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Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein

Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences
Population Health Sciences
215 Morris Street Suite 210, Durham, NC 27701

Overview


Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences. She is a national expert in examining how the criminal legal system impacts people, families, and communities. During the pandemic, she co-founded the COVID Prison Project, one of the only national data projects that tracks and analyzes COVID testing, cases, and deaths in prison systems across the country. She utilized the infrastructure of the COVID Prison Project to recently launch the Third City Project—a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded big data project that tracks and aggregates publicly available health and health policy data from carceral systems. Additionally, Dr. Brinkley-Rubinstein is the PI of several NIH and foundation grants focused on substance use, HIV prevention, and mortality. In 2019, she co-edited a special issue of AJPH that explored how mass incarceration is a socio-structural determinant of health and more recently was invited by the National Academy of Medicine to attend its Annual Emerging Leaders Forum. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, CNN, Science Magazine, and other media outlets. Her work blends research and policy, which has recently culminated in providing expert consultation to congress relevant to
prison standards and data reporting.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences · 2023 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments

Recent Publications


Structural and healthcare predictors of substance use-related death following release from incarceration: A retrospective cohort study in Rhode Island, 2018-2020.

Journal Article Int J Drug Policy · April 4, 2025 BACKGROUND: Incarcerated individuals are at a high risk of substance use-related death after release. While prior research has demonstrated that this is partially due to loss of tolerance during incarceration and return to use after release, structural and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Transmission models of respiratory infections in carceral settings: A systematic review.

Journal Article Epidemics · March 2025 BACKGROUND: The prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks in carceral settings face unique challenges. Transmission modeling is a powerful tool for understanding and addressing these challenges, but reviews of modeling work in this context pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Carceral Health Care.

Journal Article N Engl J Med · February 27, 2025 Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


The INTERACT (Using DesIgN jusTicE to impRove cArCeral health ouTcomes) Center

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Pittsburgh · 2024 - 2029

The Contribution of Structural Racism to the Long-Term Effects of Natural Disaster on Behavioral Health Outcomes (SALENDO)

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2028

Transitions Clinic Network: Post Incarceration Addiction Treatment, Healthcare, and Social Support (TCN PATHS) study

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Yale University · 2022 - 2026

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications


Vanderbilt University · 2015 Ph.D.