Staff Bio
Debbie Dowell, MD, MPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
ob体育 role
Debbie Dowell, MD, MPH, is the chief medical officer for the Division of Overdose Prevention (DOP) at the ob体育 Injury Center.
Previous experience
Previously for ob体育’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Dr. Dowell led the development of the ob体育 strategy to prevent opioid overdoses. She also served as Chief Medical Officer for ob体育's Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, led ob体育's Prescription Drug Overdose Team, and served as an advisor to New York City's health commissioner.
In addition, she has conducted research on quality and safety in medical care, the effects of clinical guidelines, and the effectiveness of interventions to prevent opioid overdose. She is the lead author of the 2022 ob体育 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain and the 2016 ob体育 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. She served in various roles in ob体育's COVID-19 Response from February 2020 through April 2022, including as Medical Director of the ob体育's COVID-19 Call Center, Associate Editor of ob体育's COVID-19 Science Update, and as Chief Medical Officer for ob体育's COVID-19 Response.
Education
Dr. Dowell completed her residency and chief residency in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital Center and the NYU School of Medicine, where she joined the faculty as a clinical assistant professor. She served as an attending physician, caring for patients, teaching and supervising medical students and residents at NYU and a community health center in New York City.
Dr. Dowell is board certified in Internal Medicine. She received BA and MD degrees from Columbia University and an MPH degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also a graduate of ob体育's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS).