Dr. Debra Furr-Holden

Dr. Debra Furr-Holden

Dr. Debra Furr-Holden is the Associate Dean for Public Health Integration, C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health, and Director of the Division of Public Health at the Michigan State University. She is also the Director of the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions, funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (U54HD011227). She is an epidemiologist and classically-trained public health professional with expertise in behavioral health equity and health disparities research. Dr. Furr-Holden has worked extensively with a wide range of partners including community-based organizations, local municipal officials, and national policymakers and leaders on community-driven and structural interventions to prevent and reduce substance abuse and associated harms. Her research has supported legislative efforts to impact state- and national-level legislation to promote health equity, including community availability of medication assisted substance abuse treatment. Dr. Furr-Holden’s community-based, action-oriented research has been well received by community stakeholders and driven multiple policy interventions to address some of the nation’s greatest public health challenges, especially among racial and ethnic minorities and in racially- and economically-segregated communities. Dr. Furr-Holden’s research is grounded in the rubrics of epidemiology and consistent with principles and practices for understanding and intervening on the social determinants of health and health equity. Among her many awards, she was the recipient of the 2006 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (Office of the White House). Dr. Furr-Holden attended the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences (BA Natural Sciences and Public Health, 1996) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (PhD, 1999).