{"id":6705,"date":"2024-03-15T10:56:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T17:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/?p=6705"},"modified":"2024-08-22T11:41:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T18:41:14","slug":"claradina-soto-phd-testifies-on-growing-fentanyl-crisis-in-native-american-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/claradina-soto-phd-testifies-on-growing-fentanyl-crisis-in-native-american-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Claradina Soto, PhD, testifies on growing fentanyl crisis in Native American communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Claradina Soto, PhD, testifies on growing fentanyl crisis in Native American communities<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n Bokie Muigai<\/span>\n \n March 15, 2024<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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On November 8, 2023, Claradina Soto, PhD, MPH, associate professor of clinical population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, testified during a hearing, held by the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, on the growing crisis of fentanyl in Native American communities. Soto, who identifies as Navajo and Jemez Pueblo, is a behavioral health scientist with over 20 years of experience partnering with American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations in public health. During this time, she has collaborated with urban and Tribal communities in California to reduce and address health disparities across several areas including mental health, cancer, commercial tobacco use, and substance use and opioid use disorders.<\/p>\n

During her oral testimony, Soto described the unique challenges and vulnerabilities that have contributed to the opioid crisis among AIAN populations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2021, AIAN adolescents experienced the highest overdose deaths from fentanyl due to an increased availability of illicit fentanyl. \u201cOur community has high overdose rates, high fentanyl use, and high overdose from fentanyl \u2014 so this was a really important time to be a part of this conversation,\u201d Soto shares.<\/p>\n

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