About

Jennifer J. Carroll is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at NC State University. She is a medical anthropologist with interdisciplinary training in cultural anthropology, epidemiology, and clinical research. Carroll earned her Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology and a concurrent MPH in epidemiology from the University of Washington, along with an M.A. in sociology from Central European University and a B.A. in anthropology from Reed College. Her research explores lived experiences of substance use and the impacts of drug policy on the health and wellness of people who use drugs. Carroll has authored an award-winning book titled "Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine," which examines the experiences of individuals seeking treatment for opioid use disorder at internationally-funded methadone clinics in Ukraine, and the broader geopolitical implications of these clinics amid Russia's invasion and occupation. Her ethnographic research in the United States has been pioneering in documenting the perspectives of people who use drugs on fentanyl contamination in the drug supply, providing evidence that fentanyl is a supply-side phenomenon. Her current research focuses on the effects of punitive civil and criminal responses to substance use on overdose risk and community health. Carroll's work has contributed significantly to understanding drug markets, overdose prevention strategies, and the social and policy dimensions of substance use.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Emergency medicine
• Medical emergency
• Pharmacology
• Gerontology
• Family medicine
• Environmental health
• Pediatrics
• Social psychology
• Psychology
• Internal medicine
• Demography
• Nursing

Selected publications

• “If You’re Willing to Work…We Can Work With You”: Obligatory Labor at Residential Substance Use Services Providers in North Carolina

  Substance Use & Misuse · 2026-01-07

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: "Work therapy" is not an evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders. Nevertheless, many substance use service providers impose labor obligations. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence and correlates of obligatory labor at providers of residential substance use services in North Carolina. METHODS: This audit study surveyed residential substance use service providers in North Carolina, systematically collecting program characteristics including obligatory labor. We used Fisher's exact tests to assess associations between program characteristics and two conditions of interest: obligatory labor and obligatory labor in agency-owned and -operated commercial enterprises. We qualitatively described the nature of labor mandates as summarized by program staff. RESULTS: Of 66 providers surveyed, 28 (42.4%) mandated labor, and 20 (30.3%) mandated labor in an agency-owned or -operated commercial enterprises. Providers who imposed either of these mandates were more likely to be faith-based and operating without a state license for adult substance use services. Providers imposing labor requirements were more likely to offer residential services at low or no cost. Providers mandating labor in agency-owned and -operated commercial enterprises were more likely to restrict eligibility to persons meeting health and "able-bodiedness" requirements. Many providers described these labor obligations as therapeutic and mandatory. CONCLUSIONS: More providers require residents to work in an agency-owned and operated commercial enterprise than allow access to opioid agonist treatment, the gold standard treatment for opioid use disorder. Adjustments to state regulations may help improve the availability of evidence-based services and increase regulatory supervision of these service providers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Journey mapping drug seizures among police, public health and local nonprofit professionals, and community members who use drugs

  International Journal of Drug Policy · 2025-03-22 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder is widely unavailable and often discouraged by providers of residential substance use services in North Carolina.

  UNC Libraries · 2025-08-25

  articleOpen access

  Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is the only treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) proven to reduce overdose mortality, yet access to this evidence-based treatment remains poor. The purpose of this cross-sectional audit study was to assess OAT availability at residential substance use services in North Carolina.We conducted a state-wide inventory of residential substance use service providers in North Carolina and subsequently called all providers identified, posing as uninsured persons who use heroin, seeking treatment services. Program characteristics, as reported in phone calls, were systematically recorded. We used Fisher's exact tests to assess what program characteristics were associated with OAT availability and with staff making discouraging comments about OAT. We used unsupervised agglomerative clustering to identify facilities with similar characteristics.Of the 94 treatment providers identified, we successfully contacted and collected data from 66. Of those, only 7 (10.6 %) provide OAT on site; an additional 9 (13.6 %) allow OAT through an outside or community-based prescriber. Only 8 (12.1 %) providers were licensed to provide residential substance use treatment. Staff from 33 (50.0 %) providers made negative, discouraging, or stigmatizing remarks about OAT-for example, that OAT substitutes one addiction for another or does not constitute "true recovery." OAT availability was positively associated with a provider holding a state license for any substance use-related service (41.9 % vs 8.6 %, p = 0.002) and offering 12-step programming (36.1 % vs. 10/0 %, p = 0.020). OAT availability was negatively associated with faith-based programming (6.1 % vs 42.4 %, p = 0.001), dress codes (5.3 % vs 50.0 %, p < 0.001), and mandates that residents work in a provider-owned and -operated commercial enterprise (5.0 % vs 32.6 %, p = 0.026). Cluster analysis revealed that the most common (n = 21) type of service provider in North Carolina is an unlicensed, faith-based organization that prohibits OAT, imposes a dress code, and mandates that residents work, often in provider-owned and -operated commercial enterprises.Evidence-based treatments for OUD are largely unavailable at providers of residential substance use services in North Carolina. The prohibition of OAT occurs most often among providers who are unlicensed and impose labor and/or 12-step mandates on residents. Changes to state licensure requirements and exemptions may help improve OAT availability.

  PublisherDOI

• “They don’t go by the law around here”: law enforcement interactions after the legalization of syringe services programs in North Carolina

  UNC Libraries · 2025-09-05

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Implementation and evaluation of multi-cancer early detection testing at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: A retrospective analysis of clinical outcomes and diagnostic pathways.

  Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2025-05-28 · 1 citations

  article

  11159 Background: Early detection and interception of cancer is a growing field at the intersection of primary care and oncology. Technological innovation has facilitated the development of multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests, which allow for the detection of a broad range of cancers in a single screening test. These tests are entering clinical practice as laboratory developed tests but little has been reported about their implementation. In 2023, Dana-Farber introduced an MCED Program to facilitate the evaluation of patients who have received MCED testing and to study novel MCED strategies. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients seen at the Dana-Farber between 12/1/2023 and 12/1/2024 who had a cancer signal detected by a Grail Galleri MCED test. Results: Thirteen patients were evaluated for a positive cancer signal detected by the Grail Galleri MCED test. The median age was 62.7 (54.9-81.4), 61.5% (8/13) were male, and 84.6% (11/13) were white. Following diagnostic evaluation 76.9% (10/13) had a confirmed cancer diagnosis and 23.1% (3/13) were deemed false positives. The time from MCED test result to presentation at DFCI was a median of 25 days (6-368) and the median time to conduct the diagnostic evaluation was 23 days (5-104), which was shorter in true positive cases (15 days) compared to false positives (98 days). A total 6 of the 10 (60%) signal detected cases were solid tumors which included triple negative breast, testicular, liver, cholangiocarcinoma, tonsillar, and lung (non-smoker); and 4 (40%) cases were hematologic malignancies (3 lymphoma, 1 myeloma). Of the malignancies detected, 9 (90%) have no current screening guidelines. Screening mammography was up to date in the patient found to have triple negative breast cancer. Six cancers (60%) were diagnosed at stage I/II and 4 (40%) were stage III/IV. All 3 false positive cases received a repeat MCED test a median of 118 days (87-161) after the initial test and all had no signal detected at re-test. The median number of tests/procedures to reach diagnostic resolution was 4 for true positive cases (2-7) and 5 for false positive cases (4-6). All patients required advanced imaging. The first or second cancer signal origin was accurate in 90% (9/10). There were no issues encountered obtaining prior authorizations for diagnostic tests and no adverse events were reported. Conclusions: The majority of patients that presented with a positive MCED test were true positives with a cancer consistent with the cancer signal origin. Patients with signal detected tests were quickly adjudicated in our clinical program, although some patients initially experienced significant delays in finding a provider to work-up their test result. These findings support a role for dedicated cancer diagnostic clinical expertise in the evaluation of MCED tests.

  PublisherDOI

• “Who the Hell Wants Everybody to die?”: The Vital Role of Drug Use Networks in Reducing Substance Use-Related Harms

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2025-02-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• 136 Reducing post-partum haemorrhage (≥1000 mL) in women and birthing people from black and ethnic minority groups

  2025-05-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  recovery care.Moreover, even those not directly involved noted improved communication, attributed to a tailored communication model.Healthcare staff reported enhanced knowledge and interest in recovery and transmural care, leading to specific departmental actions promoting a recovery-oriented approach.One of the key metrics in our study is the Net Promoter Score (NPS) of patients.These scores will be monitored throughout each study over the coming years.This data will serve as the foundation for our results.This study highlights the importance of combining quantitative metrics with qualitative insights to effectively measure and enhance recovery and transmural care, ensuring patient voices are integrated to the evaluation process.REFERENCES 1. England NHS, Improvement NHS.(2021).Framework for involving patients in patient safety.NHSE, NHSI. 2. Raats I, Versluijs M. (2019).Een praktische handleiding voor patintenvertegenwoordigers.3. Castro E. (2018).Patient participation and Empowerment.The involvement of experts by experience in hospitals.4.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Officer perceptions of the shift away from no-knock drug search warrants in a large United States police department: A de-implementation case study

  CrimRxiv · 2025-09-03

  articleOpen access

  “No-knock” exceptions to the requirement for police to announce their presence and authority prior to executing a search warrant were first allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963. Emblematic of the nation’s “War on Drugs,” and despite several tragic and traumatic outcomes, they remain a common militarized feature of police drug investigations. In reaction to nationally-publicized incidents of civilians and police killed in the execution of no-knock warrants in US cities, police departments are increasingly reconsidering this technique. This qualitative case study is the first to empirically examine officer perceptions about such a shift. Based on semi-structured interviews with officers (n=6) assigned to narcotics-related task forces in a large metropolitan police department that abruptly de-implemented the execution of no-knock warrants, it assesses police offer perceptions about this enforcement policy change. There was consensus that it was in response to the publicized killing of civilians, and while “knock-and-announce” alternatives are more likely to result in the destruction of drug evidence, the losses need not be critical for a successful prosecution if the preceding investigation had established probable cause, and the tactics employed were safer for both citizens and the police officers involved. This shift away from militarized search warrants in one urban jurisdiction was found to be largely feasible and acceptable to the officers involved, signaling the potential for a reconsideration of this often-used approach to drug enforcement.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• <p>How Much Time do U.S. Police Spend on Behavioral Health Crises?</p>

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Journey Mapping Drug Market Disruptions Among Law enforcement, Public health, Harm reduction, and People who Use Drugs

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2025-02-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Traci C. Green

  Rhode Island Hospital

  111 shared

• Alexander Y. Walley

  Boston University

  45 shared

• Josiah D. Rich

  Rhode Island Hospital

  40 shared

• Sarah M. Bagley

  Boston Medical Center

  39 shared

• Leo Beletsky

  37 shared

• Taleed El‐Sabawi

  Florida International University

  36 shared

• Shapei Yan

  Boston University

  35 shared

• Brandon del Pozo

  31 shared

Labs

• Research and EngagementPI

Education

• T-32 Postdoc, Infectious Disease

  The Miriam Hospital / Brown University

  2016

• MPH, Epidemiology

  University of Washington

  2015

• PhD, Anthropology

  University of Washington

  2015

• MA, Sociology

  Central European University

  2007

Awards & honors

• Winner of the AWSS Heldt Prize for best book written by a wo…