Nelson Lin ‘23 is a concentrator in Public Health and Neuroscience hailing from Freehold, New Jersey. Nelson hopes to pursue an MD/MPH, and aspires to become a physician-advocate who works with underserved populations and pursues equitable health policy. His interests center on overdose prevention, health policy, and minority health. Nelson serves as a research assistant for the People, Place & Health Collective at the School of Public Health, where he helps produce public health messaging for Prevent Overdose RI, a statewide data dashboard tracking drug overdoses in Rhode Island. In addition, Nelson has been involved with research at Rhode Island Hospital analyzing risk factors for opioid use in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, a type of stroke. On campus, Nelson also serves as a Campus Coordinator for Connect for Health, a community organization based at Brown and Lifespan Hospitals that helps link patients with basic social needs like food, clothing, and utility assistance.

Project: 

As the opioid epidemic grows in America, members of the community are becoming increasingly tasked with responding to an opioid overdose, an incredibly stressful and potentially traumatizing experience. Nelson’s Royce project, “Trauma Among Responders to Opioid Overdose Events”, or TAROE, will explore the relationship between trauma from responding to an opioid overdose and stressor-related disorders, like PTSD and acute stress. Through a cross-sectional study, this project will recruit community members who have responded to an opioid overdose, such as people who use drugs (PWUD), family members, friends, or strangers, and examine potential risk factors that would make community members more likely to develop stressor-related disorders. Results from this study will support public health efforts to address and prevent adverse mental health outcomes associated with the overdose crisis in Rhode Island.

Advisors: Brendan Jacka, Brandon Marshall, Abdullah Shihipar