Campus Spotlight Dr. Debra Furr-Holden and her DIVE Studies

The goal of the Drug Investigations, Violence, and Environmental Studies Laboratory, known as the DIVE Lab, is to produce research that is desperately needed and that can inform sustainable efforts to improve community well-being. Dr. Debra Furr-Holden of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the director of the DIVE Lab. She explains that she and her staff work closely with community residents and other stakeholders – including community organizations, municipal and quasi-municipal agencies and academic researchers – by using a “meeting of the minds” approach. DIVE Lab team members invest a significant portion of their time and energy in building the critical relationships necessary to conduct community-based public health research.  The DIVE Lab’s research and practice activities have been greatly impacted and guided because of these solid ties with the community. In fact, community residents often come to the DIVE Lab team with problems that need immediate action.

              The DIVE Lab takes an environmental approach to prevention and is known for providing needed evidence for successful community action. As an example, the team is currently involved in the “Vacants-to-Value” initiative introduced by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in November of 2010. As with other low-income, urban areas, a significant problem in Baltimore neighborhoods is the correlation between injection drug use, violence and vacant property. Areas with more vacant properties are more likely to be plagued by violence and illicit drug use, due in part to the fact that vacant houses are ideal places for “shooting galleries” (i.e., places where people gather and use injection drugs). By partnering with Baltimore Housing, the DIVE Lab will provide much needed data for understanding how the Vacants-to-Value program impacts the health and well-being of communities and their residents. DIVE Lab staff will track and monitor changes over time so that city personnel can evaluate their efforts and alter the program as needed. Dr. Furr-Holden describes this as an example of “community-based participatory research in action.” This is just one example of how – along with the support of the city and other community stakeholders – the DIVE Lab has improved health and well-being of the community.

              Currently, the DIVE Lab has four full-time staff, a post-doctoral fellow and three graduate research assistants. Students frequently use data from the DIVE Lab for masters’ theses and doctoral dissertations. Undergraduate students are also involved in lab activities. The DIVE Lab has several collaborators beyond the walls of John Hopkins. Dr. Furr-Holden serves as a mentor on two NIH career development awards (K01) and has conducted environmental assessments for different three research groups. The DIVE Lab is enthusiastic about forming new partnerships and expanding the scope of reach of environmental strategies for prevention.

For questions/comments, contact: dholden@jhsph.edu

For more information, visit: www.divestudies.com