Alex S Bennett
Biographic Data
| ID | 121760 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alex S Bennett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alex S |
| FAMILY NAME | Bennett |
| SIGNATURE | BENNETT A S |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6986-9925 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Police officers perceptions of fentanyl pre and post a novel occupational risk reduction training
Misinformation regarding occupational fentanyl exposure remains common among U.S. law enforcement despite evidence indicating that incidental exposure poses minimal risk of opioid toxicity. Such misinformation may influence overdose response as well as other policing activities involving illicit drugs. We developed and evaluated a novel online occupational risk reduction training designed to improve officers’ knowledge and confidence regarding oc…
People Who Use Illegal Opioids Use of Methadone over Time, and What Characteristics Are Correlated with Staying in Methadone Maintenance Treatment
INTRODUCTION: Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is among the best strategies for reducing harms associated with illegal opioid use, yet it is hindered by low rates of treatment initiation and retention that limit its impact. There has been a lack of studies that describe how people who use illegal opioids use methadone-both from opioid treatment programs, and bought illegally-over time, or what factors correlate with long-term participation i…
Developing Spanish Language Intervention Content to Address Health Disparities among People Who Use Drugs, and Other Hard-To-Reach Populations
Our team developed content in English and Spanish for a technology-based intervention designed to increase vaccination against COVID-19 among people who inject drugs. From 2022 through 2024, we recruited 545 participants via peer referral, all of whom reported past 90-day injection drug use. Participants completed a tablet-based intervention, and software asked if they would like to vaccinate against COVID. Participants who did not vaccinate at t…
Navigating the Covid-19 Risk Environment, Overdose Prevention, and Self Care Practices of People Who Use Illicit Opioids in New York City
BACKGROUND: The concurrent opioid overdose crisis and COVID-19 pandemic created a perfect storm of risk for drug overdose mortality and other negative health outcomes. METHODS: This study is based on semi-structured interviews with 29 adults in New York City who were using illicit opioids (heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioids without prescription) between April and September 2020 to gain their perspectives on navigating COVID as the pandemi…
Overdoses with Xylazine and Fentanyl Recorded in Pennsylvania’s Overdose Information Network
This study explored whether law enforcement/first responder-reported fentanyl overdose response actions (such as administration of the opioid overdose reversal agent naloxone) differed between overdoses in which xylazine was, versus was not, suspected to be co-involved. Data were drawn from the Pennsylvania State Police's Overdose Information Network (ODIN) for 11,478 suspected fentanyl-involved overdoses, 137 reportedly co-involving xylazine, re…
An Examination of How People Who Use Drugs Conceptualize the Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Overdose Prevention Centers
Background: In 2021, NYC implemented overdose prevention center (OPC) services at two existing syringe exchange programs, allowing people to use pre-obtained drugs on-site. Although OPCs in Canada, Western Europe, and Australia have demonstrated their feasibility and benefits towards reducing overdose risk and drug-related harm, there is less data on how people who use drugs (PWUD) conceptualize the benefits and any potential drawbacks of using O…
Overdose Risk and Brain Injury (Traumatic Brain Injury/Acquired Brain Injury), A Commentary
Objective: This commentary seeks to evaluate existing knowledge about the relationship between brain injury (BI) and overdose (OD), to unify distant bodies of literature, and to enhance prevention and treatment for opioid OD among individuals with BI. Background: There is a hidden epidemic of undiagnosed BI in the United States. Due to lack of screening, the vast majority of BI sufferers do not know they have a BI. Not only are those with BI at e…
A call for compassionate opioid overdose response
High dose and long-acting opioid overdose reversal drugs can precipitate withdrawal in people who are opioid dependent. Products recently brought to market for community use in the United States (US) have drawn international concern because of their increased risk of withdrawal. At the March 18-19, 2024, Compassionate Overdose Response Summit & Naloxone Dosing Meeting, a panel of harm reduction experts issued the following call to action: 1) peop…
I Don’t Believe a Person Has to Die When Trying to Get High
People who inject drugs understood fentanyl to be a potential contaminant in their drug supply and actively engaged in harm reduction techniques to try to prevent overdose. Interventions to increase harm reduction education and information about and access to fentanyl test strips and naloxone would be beneficial
How the rural risk environment underpins hepatitis C risk
The rural risk environment framework acknowledges the importance of community and structural factors that influence HCV infection and other disease transmission and care. We find that larger structural factors produce vulnerabilities and reduce access to resources, which negatively impact hepatitis C disease outcomes
I Didn’t Know What They’re Gonna Do to Me
