Shover

Chelsea

Chelsea L. Shover, PhD is an Assistant Professor-in-Residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she directs the Epidemiology, Policy, and Implementation Lab (EPI Lab). The EPI Lab’s work unites quantitative data analysis with community based participatory research on overdose, substance use disorders, infectious diseases, and homelessness. Dr. Shover completed her PhD in epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Over the years, Dr. Shover’s team has identified key U.S. drug supply changes (i.e., fentanyl’s westward spread, emergence of xylazine, rapid introduction of industrial chemical BTMPS into the illicit fentanyl supply) and then worked with policymakers and community organizations to improve on-the-ground overdose prevention. She was awarded a K01 career development award in 2021, and an R01 from the NIH’s Helping End Addiction Long-Term Initiative in 2022. Dr. Shover’s work is currently funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve overdose surveillance in Los Angeles and operate a drug checking program at syringe services programs.  

Alongside her academic research, Dr. Shover has worked in local government, community clinics, and policy advising capacities, all of which inform her team’s approach to urgent and complex public health problems. In 2021, she collaborated with local and state public health partners to arrange LA50K, a pilot program of 50,000 naloxone kits to distribute to people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. As a member of the Stanford-Lancet Commission on the North American Overdose Crisis, she co-authored a report published in the Lancet in 2022 and has given international briefings on the report’s recommendations. In 2023, she was invited to join a working group of the United Kingdom’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to contribute to a report making recommendations to prevent public health harms associated with xylazine. As an educator, Dr. Shover is especially committed to mentoring trainees from diverse backgrounds, including first-generation students, people of color, sexual and gender minorities, and people with personal experience of substance use disorders and mental illness.