Insights on Stimulant-Involved Deaths from a Psychological Autopsy Study

Phillip Coffin, MD, MIA, and Finn Black, RN, MS
Center on Substance Use and Health
San Francisco Department of Public Health

Please join us this month for a presentation and discussion led by Phillip Coffin and Finn Black.  Deaths attributed to acute stimulant toxicity are poorly understood.  Phillip and Finn will present early data from the first psychological autopsy study of stimulant deaths.  They will focus on a novel approach to analyzing death case narratives to better understand the nature of deaths and opportunities for intervention.

Finn Black is a Research Clinician at the Center on Substance Use and Health.  Finn graduated from UCSF with a MS in Advanced Public Health Nursing. They're originally from Philadelphia, where a community of HIV activists introduced them to harm reduction. Finn continues to stay involved in harm reduction work in the Bay Area and is especially passionate about wound care, STI prevention, and peer-led public health interventions. When not working, Finn is either knitting fisherman's sweaters while listening to horror fiction podcasts or is off in the redwoods practicing traditional archery and going on bike camping adventures.

Phillip Coffin, MD, MIA, directs the Center on Substance Use and Health, focusing on developing medications to help people who want to reduce or stop use of stimulants, alcohol, or opioids; and addressing drug toxicity and overdose. Phillip is a board-certified and practicing internist, infectious disease specialist, and addiction medicine specialist. He attended or trained at Brown University, Columbia University, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Washington.   He also conducts several studies into the impacts of changing opioid prescribing practices on vulnerable populations, substance use epidemiology, and initiatives addressing substance use and opioid safety in clinical care. To be perfectly candid though, he'd rather be kitesurfing.

The UCSF Drug Use Research Group (DURG) is a city-wide seminar attended by faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and other Bay Area investigators centering on persons who use drugs.  Started in 2005 after a friendly debate between an epidemiologist and anthropologist on the merits of quantitative versus qualitative research methods, the DURG monthly seminars provide a community platform for new and established investigators to present their work, explore research questions and methods, and to prepare for grant applications and the dissemination of findings in a supportive environment.  The seminar has been successful in cultivating new collaborations and mentorship and in sustaining an interdisciplinary and interprofessional dialogue between those engaged in basic sciences, epidemiology, clinical, and public health research.  

We have returned to in-person meetings.  Our meetings are not recorded.  Please contact us if you’d like to present your work or research ideas for friendly consultation and peer review.