Nabarun Dasgupta

Nabarun Dasgupta
Credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Alma materPrinceton University (A.B.)
Yale University (MPH)
University of North Carolina (PhD)
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsEpidemiology
WorkplacesUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Nabarun Dasgupta is an Indian-born American epidemiologist and harm reduction advocate known for his work in overdose prevention. He currently serves as a Senior Scientist and Gillings Innovation Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received the MacArthur Fellowship in 2025, and was named to the Time 100 Next in 2023 and the Time 100 Health in 2026.

Biography

Dasgupta was born in India but moved to the United States as a baby. He grew up in Maine, graduating from Greely High School. He intended to go to medical school, but during his studies for his undergraduate degree in molecular biology, failed both physics and organic chemistry. He retook the classes, but he began rethinking his path.[1] A summer internship helping with a study on OxyContin abuse determined his path as being in harm reduction and overdose prevention.[2] He earned a MPH from Yale University and a PhD in pharmacoepidemiology from the University of North Carolina.[3]

In 2007, he co-founded Epidemico, Inc., a health informatics startup based out of Boston Children's Hospital of Harvard Medical School along with John Brownstein and Clark Freifeld, which was acquired by Booz Allen Hamilton.[4][5] As the Chief Science Officer of Epidemico, he helped develop mobile apps and social media analysis technology for pharmacovigilance to enhance greater patient participation in pharmaceutical regulation,[6][7] in the United States[8] and Europe.[9]

In 2008, he co-founded Project Lazarus in Wilkes County, a community-wide intervention, which included the first provision of naloxone to prevent overdoses among people primarily using prescription opioids,[10][11] along with Rev. Fred Brason and others. The program is credited with drastically reducing overdose deaths locally.[10]

In 2021, along with Maya Doe-Simkins and Eliza Wheeler, he co-founded Remedy Alliance/For The People, a non-profit which provides free and low-cost bulk naloxone to public health organizations and agencies.[12]

He works as a senior scientist and the Gillings Innovation Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[13] He also leads the Street Drug Analysis Lab at UNC.[2][14] He is an Associate Editor at the American Journal of Public Health.

He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2025 for his work in overdose prevention and harm reduction.[15]

He worked in collaboration with Louise Vincent, who died just days before he was informed he received the MacArthur Fellowship.[16]

He was named to the Time 100 Next in 2023[17] and to the Time 100 Health in 2026.[18] He received the North Carolina Attorney General's Dogwood Award in 2026.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Nabarun Dasgupta '00 Is Testing Street Drugs to Prevent Overdoses | Princeton Alumni Weekly". paw.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 2025-02-13. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  2. 1 2 Knopf, Taylor (2025-10-31). "Meet the UNC street drug scientist awarded a 'genius' grant for his lifesaving work". North Carolina Health News. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  3. ↑ Fitzgerald, Michael F. (2025-10-08). "Dasgupta wins 'genius grant' for creative and effective harm reduction work". ysph.yale.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  4. ↑ Jayakumar, Amrita (2014-10-29). "Booz Allen buys Boston health analytics start-up Epidemico". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-07-24.
  5. ↑ "Nabarun Dasgupta: Giving a Voice to Every Story | UNC Gillings Carolina Public Health magazine". gillings-projects.unc.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-24.
  6. ↑ Freifeld, Clark C.; Brownstein, John S.; Menone, Christopher M.; Bao, Wenjie; Filice, Ross; Kass-Hout, Taha; Dasgupta, Nabarun (2014-05-01). "Digital Drug Safety Surveillance: Monitoring Pharmaceutical Products in Twitter". Drug Safety. 37 (5): 343–350. doi:10.1007/s40264-014-0155-x. ISSN 1179-1942. PMC 4013443. PMID 24777653.
  7. ↑ Bahk, Chi Y.; Goshgarian, Melanie; Donahue, Krystal; Freifeld, Clark C.; Menone, Christopher M.; Pierce, Carrie E.; Rodriguez, Harold; Brownstein, John S.; Furberg, Robert; Dasgupta, Nabarun (2015-12-01). "Increasing Patient Engagement in Pharmacovigilance Through Online Community Outreach and Mobile Reporting Applications: An Analysis of Adverse Event Reporting for the Essure Device in the US". Pharmaceutical Medicine. 29 (6): 331–340. doi:10.1007/s40290-015-0106-6. ISSN 1179-1993. PMC 4656696. PMID 26635479.
  8. ↑ Pierce, Carrie E.; Bouri, Khaled; Pamer, Carol; Proestel, Scott; Rodriguez, Harold W.; Van Le, Hoa; Freifeld, Clark C.; Brownstein, John S.; Walderhaug, Mark; Edwards, I. Ralph; Dasgupta, Nabarun (2017-01-02). "Evaluation of Facebook and Twitter Monitoring to Detect Safety Signals for Medical Products: An Analysis of Recent FDA Safety Alerts". Drug Safety. 40 (4): 317–331. doi:10.1007/s40264-016-0491-0. ISSN 0114-5916. PMC 5362648. PMID 28044249.
  9. ↑ van Stekelenborg, John; Ellenius, Johan; Maskell, Simon; Bergvall, Tomas; Caster, Ola; Dasgupta, Nabarun; Dietrich, Juergen; Gama, Sara; Lewis, David; Newbould, Victoria; Brosch, Sabine; Pierce, Carrie E.; Powell, Gregory; Ptaszyńska-Neophytou, Alicia; Wiśniewski, Antoni F. Z. (2019-12-01). "Recommendations for the Use of Social Media in Pharmacovigilance: Lessons from IMI WEB-RADR". Drug Safety. 42 (12): 1393–1407. doi:10.1007/s40264-019-00858-7. ISSN 1179-1942. PMC 6858385. PMID 31446567.
  10. 1 2 Albert, Su; Brason, Fred W.; Sanford, Catherine K.; Dasgupta, Nabarun; Graham, Jim; Lovette, Beth. "Project Lazarus: community-based overdose prevention in rural North Carolina". Pain Medicine (Malden, Mass.). 12 Suppl 2: S77–85. doi:10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01128.x. ISSN 1526-4637. PMID 21668761.
  11. ↑ "Three Yale alumni receive MacArthur 'genius' grants | Yale News". news.yale.edu. 2025-10-09. Archived from the original on 2026-02-09. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  12. ↑ "Nabarun Dasgupta analyzes street drugs to prevent overdoses". UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  13. ↑ Ciplex; Harwood, Angela (2025-10-17). "Nabarun Dasgupta wins MacArthur 'genius grant'". Carolina Stories. Archived from the original on 2026-01-14. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  14. ↑ "Nabarun Dasgupta". Opioid Data Lab. Archived from the original on 2026-04-29. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  15. ↑ "Nabarun Dasgupta". www.macfound.org. Archived from the original on 2026-04-03. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  16. ↑ Rosenwald, Michael S. (2025-09-22). "Louise Vincent, 49, Drug User Who Led Harm-Reduction Movement, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2025-11-09. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  17. ↑ "2023 TIME100 Next: Nabarun Dasgupta". TIME. 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  18. ↑ "TIME100 Health: Nabarun Dasgupta". TIME. 2026-02-11. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  19. ↑ Hamzik, Tommy (2026-02-13). "Nabarun Dasgupta honored with TIME100 Health and Dogwood awards". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2026-07-24.
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