Laura Curran, PhD, LMHC

Dr. Laura Curran joins Tulane University School of Social Work as a Postdoctoral Fellow. She earned her PhD in Social Work from New York University in 2022 and her Masters in Counselor Education from the University of South Florida in 2013. Dr. Curran held a NIDA T32 Predoctoral Fellowship with NYU’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing from 2019 to 2022. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) working in the child welfare system and as a substance use counselor in a harm-reduction methadone treatment program in Tampa, Florida. These clinical experiences inspired her research pursuits in maternal substance use, interventions for mental health and co-occurring disorders, and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).

Dr. Curran’s work has included grant funded studies testing critical time intervention (CTI) for individuals living in residential substance use treatment programs and examining the social networks of individuals with serious mental illness in New York City, as well as pilot funded studies that explore substance use policies in the NYC Housing Authority. Her dissertation estimated the use of MOUD among pregnant individuals in treatment programs in all 50 states, used multi-level analysis to identify individual and state level factors influencing MOUD access, and employed qualitative methods to explore the experiences of people who used MOUD during their pregnancy.

Dr. Curran has a strong interest in the ways in which stigma and relationships with healthcare providers is associated with maternal substance use and treatment outcomes, and is an advocate for specialized services for women and families who experience substance use.