Dasherline Johnson

Dr. Dasherline Cox Johnson, Doctor of Psychology, is the lead principal investigator for the “Opioid Abatement and Recovery Research Program 2022” at the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute (BBRI), North Carolina Central University, (NCCU), sponsored by the North Carolina Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC-Chapel Hill”). The opioid abatement research project is a joint effort with NCCU and Together for Resilient Youth (TRY), developed to help combat the opioid epidemic in Durham and throughout the country.

The toolkit, Communiversity Developed and Tested Toolkit for Abuse Abatement, includes five modules informed by input from community focus groups and healthcare professionals living or working in or near Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Johnson and team sought community input throughout the development of the project, especially geared to minoritized groups but useful for anyone seeking easy-to-understand information about opioids.

For access to the online interactive toolkit, please visit https://opioid-abatement.com/.

Dr. Johnson is a trained practitioner-scholar who graduated at the top of her class and earned the award for outstanding dissertation/recognition for contribution of excellence in scholarship. Her research interests include reducing health disparities, social justice, religion, and acculturation.

She developed an award-winning culturally sensitive diagnostic assessment protocol for Somalis living in the Twin Cities, which is used to improve cultural competency among mental health providers with the goal of reducing health disparities for the Somali community.