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INFORMATION FOR

    Magdalena Cerdá

    Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology
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    Additional Titles

    Chair, Chronic Disease Epidemiology

    Contact Info

    magdalena.cerda@yale.edu

    Yale School of Public Health

    60 College St

    New Haven, CT 06510

    United States

    About

    Titles

    Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology

    Chair, Chronic Disease Epidemiology

    Biography

    Magdalena Cerdá is the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and the Chair of the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. She obtained her doctorate from the Harvard University School of Public Health in 2006, and is a former Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar.

    Her work integrates approaches from social and psychiatric epidemiology to examine how social contexts and drug and health policies shape drug use and urban violence. She has received extensive funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Current funded research focuses on state and community-level policy and social drivers of opioid-related harms, including work on the impact of municipal harm reduction laws on overdose, a study on the effect of natural disasters on overdose, and an evaluation of the first publicly recognized overdose prevention centers in the United States. Dr. Cerdá has also published extensively on the application of novel methods, including machine learning and agent-based modeling, to the prediction of overdose risk and the evaluation of social and policy drivers of overdose and violence. By conducting work in these areas, she hopes her research can inform evidence-based policies to improve population health.

    Last Updated on July 17, 2026.

    Appointments

    Other Departments & Organizations

    Education & Training

    DPH
    Harvard University, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (2026)
    Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar
    University of Michigan (2008)
    MPH
    Yale University School of Public Health, International Health (1999)
    BS
    Cornell University, Communication (1997)

    Research

    Magdalena Cerdá's research focuses on the effects that drug and health policies have on drug use, and on the ways the urban context shapes violence. Current research focuses on the impact of disasters on overdose, and the effects of state and municipal drug policies on drug-related harms. She is also evaluating the first overdose prevention centers in New York City and Rhode Island.

    Research at a Glance

    Yale Co-Authors

    Frequent collaborators of Magdalena Cerdá's published research.

    Publications

    2026

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    Get In Touch

    Contacts

    Email
    Mailing Address

    Yale School of Public Health

    60 College St

    New Haven, CT 06510

    United States

    Administrative Support

    Locations

    • Yale School of Public Health (LEPH)

      Academic Office

      60 College Street, Fl 4th

      New Haven, CT 06510

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