Assistant Professor

Dr. Starbird’s work focuses on organization-level interventions to remove barriers to healthcare for women with substance use disorder and its associated infectious diseases, specifically HIV and hepatitis C virus.

Women who use drugs face unique challenges to achieving and maintaining wellness, whether these challenges stem from gender-based violence, trauma, parenting, or the criminal justice system. Using a harm reduction approach, she seeks to minimize these barriers so that women and families affected by substance use can safely, comfortably, and conveniently engage in the healthcare system. To do this, Dr. Starbird studies real-world implementation strategies, including economic implications, for interventions that improve the wellbeing of women who use drugs.

As a public health nurse, my goal is to improve care delivery systems so that engaging in and receiving high quality healthcare is the default, not the exception, for marginalized women and families affected by substance use disorder.

Education

  • PhD, Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing, 2018
  • MSN, University of California, San Francisco, 2012
  • BSN, Saint Anselm College, 2009