- Assistant Professor
- College of Nursing
- Phone: 401.874.6032
- Email: dahianna_lopez@uri.edu
- Office Location: RI NEC Room 227, 350 Eddy St., Providence, RI, 02905
- Website
Biography
Dr. Dahianna Lopez is an assistant professor whose research focuses on injury prevention. Her professional and scientific career has been mainly devoted to preventing bicycle and pedestrian injuries, as well as opioid overdoses. She has addressed these concerns in applied public health settings throughout Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Providence. She is currently undertaking a research study on overdoses in motor vehicles utilizing text mining techniques and linked police and ambulance data as a Pilot Project Awardee (2021-2022) of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Opioids and Overdose. Her research program focuses on impaired driving and improving injury surveillance systems.
Dr. Lopez teaches undergraduate community/public health nursing and covers various topics, including community health planning and evaluation, epidemiological principles, disaster management, and injury and violence prevention. She enjoys working with students and is interested in academic initiatives that support students of color.
Dr. Lopez is the Chair of the URI College of Nursing’s Committee on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity. She is also the CON’s representative for the University-wide Academic Affairs Diversity Taskforce and the Rhode Island Public Health Association. Additionally, she serves as the faculty expert on healthcare and public health for the Rhode Island Department of Commerce’s 2030 Strategic Planning Process, led by Dr. Liam C. Malloy, Chair of the URI Department of Economics.
Dr. Lopez has received numerous prestigious awards for her contributions to public service, including the Presidential Public Service Fellowship at Harvard University, the Chancellor’s Public Service Award at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Boston Police Department’s Commissioner’s Commendation Award.
She is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, the American Public Health Association, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing.
Research
Injury prevention, opioid overdose, motor vehicle crashes, bicycle crashes, impaired driving, health and public policy.
Education
PhD, Health Policy, Harvard University
MSN, Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles
MPH, Community Health Services, University of California, Los Angeles
BA, Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
Selected Publications
Lopez, DS, Malloy, LC, & Arcoleo, K (2022). Police narrative reports: Do they provide end-users with the data they need to help prevent bicycle crashes?. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 164, 106475
Lopez, D. S., Glickman, M. E., Soumerai, S. B., & Hemenway, D. (2018). Identifying factors related to a hit-and-run after a vehicle-bicycle collision. Journal of Transport & Health, 8, 299-306.
Lopez, D. S. & Hemenway, D. (2018). Generating a city’s first report on bicyclist safety: Lessons from the field. Injury prevention, 24, 312-318
Lopez, D. S., Sunjaya, D., Chan, S., Dobbins, S., & Dicker, R. A. (2012). Using trauma center data to identify missed bicycle injuries and their associated costs. Journal of Trauma, 73, 1602-06.
Dicker, R. A., Mah, J., Lopez, D. S., Tran, C., Reidy, R., Kreniske, P., Knudson, M. M., & Shumway, M. (2011). Screening for mental illness in a trauma center: Rooting out a risk factor for unintentional injury. Journal of Trauma, 70, 1337-44.
Dicker, R. A., Lopez, D. S., Pepper, M., Crane, I., & Max, W. (2010). Cost-driven injury prevention: Creating an innovative plan to save lives with limited resources. Journal of Trauma, 70, 985-90.