg MA, Friedman SR, Bunting AM (2023).
Covid-19-related changes to drug-selling networks and their effects on people who use illicit opioids
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 84 (2), 222-229. doi: 10.15288/jsad.21-00438. PMCID: PMC10171252.
Covid-19-related changes to drug-selling networks and their effects on people who use illicit opioids
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 84 (2), 222-229. doi: 10.15288/jsad.21-00438. PMCID: PMC10171252.
Walters SM, Frank D, Felsher M, Jaiswal J, Fletcher S, Bennett AS, Friedman SR, Ouellet LJ, Ompad DC, Jenkins W, Pho MT (2023).
How the rural risk environment underpins hepatitis C risk: Qualitative findings from rural southern Illinois, United States
International Journal of Drug Policy, 112, 103930. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103930. PMCID: PMC9974910.
How the rural risk environment underpins hepatitis C risk: Qualitative findings from rural southern Illinois, United States
International Journal of Drug Policy, 112, 103930. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103930. PMCID: PMC9974910.
Walters SM, Felsher M, Frank D, Jaiswal J, Townsend T, Muncan B, Bennett AS, Friedman SR, Jenkins W, Pho MT, Fletcher S, Ompad DC (2023).
I don’t believe a person has to die when trying to get high: Overdose prevention and response strategies in rural Illinois
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20 (2), 1648. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021648. PMCID: PMC9864395.
I don’t believe a person has to die when trying to get high: Overdose prevention and response strategies in rural Illinois
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20 (2), 1648. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021648. PMCID: PMC9864395.
Walters SM, Perlman DC, Guarino H, Mateu-Gelabert P, Frank D (2022).
Lessons from the first wave of COVID-19 for improved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment: Benefits of easier access, extended take homes, and new delivery modalities
Substance Use and Misuse, 57 (7), 1144-1153. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2022.2064509. PMCID: PMC9709780.
Lessons from the first wave of COVID-19 for improved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment: Benefits of easier access, extended take homes, and new delivery modalities
Substance Use and Misuse, 57 (7), 1144-1153. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2022.2064509. PMCID: PMC9709780.
Simon C, Vincent L, Coulter A, Salazar Z, Voyles N,, Roberts L, Frank D, Brothers S (2022).
The methadone manifesto: Treatment experiences and policy recommendations from methadone patient activists
American Journal of Public Health, 112 (S2), S117-S122. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306665. PMCID: PMC8965191.
Dr. Frank's Academia Profile
The methadone manifesto: Treatment experiences and policy recommendations from methadone patient activists
American Journal of Public Health, 112 (S2), S117-S122. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306665. PMCID: PMC8965191.