andrea m. lópez
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amlopez.bsky.social
andrea m. lópez
@amlopez.bsky.social
Medical/urban anthropologist & professor: drug use/overdose| violence| health inequities| legacies of social exclusion| harm reduction| justice| *defiant world making*|Washington, DC
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
Federal funding plays a vital role in addiction research and treatment.

What are the potential effects of budgetary changes on these areas? Explore a summary from the University of Maryland School of Medicine that provides information on common concerns.

#NIHSavesLives @ummedschool.bsky.social
March 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
THIS ⬇️⬇️⬇️ and that this labor falls mostly on faculty or color, women, queer faculty, or faculty from historically excluded categories.
Even before *gestures* all of this, I was quickly confronted by the fact that faculty advisors are basically shock absorbers for the crises that universities are not able or willing to address among grad students.
If you care about science & higher ed in America right now, your world has changed.

We have been forced into a battle we didn’t choose.

Whatever our titles, our jobs now also includes emergency response, psychological first aid, organizing & many other things we weren’t trained in
February 16, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it." - John Lewis.

It's not enough to simply recognize something is wrong; we have a moral duty to act.
John Lewis Never Stopped Bending the Arc Toward Justice
In the last days of his life, the civil rights icon hailed Black Lives Matter protesters: “They’re going to help redeem the soul of America.”
www.thenation.com
February 16, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Time to activate the skills we use in other arenas like harm reduction and mutual aid. Safety planning and community care.
If you care about science & higher ed in America right now, your world has changed.

We have been forced into a battle we didn’t choose.

Whatever our titles, our jobs now also includes emergency response, psychological first aid, organizing & many other things we weren’t trained in
February 16, 2025 at 3:55 AM
One glimmer of hope: yesterday we at HIPS closed on the purchase of our harm reduction center building in DC. We fought hard to make this happen and the DC community showed up. This is MONUMENTAL for people subject to structural violence in DC.
February 15, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
#infectiveendocarditis is growing in the US due to our aging population and increases in injection drug use. This is one of the first community samples to look at risk factors for #IE-IDU in the US led by @sidganesh.bsky.social with @jabarocas.bsky.social et al.
authors.elsevier.com/c/1kcFD1LiD3...
authors.elsevier.com
February 14, 2025 at 4:20 PM
⬇️⬇️⬇️ + we know *who* gets access to what and *how* is always deeply racialized
I feel so lucky to have spent some of last yr learning from the activists at @national-nsu.bsky.social. In my first for @motherjones.com, I write about their fight to build the power of drug users & liberate methadone from the degrading & inhumane clinic system. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Will Congress ever “liberate” methadone?
Drug user activists are teaming up with doctors and legislators to upend a degrading clinic system.
www.motherjones.com
February 8, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
My latest.

As journalists and writers, we have a duty to use language that is accurate and describes our current reality.

I’m no longer going to talk about DEI/Anti-DEI.

Let’s be clear. We are facing racial purges and re-segregation.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | The assault on DEI? It’s aimed at resegregation.
The GOP leaders attacking inclusion programs want to go back to an era when White men ran everything
www.washingtonpost.com
February 6, 2025 at 3:02 PM
@remorahousedc.bsky.social and HIPS support people displaced from encampments. Displacement puts people at extreme risk for health & mental health crises as well as overdose. Punitive measures are not the solution.
Upcoming “encampment engagements” for the month of February.

Out of 15 engagements, 13 are permanent evictions. For many of these residents, it’s yet another forced move.
February 1, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
I’m sad to learn that my law school classmate, Kiah Duggins, died in the DC plane crash last night.

Kiah was an exceptionally talented civil rights lawyer and aspiring legal scholar.

I hope you’ll read about her work and the causes she cared about, some of which I’ll 🧵 below.

What an immense loss
January 31, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
Agreeing to speak on the condition of anonymity, one NIH researcher describes in chilling detail the “chaos” of the Trump administration’s first days.

Here’s what they’ve seen in their own words.
I work at NIH. The fear among staff is palpable.
"It felt like all functions of our job had just been completely stripped away, like the system had been completely crippled."
www.motherjones.com
January 31, 2025 at 1:47 PM
The socio-historical reasons our communities are skeptical of public health institutions. Every intervention & study must account for these harmful histories. These were our great/grandparents before our parents were subject to forced assimilation programs. PS: we were there before that border :)
#OtD 28 Jan 1917 Carmelita Torres, a 17-year-old Mexican maid who worked in the US, refused to take a gasoline bath at the border. Protest spread and resulted in the bath riots. But fumigation of workers, including by Zyklon B, continued until the 50s stories.workingclasshistory.c...
January 30, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
Welp! NIH diversity supplement grants now have newly updated expiration dates dates of January 2025 revised from May 2026. 🤷‍♀️
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
PA-23-189: Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp Clinical Trial Not Allowed) PA-23-189....
grants.nih.gov
January 24, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
Why should the public care about the freeze on the NIH? Aside from the need for scientific pursuits to make our society better…
-For every dollar we invest in NIH research, there is a $2.5 return.
-Research dollars help fund universities that employ non-academics. (1/)
January 23, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Overdose death = a window into racialized disparities. Communities impacted by structural violence know wins don’t always apply evenly, & historical pain deepens: “…while such deaths are falling sharply among white people, they are still skyrocketing among Black people and Native Americans.”
Opinion | Why Drug Overdose Deaths Are Dropping for Some, Rising for Others
Drug overdose deaths are finally declining. But it’s going to take work to keep this trend going.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2024 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by andrea m. lópez
I received a test pressing of my book - called a galley. Out in April 2025, but you can pre-order. Because of low vision, I was late to reading & still have trouble spelling. I read my first real book when I was 16. I never thought I'd be responsible for writing one. www.amazon.ca/Crackdown-Su...
November 23, 2024 at 5:59 PM
One thing that makes sense: tabling for HIPS DC at the DC Punk Rock Flea! We trained so many people & spread that harm reduction love 🖤🌹, while also talking about dismantling oppressive systems :)
November 19, 2024 at 11:51 AM