Youth between the ages of 13 and 24 account for over 20% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States but are the least likely age group to be HIV tested in healthcare settings including the emergency department. This is in part due to the fact that almost 50% of youth decline testing when offered. We elucidated youth patients' perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of routine HIV testing of youth in an urban emergency department setting. Thir…
The Covid-19 pandemic and the health of people who use illicit opioids in New York City, the first 12 months
Provider Perspectives on Barriers to Routine HIV Testing of Adolescent and Young Adult Patients in Emergency Department Settings
HIV testing rates among US youth aged 13-24 years are sub-optimal, with high rates of missed testing opportunities in emergency departments (EDs). We assessed barriers to routine HIV testing of youth in urban ED settings from the perspective of healthcare providers. Ten physicians and nurses were recruited from the pediatric and adult EDs at a high-volume hospital in New York City, USA to complete in-depth interviews to provide their perspectives…
Perspectives on supervised injection facilities among service industry employees in New York City
From Peers to Lay Bystanders
Distribution of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone has been central to efforts to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States. This report presents data from Prevention Point Pittsburgh (PPP), a public health advocacy and direct service organization that has operated an overdose prevention program (OPP) with naloxone distribution since 2005. The program initially provided naloxone training and distribution only to people who u…
Drug use in business bathrooms
The portapotty experiment
Recurring Epidemics of Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse in America
Observers describe today’s “epidemic” of pharmaceutical drug abuse as a recent phenomenon, but we argue that it is only the most recent of three waves stretching back more than a century. During each wave, policies have followed a similar pattern: voluntary educational campaigns, followed by supply-side policing and—sometimes—public health responses that would today be understood as “harm reduction.” These experiences suggest that only broad-base…
High risk and little knowledge
Characteristics of an Overdose Prevention, Response, and Naloxone Distribution Program in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Characteristics of an Overdose Prevention, Response, and Naloxone Distribution Program in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Recurring Epidemics of Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse in America
Observers describe today’s “epidemic” of pharmaceutical drug abuse as a recent phenomenon, but we argue that it is only the most recent of three waves stretching back more than a century. During each wave, policies have followed a similar pattern: voluntary educational campaigns, followed by supply-side policing and—sometimes—public health responses that would today be understood as “harm reduction.” These experiences suggest that only broad-base…
Characteristics of an Overdose Prevention, Response, and Naloxone Distribution Program in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
High risk and little knowledge
The portapotty experiment
Recurring Epidemics of Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse in America
Observers describe today’s “epidemic” of pharmaceutical drug abuse as a recent phenomenon, but we argue that it is only the most recent of three waves stretching back more than a century. During each wave, policies have followed a similar pattern: voluntary educational campaigns, followed by supply-side policing and—sometimes—public health responses that would today be understood as “harm reduction.” These experiences suggest that only broad-base…
Drug use in business bathrooms
Perspectives on supervised injection facilities among service industry employees in New York City
From Peers to Lay Bystanders
Distribution of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone has been central to efforts to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States. This report presents data from Prevention Point Pittsburgh (PPP), a public health advocacy and direct service organization that has operated an overdose prevention program (OPP) with naloxone distribution since 2005. The program initially provided naloxone training and distribution only to people who u…
Provider Perspectives on Barriers to Routine HIV Testing of Adolescent and Young Adult Patients in Emergency Department Settings
HIV testing rates among US youth aged 13-24 years are sub-optimal, with high rates of missed testing opportunities in emergency departments (EDs). We assessed barriers to routine HIV testing of youth in urban ED settings from the perspective of healthcare providers. Ten physicians and nurses were recruited from the pediatric and adult EDs at a high-volume hospital in New York City, USA to complete in-depth interviews to provide their perspectives…
I Didn’t Know What They’re Gonna Do to Me
Youth between the ages of 13 and 24 account for over 20% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States but are the least likely age group to be HIV tested in healthcare settings including the emergency department. This is in part due to the fact that almost 50% of youth decline testing when offered. We elucidated youth patients' perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of routine HIV testing of youth in an urban emergency department setting. Thir…
