Evans Featured as Spotlight Scholar

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Elizabeth Evans was honored as a UMass Amherst Spotlight Scholar this month.

Evans, a professor of community health education in the Department of Health Promotion and Policy, has conducted public health research for over 25 years, with a focus on understanding how health care systems and public policy can better serve vulnerable populations at risk for opioid and other substance use disorders. She conducts much of her research in criminal justice settings in Massachusetts and the surrounding region, and has formed strong research partnerships with local justice, health care, and community groups.

Since joining UMass, she has been awarded over $16.8 million in research funding as principal investigator or sub-contract PI. She has published 93 peer-reviewed articles — on 40 percent of which she is first author — including papers in the highest-impact journals in the fields of public health, medicine, and addiction. Evans received the UMass Distinguished Community Engagement Award for Research in 2019 in recognition of the important role her scholarship plays in addiction research, treatment, and prevention in the local community. In October 2021, she was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker to a five-year term on the Massachusetts Public Health Council, which advises the Commonwealth’s Department of Public Health (DPH) on policy decisions.

Learn more about Evans and other Spotlight Scholars.