Researcher biography

Camila Couto e Cruz is a Psychologist, PhD candidate at The University of Queensland since 2015. Her interest about marginalized populations increased when she worked in a well-recognized harm reduction institution attached to the Faculty of Medicine of Federal University of Bahia. During this period, Camila has contributed to the development of training courses for health professionals and worked as a guest lecturer teaching about substance use/misuse and harm reduction strategies to medical students. She is an experienced field researcher who conducted daily face to face interviews with marginalized populations such as crack users, drug dealers and sex workers for two years. Camila was awarded a scholarship by Science without Borders, a large scale scholarship program primarily funded by the Brazilian federal government, to research about discrimination towards people who inject drugs and health outcomes. 

PhD topic

Discrimination and health outcomes amongst people who inject drugs

Advisors

  • Prof. Rosa Alati (Principal)
  • Dr. Caroline Salom (Associate)
  • Dr. Kim Betts (Associate)

Research interests

  • People Who Inject Drugs (PWID)
  • Stigma and discrimination
  • Homelessness
  • Drug policy