Dr. Bina Ali is a Research Scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). Her work is broadly focused on violence prevention, substance use prevention, and injury control. She has led multiple studies on psychosocial determinants of substance use, interpersonal violence, and risky behaviors. She is especially interested in understanding and improving health disparities in minority populations.
She is the Director of the Children’s Safety Network Economics and Data Analysis Resource Center operated by PIRE. She uses data, research, and communication of existing evidence to support states, communities, and public health partners in their efforts to prevent child and adolescent violence and injury.
She also has experience in evaluating large multilevel programs, including evaluations of a state-level sexual violence prevention program and a county-level opioid prevention program.
Prior to coming to PIRE, Dr. Ali worked extensively with treatment-seeking substance users to assess factors associated with treatment outcomes, such as treatment completion and substance use relapse, and to inform treatment approaches.
Selected Projects
Baltimore County Overdose Data to Action Evaluation (OD2A)
Children’s Safety Network Economics and Data Analysis Resource Center (CSN EDARC)
Economic/Financial Cost of Gun Violence
Selected Publications
Lippold, K., & Ali, B. (2020). Racial/ethnic differences in opioid-involved overdose deaths across metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in the United States, 1999−2017. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 212, 108059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108059
Miller, T. R., Swedler, D. I., Lawrence, B. A., Ali, B., Rockett, I. R. H., Carlson, N. N., & Leonardo, J. (2020). Incidence and lethality of suicidal overdoses by drug class. JAMA Network Open, 3(3), e200607. PMCID: PMC7090840. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.0607
Ali, B., Fisher, D. A., Miller, T. R., Lawrence, B. A., Spicer, R. S., Swedler, D. I., & Allison, J. (2019). Trends in drug poisoning deaths among adolescents and young adults in the United States, 2006–2015. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 80(2), 201-210. PMCID: PMC6489543. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2019.80.201
Ali, B., Rockett, I., & Miller, T. (2019). Variable circumstances of suicide among racial/ethnic groups by sex and age: A national violent-death reporting system analysis. Archives of Suicide Research, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1661894
Ali, B., Green, K. M., Daughters, S. B., & Lejuez, C. W. (2017). Distress tolerance interacts with circumstances, motivation, and readiness to predict substance abuse treatment retention. Addictive Behaviors, 73, 99-104. PMCID: PMC5542844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.04.016