Erin Russell, MPH

Principal

Health Management Associates

Philadelphia, PA

[javascript protected email address]

Erin Russell is a harm reduction expert with a strong foundation in public health and equity. She has 15 years of experience in community engagement, health and needs assessments, program implementation, and evaluation. Her strategic and systems-focused approach improves the quality of programs as well as team and client satisfaction.

Before joining Health Management Associates, Erin developed Maryland’s harm reduction portfolio, establishing a centralized naloxone access program, advocating for syringe service programs, and creating a sustainable funding pipeline for implementation and evaluation. Under her leadership, the Center for Harm Reduction Services was created and doubled its budget and size from 2019 to 2023, enhancing statewide harm reduction efforts.

Erin has collaborated with state governments and prevention professionals to increase naloxone access and improve harm reduction services while applying implementation science to identify factors that impact program success. Her extensive volunteer experience at a local syringe service program, along with her founding of a grassroots organization in Pennsylvania for harm reduction policy change, underscores her dedication to community engagement. Erin is an active public speaker and has published work in multiple scientific journals.

Erin has a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, and she is currently pursuing a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow.