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

Identifying MOUD Decision-Making Factors in Criminal Problem-Solving Courts
Justice community Opioid Innovation Network (an NIH Initiative), $110,000 (Andraka-Christou; UCF)
11/01/2021-6/01-2022
Role: Principal investigator (12.5% FTE each year for two years; credit split at UCF 40% = $44,000)
I oversee a team identifying decision-making factors used by judges when making decisions about medications for opioid use disorder access for court participants.

The Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse U01DA055358, $1,015,066 (Gurka; University of Florida)
11/01/2021-6/01-2022
Role: Coinvestigator; Local PI (5% FTE each year, with expected duration of 5 years; Project credit split at UCF 100% = $8723)
I conduct analysis of Florida state laws related to involvement of pregnant people who use drugs in research.

The Regional Centers of Excellence in Substance Use Disorder Education Program
Health Resources and Services Administration UD9RH33633-01-00, $6,666,666 (Sigmon; University of Vermont)
11/01/2021-8/31-2022
Role: Coinvestigator; Local PI (Project credit split at UCF 100% = $67,000)
I oversee a team of collecting and analyzing state policies related to contingency management for substance use disorders.

Enhancement & Evaluation for Florida’s Family Dependency Drug Courts
Bureau of Justice Administration 2019-AR-BX-K086, $1,492,871 (Kiel; Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator)
10/01/2019-10/01-2022
Role: Program Evaluator; Local PI (12.5% FTE each year for 3 years; $146,786 over 3 years; Project credit split at UCF 50% = $73,393)
I oversee a research team responsible for evaluating this $1.5 million grant obtained by the Florida Supreme Court over a three year period. Our evaluation uses the Consolidated Framework for Research Implementation to examine implementation of evidence-based treatments in five family dependency drug courts. Our team was selected for this role out of other competitively solicited proposals for program evaluation.

Quality of Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Medicaid-Enrollees: The Effects of State Policies and Initiative
NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse, 5R01DA045800-03 , $698,341 (Stein; Rand Corporation)
05/01/2019-05/01-2023
Role: Coinvestigator; Local PI ($72,210 to date; 12% FTE; Project credit split at UCF 100% = $72,210)
This four year R01 study identifies state policies related to MOUD in all states over the last 15 years and examines policy relationships with health service utilization outcomes and health outcomes.

• 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

• Elected Committee Member of the Behavioral Health Services Research Interest Group of Academy Health (national)
• Elected Board Member of Rebel Recovery LLC, a harm reduction/syringe exchange program in South Florida
• Subject Matter Expert for Project ECHO MAT Expansion at Arizona State University