Zena Dhatt, BS

Zena is originally from the East Coast. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in December 2018 where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology with concentrations in Medical Anthropology and Global Health, as well as a Certificate in Latin American Studies. Zena has always been passionate about examining how the lives and livelihoods of marginalized communities can be improved through advocacy, research, and innovative evidence-based policies and practices. Upon graduating, she began working with Dr. Andrea López on a large, multi-sited ethnographic study on drug use, services, and the potential expansion for harm reduction programming in five counties in Maryland—the Statewide Ethnographic Assessment of Drug Use and Services (SEADS) project, funded by the Maryland Department of Health through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Crisis Response Funds. She participated in field-based data collection activities, ensuring compliance with IRB protocols in the administration of qualitative and quantitative interviews, and conducted data analysis by coding and structuring data, synthesizing a large dataset into analytic themes, and producing a series of deliverables to the Maryland Department of Health. More recently, she held the position of Technical Assistance Coordinator II at JBS International, Inc. on a multi-year initiative to address barriers to access in rural communities related to substance use disorder—the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP), supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration. At the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, Zena will be working as a Qualitative Research Data Analyst for the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. In her free time, she enjoys attending music festivals, photography, traveling, hiking, trying new restaurants, and going on scenic drives.