Ariel Hoadley

Ariel Hoadley

Ariel Hoadley, a third-year PhD student in social and behavioral sciences, has won the 2022 APHA Student Membership Award sponsored by the organization’s applied public health statistics section. This marks the second straight year a College of Public Health student has won this award; master of public health in applied biostatistics student Di Zhu claimed the honor in 2021.

Only 10 students nationwide are selected annually for the award, which recognizes education and work experience, interest in health statistics, and future in public health practice or research. It also includes membership in the professional society.

Hoadley works as a research assistant under associate professor Sarah Bass in the Risk Communication Lab. Her research interests include understanding the factors that influence people’s decision-making processes around treatment for opioid addictions.

“Ariel has an intuitive sense about data and analysis,” says Bass. “Her analysis skills and commitment to social and behavioral sciences will serve her well in her career, and I expect that she will make significant contributions to public health.”

Hoadley holds a BA in psychology from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and an MPH from Brown University, where she continues to partner on research. She is currently working with researchers at Brown to evaluate a program that provides medications for opioid use disorder through the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

At Temple, she has published papers on medical mistrust among Black cancer patients and healthcare beliefs and preferences among women who inject drugs. For her dissertation, she plans to continue researching substance use and ways to improve access and engagement with evidence-based treatments for substance use and mental health among justice-involved individuals.