Sheila P. Vakharia
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Sheila P. Vakharia

Health & Wellness
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Sheila P. Vakharia, PhD MSW, is a nationally and internationally recognized harm reduction expert with over 15 years of combined experience in addiction treatment, harm reduction, higher education, research, and drug policy reform. She currently works at the Drug Policy Alliance, a policy advocacy organization that advocates to end the war on drugs in the United States. In her role, Dr. Vakharia helps staff and others understand a range of drug policy-relevant research issues. Dr. Vakharia builds relationships with drug researchers and helps to advance policy-relevant research. She also mobilizes researchers in support of DPA policy campaigns and organizes conferences on key issues in drug policy. Dr. Vakharia received her Master’s in Social Work from Binghamton University. Upon graduation, she worked as a social worker in a traditional 12-step abstinence-only outpatient setting with clients who were primarily mandated to treatment. While there, she conducted intake assessments, facilitated aftercare groups for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and was a representative to the local drug court. She soon grew disenchanted with providing a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment to clients who were facing severe negative consequences for not maintaining abstinence while in treatment. She eventually went on to work at a syringe service program where she provided counseling using a harm reduction approach, and completed a Post-Master’s Certificate in Addictions from New York University. Dr. Vakharia received her PhD in Social Welfare at Florida International University and was an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Long Island University where she coordinated the Substance Use Treatment concentration before coming to the Drug Policy Alliance.
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