Heather Henderson, PhD, CAP

Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine

Director, Division of Social Emergency Medicine, Population and Global Health

Program Director, Idea Exchange Tampa

Contact Info

• Academic Email: heather42@usf.edu
• Academic Phone: (813) 766-0541
• View My C.V. | View My Website

Education

Biography

Heather Henderson, PhD, CAP, CRPS is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida and serves as Director of the Division of Social Emergency Medicine, Population and Global Health, and Program Director for IDEA Exchange Tampa. Key accomplishments include establishing and expanding the state of Florida’s largest Emergency Department-based Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) treatment and referral pathway and expanding Florida’s Syringe Services Program (SSP) to Hillsborough County—the second legal exchange in the state of Florida. As a Certified Addiction Professional, Dr. Henderson serves as a subject matter expert on substance use and associated social determinants of health on multiple boards in the Tampa Metropolitan area and supports multiple regions regarding creating a comprehensive recovery continuum utilizing harm reduction principles. Dr. Henderson is also actively leading multiple research studies to further expand innovative treatments for substance use disorders.

Research Interests

• I work to create syndemic healthcare interventions through a harm reduction framework by developing translational patient care pathways that consider social determinants of health to improve patient experiences in emergency medicine and other acute care settings, with a particular focus on addiction and infectious diseases like HIV and HCV. My current research interests include substance use disorders, trauma, and mental health, particularly unresolved childhood trauma and treatment-resistant SUD. I specialize in a qualitative approach, mixed methods research, health science implementation, systems change, and technical assistance for quality improvement. I am also interested in medical education and curriculum design.

Awards/Honors

• Golden Bull Award (University of South Florida - 2021)
• Saint Vincent DePaul Substance Abuse and Prevention Grant (Saint Petersburg College - 2017)

Memberships

• Social Emergency Medicine and Population Health (Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, 2024 - Present)
• Transmissible Infectious Diseases (Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, 2020 - Present)
• Behavioral and Psychological Interest Group (Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, 2024 - Present)
• Member (Society for Applied Anthropology, 2019 - Present)

Recent Publications

• Heather Henderson The Structural Determinants of Drug Use: A Primer on Addiction (First Edition) Kendal Hunt Publishing. : 1-324, 2024.
• Wilson, J., Henderson, H. Medical-Based Harm Reduction, Opioid Use Disorder, and Infectious Disease Handbook for Evidence-Based Criminal Justice Practices. 1, 2023.
• Henderson, H., Wilson, J. Opioids and Infectious Disease Clinically Applied Anthropology 2.0. 1, 2022.
• Chavez, Melody N.|Tyson, Dinorah Martinez|Lake, Paige W.|Gutierrez, Ana|Sherry, Peggie|Rigg, Khary K.|Marshall, Victoria|Henderson, Heather|Rajasekhara, Sahana|Pabbathi, Smitha|Lubrano, Barbara ‘They say you can get addicted’: Exploring factors that fuel the fear of addiction to prescription opioids among cancer survivors European Journal of Cancer Care [09615423]. 31(3) , 2022.
• Tyson, Dinorah Martinez|Chavez, Melody N.|Lake, Paige|Gutierrez, Ana|Sherry, Peggie|Rigg, Khary K.|Marshall, Victoria K.|Henderson, Heather|di Ciccone, Barbara Lubrano|Rajasekhara, Sahana|Pabbathi, Smitha Perceptions of prescription opioid medication within the context of cancer survivorship and the opioid epidemic Journal of Cancer Survivorship [19322259]. 15(4) , 2021.
• Tyson, Dinorah Martinez|Chavez, Melody N.|Lubrano, Barbara|Lake, Paige|Gutierrez, Ana|Marshall, Victoria K.|Rigg, Khary K.|Henderson, Heather|Pabbathi, Smitha|Sherry, Peggie|Rajasekhara, Sahana Understanding Cancer Survivors’ Educational Needs About Prescription Opioid Medications: Implications for Cancer Education and Health Literacy Journal of Cancer Education [08858195]. 36(2) , 2021.
• Henderson, Heather|Wilson, Jason W.|McCoy, Bernice Applied Medical Anthropology and Structurally Informed Emergency Care in the Evolving Context of COVID-19 Human Organization [00187259]. 80(4) , 2021.
• Schechter‐Perkins, Elissa M.|Faryar, Kiran A.|Hansoti, Bhakti|Rothman, Richard E.|Lyons, Michael S.|Haukoos, Jason S.|May, Larissa S.|Waxman, Michael J.|Henderson, Heather|Wilson, Jason W. COVID‐19 and beyond: Lessons learned from emergency department HIV screening for population‐based screening in healthcare settings Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open [26881152]. 2(3) , 2021.