Kelly M. Doran, MD

My research focuses on the intersections between housing and health. Currently I am the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for five studies funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several of my studies are focused on the intersection of homelessness and substance use, including community-partnered studies of interventions to prevent overdose in permanent supportive housing and homeless shelter settings. Other studies examine the impacts of housing choice vouchers on health and of New York City’s protective hoteling initiative for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. For other recent projects I have examined a peer-led overdose prevention initiative in emergency departments; prediction and prevention of homelessness amongst emergency department patients; the aging of the homeless population; and health-related impacts of an unconditional cash transfer program.

I have given invited presentations on housing and other social determinants of health at the National Academies of Science and the White House. My work has been published in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, and Health Affairs. Previously, I served as an advisor to the New York State Department of Health on novel efforts to use Medicaid to fund supportive housing. A guiding principle of my research is the importance of cross-disciplinary partnerships, including with community and governmental partners. My work is also grounded in and driven by my ongoing clinical practice in a public safety net hospital.

I enjoy teaching and mentoring the next generation of researchers and practitioners focused on social determinants of health, and I was co-editor of the first textbook on the growing field of social emergency medicine, Social Emergency Medicine: Principles and Practice.