Nabila El-Bassel

Nabila El-Bassel is a University Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and director of the Social Intervention Group, which was established in 1990 as a multidisciplinary center focusing on developing and testing effective prevention and intervention approaches to HIV, drug abuse, and gender-based violence and disseminating them to local, national, and global communities.

El-Bassel has designed and tested several cutting-edge multilevel HIV and drug abuse prevention and intervention models for women, men, and couples in many types of locations, such as drug treatment and harm reduction programs, primary health care offices, and criminal justice settings.  She is the principal investigator on the NIDA HeaLing Community Study in New York State. She also has extensively studied the intersecting epidemics of HIV and violence against women and has designed interventions that address these co-occurring problems on reducing the opioid epidemic.  

El-Bassel is also director of the Columbia University Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, with main offices in New York City and Almaty, Kazakhstan. She leads a team of prominent faculty, scientists, researchers, and students who are committed to advancing solutions to health and social issues in Central Asia through research, education, training, policy analyses and disseminating their findings. El-Bassel has published extensively and made a significant scientific contribution to the fields of HIV, addictions, and gender-based violence. Her research has been widely cited around the globe.

Nabila El-Bassel is a member of the Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience Advisory Committee.