Research Advancing Kentucky: Creating meaningful change
Researchers at the University of Kentucky play an important role in advancing the health, well-being, and future of our Commonwealth.
Much of that work is done with support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which allows our researchers to find answers to many of the critical health issues facing Kentuckians.
April Young, Ph.D., is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which aims to reduce the negative impacts of drug use, inform effective policy development, raise public understanding of addiction as a chronic yet treatable medical condition and combat the stigma surrounding it.
Young is also a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health in the UK College of Public Health and a faculty associate with the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research.
Young’s research is centered around the harms of drug use, such as overdose and infectious diseases, in rural Kentucky through community-engaged, harm reduction approaches. Her work includes developing outreach strategies, mapping disease transmission networks and engaging local coalitions to support recovery and harm reduction efforts.
“Our research is identifying innovative and affordable ways to reduce overdose and other drug-related harms in our rural Appalachian communities,” said Young. “I hope that UK can continue to be a leader in substance use research that is translating into meaningful improvements in the lives of Kentuckians.”
Young and other members of the research community shared the importance of NIH-funded research at UK in this video series from Research Communications.
Learn more about each featured researcher.
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More from this series Research Advancing Kentucky
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Research Communications