Profile

Dr. Barbara “Basia” Andraka-Christou is an associate professor in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics with a joint secondary appointment in the College of Medicine at UCF. Her research focuses on health services and health policies for expanding evidence-based treatment of substance use disorder. She also leads the Substance Use Policy & Evaluation (SUPER) research team.

Dr. Andraka-Christou’s work has been published in elite substance use and health policy journals, including Health Affairs, the International Journal of Drug Policy, the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, the Journal of Addiction Medicine, JAMA Network Open, and Substance Abuse. She has appeared on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. She is the author of the book The Opioid Fix: America’s Addiction Crisis and the Solution They Don’t Want You to Have (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). She is a licensed attorney in Florida.

• Substance use disorder treatment, especially medications for opioid use disorder
• Health policy research
• Health services research

• Postdoctoral fellowship in Public Health, Indiana University – Indianapolis, 2017
• PhD in Law & Social Science, Indiana University – Bloomington, 2016
• JD, Indiana University – Bloomington, 2013
• BA in Economics, summa cum laude, University of Florida, 2008

• Health services
• Health policy
• Substance use disorder treatment

• Mixed methods research
• Legal analysis
• Policy surveillance
• Qualitative research
• Program evaluation

NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01DA060240, $3,534,232 (PIs: Andraka-Christou at University of Central Florida; Nguyen at University of Michigan)
Evaluating state policies to facilitate emergency department-based treatment initiation for opioid use disorder
08/01/2025 – 07/31/2030
Role: Principal Investigator (25% FTE for each of 5 years)
Identify, assess the content of, and examine effects of state statutes/regulations mandating provision of medications for opioid use disorder in hospital emergency departments

NIH Helping End Addiction Long-term Initiative (HEAL) Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Rapid Innovation Grant, 1U2CDA050097 (PIs: Taxman and Rudes)
Exploring retention in substance use disorder treatment services after completing family treatment court
09/01/2025 - 08/31/2027
Role: Rapid Innovation Grant Principal Investigator (12.5% FTE each year for two years)
Assess retention in substance use disorder treatment and barriers/facilitators to retention after people complete family treatment court.

NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01DA05643601A1, $648,897 (PI: Patrick; Vanderbilt/Emory Medical School)
Improving outcomes for substance-affected families in the child welfare system
07/01/2023 - 12/31/2027
Role: Coinvestigator (12.5% FTE for each of 4.5 years)
Conduct longitudinal policy data collection and analysis of state policies related to plans of safe care (POSCs) of drug-exposed infants.

• Excellence in Research Award, University of Central Florida (1 per university), 2025
• Excellence in Research Award, College of Community Innovation and Education (1 per college), 2025
• Luminary Award from the University of Central Florida (one of approximately 6 awarded annually from across the university for research productivity), 2023
• Research Incentive Award (RIA) from the University of Central Florida (one of 55 faculty awarded annually from across the university for research productivity), 2023
• Won Gold in the health category from Forward Indies for her solo-authored book, The Opioid Fix: America’s Addiction Crisis & the Solution they Don’t Want You to Have, forewordreviews.com
• Won a Bronze Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) from Independent Publisher Magazine in the health, medicine, & nutrition category from for her solo-authored book, The Opioid Fix: America’s Addiction Crisis & the Solution they Don’t Want You to Have, independentpublisher.com
• Recent work was the subject of a published commentary in the flagship journal of Society of Addiction Medicine (Journal of Addiction Medicine): “The paper by Andraka-Christou and colleagues takes a giant step toward understanding differences, themes, and gaps in state policies.” (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
• Co-authored work cited by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Statement of Drug Policy Priorities for Year One. Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy: Washington, D.C.; 2021. Available at whitehouse.gov.
• Selected for the NIH HEAL – JCOIN LEAP Investigator Program for 2021-2023
• Early Career Investigator scholarship awarded to the 14th Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health. April 2021 (competitive scholarship) accjh.org

• Associate Editor of Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment (previously called The Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment)
• Field editor of Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
• Elected member, Public Policy Committee, national American Society of Addiction Medicine