Research
Work & Interests
I do this work because I believe research should deliver real, actionable results for ordinary people. I am committed to leveraging every available method to inform beneficial systemic change, and I treat null results with the same seriousness as positive findings. I approach my work with as much neutrality as the data and context allow, while recognizing that equity is often the necessary lens to do rigorous policy research honestly. Good research, in my view, is research that makes systems work better for the people they were built to serve. Contributing to academic literature will always come second.
Safe consumption sites: Beyond the Evidence Gap
An independent empirical analysis examining safe consumption sites in Aotearoa New Zealand situated within a critical governance and policy discourse framework.
Emerging illicit substances: Trends, risks, and regulatory response
A collaborative research project tracking emerging illicit substances, examining associated risks, and evaulating the regulatory gaps in a rapidly shifting landscape.
Reforming health systems: Structure, access, markets, and populations outcomes
Examining how health system structure and reform efforts affect access to care and population-level health outcomes for a client. Working to inform future changes.
Investment in education and later-life cognitive health outcomes
A project investigating the relationship between education investments and cognitive health outcomes in later life, contributing to the broader literature on the long-term returns of public education spending.
AI risk as epistemic governance: power, knowledge, and Large Language Models
Dominant AI risk debates, whether focused on catastrophic future harms or "normal technology" management, share a common assumption: risk is intrinsic to AI systems and addressable through technical evaluation and control. This paper challenges that assumption, arguing that the most consequential risks of LLMs are epistemic and institutional.
Equity commitments and fragmented governance in urban transit
A collaborative study investigating why equity commitments in urban transit systems persistently fail to translate into equitable outcomes, using LA Metro as a case study in fragmented governance and the structural limitations of institutional reform.
Drug policy
Harm reduction, safe consumption, (de)criminalization, and the politics of evidence in regulation and policymaking.
Health care policy
System reform, access and equity, population health, and the architecture of American care.
Environmental policy
Environmental burden, climate change/equity, and the communities that absorb the cost of inaction.
Education policy
Education access, investment, long-term returns, public education reform, and school funding.