The Covid-19 pandemic and the health of people who use illicit opioids in New York City, the first 12 months
I Don’t Believe a Person Has to Die When Trying to Get High
People who inject drugs understood fentanyl to be a potential contaminant in their drug supply and actively engaged in harm reduction techniques to try to prevent overdose. Interventions to increase harm reduction education and information about and access to fentanyl test strips and naloxone would be beneficial
How the rural risk environment underpins hepatitis C risk
The rural risk environment framework acknowledges the importance of community and structural factors that influence HCV infection and other disease transmission and care. We find that larger structural factors produce vulnerabilities and reduce access to resources, which negatively impact hepatitis C disease outcomes
Overdose Risk and Brain Injury (Traumatic Brain Injury/Acquired Brain Injury), A Commentary
Objective: This commentary seeks to evaluate existing knowledge about the relationship between brain injury (BI) and overdose (OD), to unify distant bodies of literature, and to enhance prevention and treatment for opioid OD among individuals with BI. Background: There is a hidden epidemic of undiagnosed BI in the United States. Due to lack of screening, the vast majority of BI sufferers do not know they have a BI. Not only are those with BI at e…
A call for compassionate opioid overdose response
High dose and long-acting opioid overdose reversal drugs can precipitate withdrawal in people who are opioid dependent. Products recently brought to market for community use in the United States (US) have drawn international concern because of their increased risk of withdrawal. At the March 18-19, 2024, Compassionate Overdose Response Summit & Naloxone Dosing Meeting, a panel of harm reduction experts issued the following call to action: 1) peop…
Navigating the Covid-19 Risk Environment, Overdose Prevention, and Self Care Practices of People Who Use Illicit Opioids in New York City
BACKGROUND: The concurrent opioid overdose crisis and COVID-19 pandemic created a perfect storm of risk for drug overdose mortality and other negative health outcomes. METHODS: This study is based on semi-structured interviews with 29 adults in New York City who were using illicit opioids (heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioids without prescription) between April and September 2020 to gain their perspectives on navigating COVID as the pandemi…
Overdoses with Xylazine and Fentanyl Recorded in Pennsylvania’s Overdose Information Network
This study explored whether law enforcement/first responder-reported fentanyl overdose response actions (such as administration of the opioid overdose reversal agent naloxone) differed between overdoses in which xylazine was, versus was not, suspected to be co-involved. Data were drawn from the Pennsylvania State Police's Overdose Information Network (ODIN) for 11,478 suspected fentanyl-involved overdoses, 137 reportedly co-involving xylazine, re…
An Examination of How People Who Use Drugs Conceptualize the Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Overdose Prevention Centers
Background: In 2021, NYC implemented overdose prevention center (OPC) services at two existing syringe exchange programs, allowing people to use pre-obtained drugs on-site. Although OPCs in Canada, Western Europe, and Australia have demonstrated their feasibility and benefits towards reducing overdose risk and drug-related harm, there is less data on how people who use drugs (PWUD) conceptualize the benefits and any potential drawbacks of using O…
Police officers perceptions of fentanyl pre and post a novel occupational risk reduction training
Misinformation regarding occupational fentanyl exposure remains common among U.S. law enforcement despite evidence indicating that incidental exposure poses minimal risk of opioid toxicity. Such misinformation may influence overdose response as well as other policing activities involving illicit drugs. We developed and evaluated a novel online occupational risk reduction training designed to improve officers’ knowledge and confidence regarding oc…
People Who Use Illegal Opioids Use of Methadone over Time, and What Characteristics Are Correlated with Staying in Methadone Maintenance Treatment
INTRODUCTION: Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is among the best strategies for reducing harms associated with illegal opioid use, yet it is hindered by low rates of treatment initiation and retention that limit its impact. There has been a lack of studies that describe how people who use illegal opioids use methadone-both from opioid treatment programs, and bought illegally-over time, or what factors correlate with long-term participation i…
Developing Spanish Language Intervention Content to Address Health Disparities among People Who Use Drugs, and Other Hard-To-Reach Populations
Our team developed content in English and Spanish for a technology-based intervention designed to increase vaccination against COVID-19 among people who inject drugs. From 2022 through 2024, we recruited 545 participants via peer referral, all of whom reported past 90-day injection drug use. Participants completed a tablet-based intervention, and software asked if they would like to vaccinate against COVID. Participants who did not vaccinate at t…
Medicine (17 works) · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk (16 works) · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (16 works) · Psychiatry (12 works) · Medical emergency (10 works) · Nursing (10 works) · Opioid (10 works) · Poison control (9 works) · Drug overdose (8 works) · Opioid overdose (8 works)